lockdown

A Few Ways I’m Developing My Zine, and Other Things I’ve Done This Week

| Rolo
Plastic Orca, Marker Pen on Paper

Zine week, it’s one page zine week. I am slowly getting used to the new lockdown way of life, it’s a weird world we’re living in now. I have found that focusing on one thing at a time is the way to motivate myself to do more work. This week has been spent creating a couple of one page zines which have allowed me to experiment with different mediums such as watercolour paint and marker pens. I’m still torn between the two mediums and I can’t decide which one would be best for creating my final zine. They both work well in their own way and neither of them really work for all 3 of the illustrations. For example, the plastic orca illustration seems to look best in brush pen, especially when it comes to creating a simple ocean background; but the advertisement anxiety illustration looks best with a combination of biro pen and watercolour paint. I’m starting to think that using mixed media would be the best way to proceed with the project. The one page zine format has also given me an opportunity to do some layout development at the same time as my media testing. It’s such a useful and economic way to work because if, when all of this is over, I want to print the zines, I’ll only have to pay for one page of printing which would save me a lot of money compared to printing other zine formats.

Planet Consumption, Watercolour and Biro Pen, and Brush Pen on Paper

I am going to be making the zine accessible in a digital format as this is the only way I am going to be able to publish my zine due to the lack of printing facilities. I will be able to split the pages of my one page zine digitally using Photoshop or InDesign if I choose to use the one page format for my final piece. Which I might not, because while there are many positives to the format, there are also some negatives, such as the fact it would limit me to a certain number of pages, and the illustrations would have to be rather small as I only have access to A3 paper, meaning each individual page would be reduced to A6. Ideally I would like to draw them each at a minimum of A5.

Advertisement Anxiety- Watercolour and Biro Pen, and Marker Pen on Paper

I really need to spend more time working on layout development too, because so far I have only tried creating double paged spreads with a front and back cover. While I do like these layouts, they are missing a few things such as text and I don’t want to just stick to the first layout idea I’ve had. I should experiment a bit more before deciding which layout will be best for my final zine. I’ve had some more ideas of how I could show conscious consumption since the start of the project too so I intend to create at least one more illustration which I would like to go in the zine, this is naturally going to change my layout ideas. I’m also thinking about adding a contents page, which are present in many zines and magazines, it would make the zine look a bit more professional. The addition of these extra pages would mean that I’d need to explore new methods of creating a zine because the one-page zine format just wouldn’t be viable anymore.

Coming to Terms With Life in Lockdown- Final Project Week 3

| Rolo

This has been a more productive week than last week, I have managed to develop my initial sketches further into more detailed illustrations. I am not completely happy with all of them because they are still a bit all over the place and are nowhere near good enough to go into the zine, but they are an improvement on my initial designs.

I’m still behind schedule on my weekly planner, which I guess is to be expected considering the state of the world right now. Though technically I have more time now, I’m still finding it difficult to motivate myself at home. I was hoping that by now I would have adjusted to the situation, but I haven’t, I miss being able to leave the house and going into college to knock out tons of work in a day. I miss seeing my tutors and the few people I talk to in college, I’m realising how helpful it was to be around a bunch of creatives that are all working, it definitely motivates me. Nevertheless, I am doing my best at home, I’m trying to work consistently, even if my work hours have changed. And while I may not feel like I’m doing as much work as usual, I am still working hard and not giving up. I also have my girlfriend and aunt to talk to and throw ideas off of which I am grateful for, life would have been much harder if I was still in London right now.

Plastic Orca Development Sketch

I am most happy with my orca development illustration which looks most like I see it in my mind. So far, I have only used pencils to create my illustrations, I intend to spend the next week or two working on media testing and layout ideas. I am going to experiment with watercolours, brush pens, digital painting and collage, with the possibility of trying out soft pastels again. I will only try soft pastels if I am able to get access to some, which so far is proving difficult due to shops being closed, I already have the rest of the materials to hand in my home.

I am also quite happy with my advertisement anxiety development illustration, there is a lot of energy emanating off of it and it’s overtly dramatic, in a good way. There is still a lot of room for improvement with it however, the drawing is still very sketchy and the proportions of the women needs to be improved. I’m still not the most comfortable with drawing people, which is exactly why I need to draw them more, practice makes perfect and all that jazz. I know I’m going to need to draw people if I want to become an editorial illustrator so I’m using the time I have now to get better at them.

Advertisement Anxiety Development Sketch

Speaking of time, if this lockdown situation is still happening over the summer after I have handed in my final project then I am planning on using the time to create a spreadsheet of art directors’ details that I am interested in working for. As well as this, I will also create a series of illustrations that are tailored to publications such as Little White Lies, New Scientist and the Guardian, in the hope that I get onto their radars and get the opportunity to illustrate for them. It would be a great way to get myself out into the world and get some cliental. At the very least, the illustrations would be great for my portfolio, even if they don’t get me work with the companies.

Planet Consumption Development Sketch

I started struggling with coming up with ideas for how to develop my designs further, and what colours to use on them. It is because of this that I decided to do something that I should have done much earlier in the project, I created a mind map that gathers a bunch of imagery and colour swatches on one page to help me get inspired during the remainder of the project.