Welcome to my first post!
It’s going to be the first of many to be found in this new section on my website, and something I have been wanting to do since finishing my MA.
This space will enable me to share with you the progress of my latest projects and collaborations.
The idea is for this section of the site to be similar to a sketchbook or journal - I want to share my ideas, direction and development, and most importantly, how an idea grows from something small into a large scale piece of work.
I’d like to show any students or new illustrators that the structures and processes you learn whilst studying - primary and secondary research, contextual art theories - are still an integral part of being a practicing illustrator, long after you leave university.
In these posts, I will share my inspirations, references, any issues I encounter (and how I solve them), but ultimately this work is for myself. It is my voice, and I hope that you will see it develop as I collaborate with others and attempt to comment on, or tackle, some of the issues around me.
The idea behind the project I am beginning with, ‘The Hotel’, (subject to change) was born out of watching the beautiful film 'Lost in Translation’, by Sofia Coppola (2003) with my partner on a rainy Sunday. World class cinematography and directing, accompanied by some truly fantastic acting. It’s a great example, I believe, of a film doing almost everything right. It is a story centred around loneliness; feeling out of place and feeling like a stranger.
Re-watching the film years after first seeing it, I noticed so many other things about it, and the seed of an idea was planted. Being a writer, my partner also found the film inspiring. The ideas and conversation that flowed once the film had concluded really got me buzzing, and we decided that a collaboration between writer and illustrator was in order.
I began thinking about the setting of the hotel where most of the film takes place. It brought back memories of my own, memories of being in a hotel and what that has meant to me at different times in my life. One thing was for sure, I knew I wanted to explore the emotions that Lost in Translation brought up, for better or worse.
At the moment, I’m unsure exactly what the project will turn into, and I have no idea what direction it might take, but I am excited to explore it. Our conversations on what hotels meant to us is where the project was born.
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