This time was about revisiting my workspace and establishing what needed changing. I took a whole day to sit with my space and feel into it, based on the type of projects I was working on and what was needed.
Based on that, the workspace needed countertops for:
- Printing and folding areas for zines.
- Working on the pc or ipad to make colour or b&w version of zines.
- Preparation areas for bagging things for a Zine Fair in January.
I invested in a badge making machine and wanted to produce postcards, prints, zines and some small comics of sketches. Part of the challenge was to prepare well ahead of time, rather than leaving it to the last minute. My workspace was in chaos and so by resetting it with the project in mind, it now had a purpose.
Project 3 – My charcoal drawings got to 10 before I stopped. I had been using own photo references, which were photos taken over the best part of a year. These were going great for a while but as I had taken the images first, I was tied to them for the charcoal drawings. The photos hadn’t been taken with charcoal in mind – they’re currently being used for references for sketching in Procreate in colour.
So I needed to go back and examine what other photos I could take that would be great to use in charcoal and give a range of tonal values that would suit it.
So as I ended December, I’d done a few things well:
- Changed my workspace to suit my needs
- Typed up all my reflection logs
- Viewed my photos and established that a new set would be better
- Set things in motion for the Zine Fair and ordered for it
- Managed to get to December in one piece – review my notebooks and reflected on things.
Reflections:
As an ADHDer, time blindness is definitely an issue with me – 4 months have passed since college started back up and although I have plenty done, the time was used in fits and bursts rather than in a way that felt like I was in control of it.
I’d like to say that is not how I work – but that is how I work when I am under pressure, tired and not applying tools to support myself. For example, a to-do list for the charcoal drawings would have presented me with a clearer objective, instead I felt I was reacting to photos and drawing them, rather than considering photos for edit and composing – acting with deliberate intent.
So my question to myself is, when starting a task, am I :
- Reacting? Or acting?
- How do I know?
My attention went from the charcoal drawings to producing a range of zines and prints and badges for a zine fair. I wasn’t entirely sure what to print, so I had to do a few variations and try them out.
UPDATE:
The Zine Fair was a great event, really well put together and a lovely day spent with some great creative people. There were a number of zines that were well received and the prints were definitely popular once they had the space to be seen.
I prepped a lot for this event, and it pushed my projects to the side as a result. I wanted to build on the energy from the event and have a link to my prints set up. What I didn’t factor in was the burnout. Another ADHD tax. The prep gone into it was a lot…and I found myself unable to get back into the projects as quickly as I wanted. The transition between projects hadn’t been factored into my timetable at all.
So I kept myself creatively busy, but it didn’t feel like I was putting the energy into the projects and that wasn’t helpful.
BA Illustration 