For one of the smaller live briefs, I will be creating a double page spread for the charity Papyrus' colouring book competition. Papyrus is a national charity for the prevention of young suicide who are aiming to help prevent and relieve stress by making a publication that will alleviate it in one of the purest and simplest forms possible - colouring.
In an adult colouring book style line drawing, create a visual representation of something that helps you feel calm and relaxed, with a couple of lines explaining what it is you've drawn and why. The aim of this project is to publish a colouring book titled 'The Art of a Peaceful Mind.'
Ideas
These are a list of activities I myself find calming and relaxing that may have been potential starting ideas for the brief:
- Reading
- Drawing/doodling
- Walking my dog
- Holding with pet my hamster
- Baking
- Having a bubble bath
- Washing the dishes
- Cleaning
- Breathing exercises
Research
I then did some further research into unusual methods of calming down and ways to relax that could have the potential to be made into visually stimulating imagery for a coloring book. Interesting techniques I found included:
- Brushing Hair
- Sniffing citrussy things like oranges
- Getting organised
- Eating Chocolate
- Creative Visualisation
My favorites were sniffing an orange, washing the dishes and playing with a pet. Sniffing an orange, although an interesting fact, didn't have much scope for being made into a stimulating page of a colouring book and although the segments of an orange could have made interesting patterns to colour in, there wasn't a lot you could do with the rest of the image to make it engaging. I also decided playing with a pet to relax only works if you own one or knows someone who does and a lot of young adults like university students don't have access to a furry friend when they're away from home, therefore this method of relaxation wouldn't be as useful, although it would have been cute to colour. I decided to go with 'washing up' as everyone has access to a dirty kitchen sink a lot of the time (especially uni students) and it also helps me to calm down. I also thought there were a lot of things i could do to the image to make it interesting to colour like add rings to the hands, give the plates and pots interesting china patterns and make interesting patterns with the bubbles.
I asked my peers before finally deciding on a theme which they thought was the best concept and they all agreed that washing the dishes was a unique and funny approach that was easily accessible to everyone.
After a bit more research I found that people find washing the dishes was therapeutic as it is a repetitive motion like brushing your hair or knitting which makes the body relax and calm down.
Development
I conducted research into the style of illustration they wanted as the brief specified an 'adult colouring book' style to visualise the type of content they wanted for the book.
Drawing
I began by drawing the outlines from life to get the proportions and sizing right. I then filled in the spaces with abstract patterns and shapes to encompass the adult colouring book style. I didn't want to make it overly complicated so left a few white spcaes like on the sleeves, sink and hands to allow for more freedom and creativity and not to make the design overly complicated or confusing. After all, it is meant for alleviating stress, not making it worse.
As it is a competition brief I won't reveal the final design however here is a small section of the finished piece:
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