About the Project
This zine was self-initiated, it was purely made to try and capture the feeling of a lovely memory through narrative.
Brief
My aim was to capture the feeling of a lovely afternoon. It needed to be told in five pages and I wanted the juxtaposition of the busyness of London and the calmness of the evening to be especially clear.
Research
I did no research! I just delved into my own memories and decided what I thought was the most important bits to record.
Materials
I used only a HB and a 4B pencil for this project. Then it was risograph printed on recycled paper.
Process
I always start a project by doodling the things about the idea that makes me want to make it. Next I sort of mess around with different layouts until I know what works. It’s all very straightforward!!
Challenges
On one of the pages (the first full spread) I just KEPT smudging it. I have 5 almost finished versions of that page because I just kept dragging my hand over it at the worst moment.
Insights
I re-learnt the niceness of doing something just for me, for fun. This was my first long-form personal project I made since graduating, and it was lush to do make something with no agenda on it.
Distractions
Oh my goodness everything was distracting!! With no commission if there was something that could distract me it did- my other job, my friends, the wealth of TV shows, books and films that exist.
Numbers
100 zines currently exist, 4 sheets of paper bound together, 1 song on the soundtrack, 485 birds make an appearance in the zine (counting that was awful)
Reflections
My least favourite page is the centre fold so I kind of wish that that had worked out differently. But overall I actually really like this whole project? (Rare!!!) So I would probably keep it the same.
Advice
All of the ultimate cliches: don’t look at other people’s work too much as a comparison, you work your way and they work there’s so it’s fine that your work is different. I stress about that more than I’d like! But you can make better work and have more fun when you just accept that how you work is how you work, you know?
Future
I just quit my (non-illo) job to do a masters, so now I’m relying on illustration for money! That’s pretty exciting. So I plan to be working and studying A LOT for the foreseeable. Also, reading a lot of books and hopefully drawing out a new zine.
Dream Commission
I’d love to illustrate a book!!! I’m not picky on what kind, but I’m a big reader so I really want to hold a book that has my work in it. Feel like that’d be the ultimate. Also, anything for a museum or gallery? That’d also be very cool.
Favourite Thing to Draw
My favourite thing to draw is always people! I especially like when someone is sat at a table not looking a me, that’s the perfect composition. I also love to draw my coffee because it’s perpetually in front of me and available.
Workspace
I work at my desk in my bedroom! It’s tried and true. There’s bookshelves on either side, plants anywhere I can stick them and a bunch of my friends’ work on the walls. It’s very cluttered except for the designated drawing zone in the centre. At this very moment there’s a huge stack of washing on it with a sharpener balanced on top. Very functional.
Thanks
It is MAD to know that I’ve won!! I love zines, but I’m also the first person to question their ‘point’, so this is INCREDIBLY validating! Thank you so much for that. My main thanks have to go to my friends Isabel and Charlotte, for being the content of the zine, and to my parents, who drove us around so it could happen. I also have to thank Out of the Blueprint in Edinburgh, who very wonderfully printed and supported the production of the zine. This would not exist without them!!