about the author: sketchbook progress

This fine liner style looks naive but the idea is what I like more about this. It was suggested I start to look at drawing buildings as well as figures. The off-page figures and repeated characters adds a little surrealness, as well as the angle. I think this could make a good lino print with the focus on black and white.

I thought more about reflections. I still think they're a cliche way of getting the parallel world idea across, but at the same time glasses and alcohol are quite prevalent motifs in Murakami's books.

I tried to simplify it to simple shapes, trying to keep print making in mind. So far they look just visually 'wrong', which is probably to do with not actually studying real liquid refraction! I'm not sure how far the idea could be played. Perhaps it could be a smaller element of a larger image, rather than trying to convey such a big topic through such a small idea.

There is a lot of lust, and love (often unrequited) in Murakami novels, and sometimes it can feel like the female characters are being objectified, and sometimes I can't tell if this is a fault of the character's or Murakami's himself (particularly as the female characters are often so same-y). Regardless of whether it is or not, I think these shadow images start to fit this idea of something that cannot be grasped. I'm still concerned, as ever, about it being an easy idea but also that it may appear to be too predatory, so I will have to keep this in mind.

This image was picked up on in the tutorial for being visually somewhat different to what I usually do. I think I am often lazy making simpler characters, but I have been aiming to draw- not in a realistically, but in a more proportioned way. It is something to keep going at.

Trying to convey parallels and relationships through overlapping shapes. I think this could go somewhere, maybe with a different media.

It had been suggested that I take the shadow idea and the egg idea and push them some more. Tracing paper is an effective way of testing shadows and being able to move them as I decide on compositions.