The Guardian brief- sketchbook + production

This brief was particularly difficult to not be cliched! I had to try and think of ways to present the concept of 'art school' without pushing stereotypes or easy images, which is hard when the article is so straightforward in concept. 

The first image I made with the idea of "perfect portfolio" came to me quite quickly. I wasn't sure how to conceptually present this so decided to make something that visually looked a little different and was fun to look at. Now that portfolios are often websites or online I worried that the folder would not present the idea well enough, but I think the symbol of the folder is still recognisable enough.

For the second image I took some motifs that I had absent mindedly doodled and put them together hoping for the best (probably not the best way to go around it). This image was to go with the article about the revival of analogue methods in the digital age. I did think the clock motif particularly suited this, with the idea of time passing, and maybe the girl's pencil hair would suggest a particular passion for analogue methods but this might have been too subtle or just wouldn't make sense enough.

With advice from tutors the girl pointed the other way to balance the image out- with both pencil and brush facing the same way it lead the viewer out of the image. This wasn't something I had noticed or really thought about too much but now it is something I consider more when structuring my images!

This was the hardest of the images to get an idea for. I was in doubt that the 'watering art students' idea would fit for the idea of creative careers but was encouraged that if done in the right way it could be suitable and possibly a more interesting solution than the other images, or at least the portfolio one as it would be less obvious.

It was hard to get the characters right. There needed to be connotations of growth and plants but giving them stem bodies and necks was too creepy- they looked fragile like they could break, so I added leaves and put them in the ground instead. Some of the faces also looked too young and childlike, and needed to at least look like young adults so I made their features less cutesy and big. To present them as artists rather than any other young person growing I added a creative symbol as a bulb in the ground that they are growing from, though am concerned this looks a little obvious.