I have had trouble getting into this project over the Christmas break and have decided to change the theme of my book. I lost my mum just after Christmas last year and want to base the book on her. I have been trying to think of a way to shape this idea to create a good book and to meet the brief. i think I would like to base the book around her life and this would enable me to research to locations and story's associated with it.
I have spent the last 2 weeks interviewing family members and friends of the family to find out how I could best sum up important events in her life and what locations I could research. During this research i have highlighted moments that sum up her life that I think are universal enough to appeal to the readers of the book and that should be possible to illustrate without words.
I want the book to convey the joys of her life and the sadness of her death so I need to try out different ways of illustrating the book that are fitting to the tone of the subject matter. I have been struggling with this aspect as I mostly draw cartoon like illustrations that aren't necessarily right for the emotions I want to convey. I have been drawing facial expressions to try and get a grip of how to show emotions with a degree of subtlety while still clearly illustrating each part of the story.
I have been collecting story's from my family and family friends that have meant I could put together a rough idea of how i want to put the book together in regards to structure and page layout but i need to do more research into each individual story and location. the story's I have chosen to start this process are
1. I want to start with my mums childhood in hackenthorpe in sheffield. my grandad had a very tough young life, he was the youngest of 12 brothers and had a toe missing on each foot from wearing handed down shoes that were too small for him. he was put into a sanitorium when he was a child because he was mal nourished. He went to war as a teenager and came back strong and healthy. He moved into a council house which he loved as he had a garden to grow his own veg. I want to show my mum with my grandma and grandad in the garden harvesting veg.
2. My grandad worked in the steel mills in sheffield as a brick layer building furnaces in sweltering conditions. he worked in terribel conditions to provide for his family and to pay for my mum to be able to go to a good school. She went to notre dame and the uniform cost a lot of money at the time. It was a culture clash for my mum and must have been very difficult to adjust to her new surroundings. I want to try and illustrate this feeling of apprehension she must have felt arriving on the first day.
3. After going to notre dame she moved to london to study and work but hated the city. She loved the outdoors and used to get on a bus for 3 hours to get out into the countryside whenever possible. I want to show the anxiety she must have felt in the busy city and the serenity that escaping to the country must have brought.
4. She met my dad in london and they were together until she died i want to show their wedding as a celebration of that connection and how huge a part of her life it was.
5 I want illustrate my sister being born and then me a few years after. he was a teacher and a mother and was loved by her staudents and her children. I have never seen students react that way to a teacher in the schools i went to. She never gave up on anyone and I want to try and show how caring she was. Although these ideas are very personal to me I think people will be able to associate members of their families to the book if I illustrate it correctly. I need to highlight common situations that people have either experienced themselves or are familir enough with the make an emotional connection to them.
6. I would like to show the doctor giving my mum the news that she was ill and only had a year to live. this is obviously a very emotional part of the book for me and i need to make sure i can convey that emotion to the viewer and do it in a way that demonstrates the situation as clearly as possible. the situation is fairly simple it is the feelings of the characters i need to concentrate on. I have been struggling to get emotion right drawing facial expressions so will need to work on this by researching other illustrators work and trying different styles and media.
7. While my mum was ill and undergoing chemotherapy my sister had a daughter, my mums first grandchild and this was an amazing blessing in the final moths of her life. i want to show the joy and how important family is in times of sadness. Even though the last year of my mums life was extremely difficult I am grateful we had the time we had and that she got to see and enjoy the company of her grandchild. I want this to be a happy illustration but still illustrate the effect the illness and therapy is having on my mum. This will be a struggle to balance the complex emotion of this section of the book.
8. I want to show me and my sister and dad at my mums bedside the night she died. It is a very dark sad part of the story but think it is needed to show the realities of the situation and of life itself. I think that this could be very close to a lot of peoples emotions and be a very powerful image.
9. finally i want to find a way to show how my mum still inspires me in everything I do and the memory of her makes me stronger in times of trouble even in writing this book. In essence this is a book of me being inspired to illustrate this book.
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