For this exercise, I was asked to revisit the work in my sketchbook and consider new perspectives for my drawings. I first had to add dialogue or thought processes to my figurative drawings, exploring what could be going on in the image. Then I had to redraft the ideas that stood out to me most, developing the characters further. Finally, I had to write a letter to someone from the perspective of one of my characters, considering the format, the paper used, and any additional illustrations, to fully bring the character to life.
I focused on my work from Part 3 for this, as it’s where I did the majority of my figurative drawings. I used post-it notes and wrote possible scenarios and thought processes on them, then stuck them alongside each sketch. My approach was to totally let go of all expectations and just write the first thing that popped into my head. I had a lot of fun doing this and it led to some exciting results. My three favourite ideas were the old lady ‘staring up at a spaceship’, the man who is secretly a clown in disguise, and the man who is re-imagining his world as a western movie. I decided to develop the latter two further.
Learning how to better design characters was one of my goals for this unit, and often I find myself feeling frustrated that I am not achieving it. This exercise completely changed my feelings on the matter. I was very excited about all of the characters I had conceptualised and especially happy with my ‘secret clown’ character. I felt so attached to him and like I could invent a whole world around him – maybe even creating children’s stories with him as a central character. On this basis, I decided to write a letter from his perspective, as it would give me an opportunity to fully explore these ideas.
I began by making some notes in my sketchbook on what the letter could be about, what it should include, and what my character should be called. I decided to use procreate for this, as I wanted to use the Bardot Brush ‘Magic Paper’ files – texture overlays which enhance your illustrations. There are some paper overlays included in this set, and I wanted the letter to look authentic. After some testing, I went with the ‘Crazy Crinkle’ overlay file. I then used 1001fonts to search for the perfect font for the letter. Originally I was going to handwrite it, as I wanted it to look as though it was drawn using crayons, but settled on the font ‘Space Kids’, which looked much more uniform. I used a textured brush over it to give that crayon effect I desired.
My aim was to make the paper look like official stationery from the British Clown Academy itself. I briefly researched some letter writing stationery to get an idea of how they tend to look, then settled on a playful rainbow border and balloon dog motif to decorate the paper. I also added faint lines to write on. The signature felt important to me, too, as it says so much about the character. It took me a few tries to perfect it, and I’m so happy with the outcome. The whole piece is better than I ever could’ve imagined, and I can see it being a pull-out feature in the book about Charlie Twinkles, Secret Clown.
I had so much fun with this exercise and feel so excited about the development of this character. I am seeing myself learn what makes a character good and how to build up all the little background bits that make them, them. I’d love to work with Charlie more and see where I can take him as a character, but I also can’t wait to see what other fun creations I can come up with. The act of going through my pre-existing work and adding motive, thoughts, and context to seemingly meaningless sketches was so helpful, and I want to bear it in mind as a technique going forwards.
Learning Log 