7152QCA: Week 8, Starting the Zine!

This week, unfortunately, I was not able to come to class. I considered joining online on Tuesday, but felt overwhelmed and decided to focus on the assignment. I realised that the first part of the zine assignment was due (the draft version) on Monday. This was terrifying because I’m awful with dates and didn’t realise how close this was! There was also a kerfuffle with the Griffith extension system, which was really frustrating. It tried to get me to sign into this weird program??? I was like, “Guess I’ll die” 😊 Thankfully, when I tried it again the next day, it worked and I got a week-long extension that I desperately needed. I really want to do well in this class, and getting extra time massively helps me to achieve that.

Here are some notes that I wrote when conceptualising the zine:

I’m really excited about this idea! Before, I was thinking about talking about sapphic culture, using the bunny and frog character designs (previously seen on this blog). However, I realised this idea was too complex. Since these characters were representative of my partner and I, I decided it would be much more fun to talk about things that make me happy. I’m having a hard time right now, and if there’s any way to make my life easier, I should take it!

I also changed my mind about what design should represent me. I was finding the frog challenging to draw from different angles, and god forbid I have to do a turnaround sheet to keep the character design consistent. Instead, I decided to go with a dog design. It’s simpler and I feel like it looks more like me, especially because it has one black ear/eye and one white ear/eye (like my split hair!). You can see these designs below 😊

Dog and bunny character designs for me and my partner :)

Finally, I got around to doing the first illustration! It’s a page that represents my love for gardening. My favourite part is when I’m potting the plant and giving it a nice, new home. I like touching the soil. Here’s the page wahoooo!

I have to finish all the illustrations in the next week, but I’m not too worried about that because I’m really enjoying this assignment.

-Ollie