First thoughts

During the summer break the two main things I worked on were helping to create an app for a book titled Meh and a picture book idea from my Arvon week.
The book titled Meh was released in August and was created by Deborah Malcolm a former student at Abertay. The book deals with the issue of depression and is wordless. The app was made free with the hope it will be used in addition to the book. This was not so much creative task for myself but more of a technical one using the original images to create the assets. The project allowed me to see what might be involved in creating a digital version of a book.
The picture book idea I worked on came from my week away on an Arvon course in Devon. The week was spent being taught by illustrator Mei Matsoka writer and editor Tessa Strickland with a guest lecture/speech from illustrator David Roberts. We covered various exercises to allow us to create an idea for a picture book by the end of the week.
These have happened as a lead on from my creative research project last year. Picture books seem to have drawn me towards them, with a main interest in illustrating but also in the stories. This year I wish to create a picture book or series of illustrations. My biggest issue right now is knowing why, what is it I think I would get out of this project, what interests me the most, what angles to take things from and how to create a research project based on these. Even writing this makes this seem interesting to me as I have no idea exactly where this project will lead or what the final outcome may be. I found that by researching using a variety of methods helped immensely last year. This includes reading, taking part in workshops, looking into other topics which might seem slightly unrelated.