Exercise 0A: Thought Process

Really hyped to get started on this exercise! We were given a rather broad theme to work with: a Dream Device that can enhance our creativity. Like what the wise old lords would say, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. First of all I started with a mind map to get my ideas and thoughts sorted:

I had read in Graham Wallas’s Art of Thought that creative thinking could be roughly divided into a 4-stage process so I had incorporated it into my mind map.

Thereafter I came up with the initial sketches:

(Pardon the juvenile drawing skills)

Susuwatari or Soot Gremlins from Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away. Image Reference: Pinterest. Retrieved from: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0b/9b/d2/0b9bd2b14790dc5959d3d7bb0f79e2a6.png

The initial draft of the interior of the vacuum resembled like a mechanical factory line/interior of an ordinary vacuum. I wanted to make it more imaginary/out-of-box so I eventually adapted it to look more like a town with imaginary creatures. I was partly inspired by the Susuwatari (ススワタリ) as seen in Studio Ghibli works like My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away. The Susuwatari, also known as soot sprites or soot gremlins in English, are magical helpers that can extend their stick-like limbs to complete tasks.

This resulted in the final product:

Step 2 was inspired by Belgian filmmaker and Illustrator Vincent Bal’s works of art. Using ordinary objects, he showed how the shadows of ordinary objects can be changed to monsters and other creatures or completely different objects depending on the angle you view it from.

Some of Vincent Bal's ingenious illustrations using shadow play. Image Reference: Val, B. (2016). Retrieved from: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2016/11/vincent-bal-shadow-doodles/

I tried to put in extra effort by adding watercolours but as anyone can tell I’m not very adept at drawing neither am I at colouring ): It’s really splotchy at places because I’m not sure how much water or paint to use sometimes. I hope to get better with practice!

Compared to the pen and paper exercises I do in Business school usually this exercise is really a breath of fresh air. I’m pretty excited for what’s to come too so remember to watch this space!

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