Like the Team Rocket zine, I was able to be a part of three different fanzines throughout my studies this year. Again, they were live briefs that involved either illustrating a page within the fanzine itself or conducting merchandise outside of the zine. I was accepted into these three zines at the start of September 2021 and worked on them until March 2022. Initially, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to pursue these projects and had to drop out of them due to university work. Still, thankfully I was able to include these three projects within my second component for Creative Design Practice.
I decided to continue signing up for fanzines and partaking in these collaborative projects because it can allow me to make more connections within the art community online and be a part of a project that lots of different people can enjoy. Not only that will enable me to work on illustrations or merchandise for my interests and create almost tribute to some of my favourite things that often inspire me in my original work. Partaking in these projects can also be seen as an opportunity to gain more online presence and lead to further zine collaborations or client work.
The first fanzine I worked on was the "Out of the Valley" zine. At the moment, the pre-orders have come to a close, and the project leaders are currently producing the products. We have reached our "money" goal. Therefore, making all the contributions, including myself, entitled to the entire bundle for the zine and some profit (which I wasn't expecting because I often just do these projects for fun). As I previously mentioned, they are currently producing the products, so there is nothing I can do apart from waiting for my bundle to arrive.
It was an unofficial city scenario zine of the "Stardew Valley" video game. Originally Stardew Valley was a stimulation role-playing video game with an open-ended country-life RPG. You've inherited your grandfather's old farm plot in Stardew Valley, and you begin your new life as a farmer and learn secrets about the land and get to know your neighbours. I applied for this zine initially because, at the time, I was constantly playing this game with my boyfriend, and I really enjoyed wasting my summer days looking after my farm and learning the best ways to play etc. It is also an acclaimed game online, so I did fall for the hype with this game. What made this zine different from other Stardew Valley ones was that you would have to create a piece of artwork based on the side characters within the game and what their life would be like in the city since they have only known the countryside of Stardew Valley.
I was really nervous when applying for this zine because it had many applications and many "twitter-famous" artists as guests on it. To be a part of this zine as a page artist especially was such an honour because I am just a nobody online.
My idea for the illustration was to focus on the character "Harvey" from the video game. Harvey is a pharmacist/doctor running his own independent clinic/shop within the game; I would take this idea and make my piece about it before he becomes a doctor. Therefore, he would study for med school at his favourite coffee shop within the piece. I decided to make him study there rather than in his room (e.g.) because within the game, his favourite "gift" would be coffee, as you can give characters in the game presents to become friends with them. The mods (leaders of the project) loved my idea as not many people had thought to illustrate Harvey from the video game, making my piece stand out more.
Initially, I had trouble illustrating my piece because I was having trouble converting my initial sketch to a fully rendered piece, and it didn't quite look like the character. Therefore, I decided to re-design my illustration as I wanted to be completely happy with it. Though taking more time than I thought, it benefited me as I was much more pleased with the composition. Though it was essential, I didn't want to overcomplicate it because I still had to render the illustration and work on the other zines.
Overall, I still feel there could have been some improvements to my piece as it still doesn't look 100% like the character. I think I had a hard time converting the original source to my own style whilst staying faithful to the source material because it was in pixel art. I felt the character had a slightly different head shape than the one I drew him,
but apart from that, I much preferred this design instead of the original design I created.
Another thing that I was happy with was the colours because I wanted to reflect the comforting and cosy feel the game gives off. My experience throughout my time working on this project was terrific. Despite struggling to balance university work with the zines, the Christmas break did help a lot, as I could catch up and even finish this piece during that time.
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