My Life in a Zoo – Lost in London
In 2013, for my final major project at University, I had written and illustrated a children’s book that I called “My Life in a Zoo – Lost in London”. In a way, it represented myself and how I felt leaving family and friends behind to relocate and pursue my studies in one of the biggest cities in the world. I felt drawn to the process of writing a children’s book as I feel there is a disarming and direct quality to the format, where the complicated emotions of adulthood can be conveyed in the simple language of childhood.
Growing up being inspired and fascinated by Tim Burton’s work, it came natural to write a book that rhymed. For this project I refined one of my character scribbles, “Roger”, from 2009 and made it my protagonist. Due to tight University deadlines I did not get to create as many stories of Roger’s little adventures as I had initially wanted to. This project is very near and dear to my heart and I always felt that it had a lot more potential which is why I initially intended to create a book series that I could publish myself with limited print runs. I got so swept up working one full time job after another and taking freelance jobs where I could as well that I put it off for many years.
I bought myself an iPad Pro and started doing illustrations digitally in the beginning of this year. As an old school handcrafter, going fully digital has always been something that scared me but I am determined to put in the time and effort that this project deserves. The video below shows a time lapse of one of the digital illustrations I am currently working on for the book and the process that I am undertaking in order to refresh this project.