I'm Not a Hoarder~

International Fake Journal 2016 “WRAP-UP”

SHIFT IN PLACE

During the month of April 2016, my Fake Character was a Toy Collector.

GOALS:

--Make it simple. Every year, since the first time I participated in this project, I think this. This year I think I finally may have accomplished it! Which meant...

--Just draw toys.

--Use loose pages to draw and paint on, then bind all together at the end of the project.

--Draw with a brush-tip pen.

--Use watercolors.

--Use random phrases and quotes on the pages.

--Add collage as the moment may inspire.

WHO:

In 2015, my Fake Journal character was a man who worked in an antique mall. In 2016, I decided that 'Shift in Place' could mean that my character could be a customer of last year's character. After all, collectors are usually who keep the antique malls in business.

I decided to be a Toy Collector, and just draw toys.

There are people who collect all kinds of toys, so I figured pretty much anything was 'fair game.' I have quite a few left from the days when my kids were small. Not quite antiques...but definitely 'vintage.' And an abundance of the little free toys from fast food restaurants.

PROCESS:

I decided to work on loose pages and then bind them at the end of the month. This has worked well for me in the past. The paper I used is drawing paper, rather than paper designed for watercolors, so that affected the application of the paint, but I was going for quick and easy, so I didn't let that bother me. I added additional pieces of paper or collage to some of the pages for added interest, or sometimes to cover up a bit that I had re-drawn to correct the proportions. I even went back and added Washi tape on some pages. Some of the drawings have additional pen shading detail added with a smaller tip Sharpie pen, as the Pigma brush pen was fairly wide for the small page I was working on. I found that Highlighter Markers gave a more accurate color for some of the bright plastic toys, so I switched to that instead of watercolors on some pages.

WHAT I LEARNED:

I didn't end up liking the size pages that I had chosen and pre-cut. They just felt too small. I had chosen the small size so that a two-page spread could be scanned at one time on my scanner. However, he smaller sized page forced me to decide to use different angles of view, or which portion of the toy could go “off the page.” And that may have made the pages more interesting, instead of all the images being placed in the center of the page.

Then my computer died.

Go to Plan B. Use Blogger on my smartphone and post photos taken with my phone. I found that I was a lot less “wordy” on my blog posts, because it's just tedious typing it all out on my phone. But I think the images turned out ok, and really are the main focus anyway. I realized I can learn new technology by trial and error. It can be frustrating, but I know learning new things is good for your brain. Now I'm learning the new stuff that came with the new computer we bought...

I do think that this year it was finally simple enough to make the project less of a pressure to fulfill an obligation. I think I missed two days, just because I had a busy day and forgot. In one case, I drew an extra entry the next day. It was fun, and I think I will keep drawing toys!

For random phrases for my pages, I don't think I found as much fun stuff as last year. But I have developed a habit of writing down phrases and quotes that I read, or hear on radio or tv. I've even pulled over and stopped the car so I can write down a scrap of phrase that I heard on the radio. The random phrases are turning up in my other journals, too.

One thing that has been a bit of a challenge is that since I chose to bind the pages at the end of the project, I can tend to put it off. The project isn't truly done until I've put the book together. So far, I have managed to get the final book done every year. And this is my 5^th year of IFJM. Thank you Roz Stendahl!

I am wondering if it would be a good idea to settle on one particular size of book for this project every year, so the books are all the same size on my shelves...but then again, maybe I ought to try an accordion book next year. We shall see...

Thanks so much for stopping by, and joining me in the Fake Journal adventure!