Planning Part 2

The topic I decided on, after throwing away my other idea, is digging into teen life, particularly drug use and peer pressure and it's relation to all of the pressures of being a teenager. The two ideas were actually very similar but after researching further into the ideas I found that this direction allowed me to express more of my ideas in a more understandable way. When I was planning for my original idea I ran into many problems about it's presentation and how it would be interpreted by the viewer.

This is where my current idea began to form after I found a block in my original idea which had to do with censorship in teens. I got stuck because the imagery I came up with couldn't encompass all the things I wanted to include, also because the sketches I came up with were too raunchy or vague to be understood in the way I wished it to be. That's when I began to look into more symbolic imagery and things more related to being a teenager.

As I researched more into things like teen drug use, alcohol abuse, and things like peer pressure I began to create symbols that could well represent the ideas I wanted without being to direct or raunchy. For example if someone is "lit" they have a lit up Jack'o lantern head. The page to the left is mainly me fleshing out the different symbols but I also included some setting sketching, lighting colors, and set up for the canvas I want to use.

Here is where I continued to sketch different settings. I want the final piece to look like a picture taken in a moment of a party to capture the energy and to do that I needed the right surroundings. I've considered mainly outdoor settings since I want to feeling to have an unleashed out in the open feel to it but on other pages I have looked into some indoor scenes mainly with stairs or focused on stairs (it just feels right).

Last I have some sketching of the potential finalized idea. This page also includes some character design of sorts of who is being displayed in the piece. This includes a number of figures such as the Jack 'O lantern, traffic cone, and rabbit heads; along with them there is the ghost who represents the separated or alienated character and the tube heads which are symbolic of a couple kissing.

Some blocks that I'm still experiencing is how to present my piece. The idea that I've stuck to the longest so far is painting the piece on wood like a picture, but some other ideas presented to me by others suggest I try other mediums like paper cutting to create depth or to make more than just one scene but a bunch of smaller ones. If you have any other insight into ways I could possibly present my idea I would love to read about them in the comments.