I started off my diary form with a traditional journal entry. Basic, I know, but I took it quite literally when it was given as a warm-up assignment. I’d written in a journal before, but never quite took it to a level like this – so neat and organized. Turning my journal entries into something clear and visually appealing was new and exciting for me. I thought, “Why not use pictures to capture my daily life?”
Thinking about the outfits I wore each day, I wanted to go a step further. I decided to make my “journal entries” more interesting by showing what happens during my day, but with a cool twist. I added facial expressions to the mix! These expressions can change depending on how I’m feeling or how I felt that day. It’s a way to show my emotions and experiences through my art.
Creating this project was a creative journey for me. I began by drawing pictures of things that happened during the week. These drawings represented moments or events that stood out to me. For example, the first week, I woke up to a huge pimple on my face. I drew a little acne scene of me waking up, noticing the pimple, and then applying an acne patch onto it. If I had a fun day with friends, I’d illustrate that too.
But what made this project really unique was adding the facial expressions. I made a bunch of different faces that could fit onto the drawings. Each face represented a different emotion. For instance, I drew smiling faces for happy moments, sad faces for tough times, and so on. This allowed me to show how I felt during those moments in my life. I wanted this element to be interactive, and that’s what you can see in this illustration, and in the image below.
The process of drawing the pictures and creating the facial expressions took some time. I had to think about which moments to include and how to capture them in my drawings. Then, I carefully designed the faces to match the feelings. It was a bit time-consuming, but it was worth it because it made my project more expressive and interesting.
I had a really great time coming up with the different colors to use, as well as the background. The background is inspired by an elementary kids rug, that would always be in every single classroom. I love how well it blended in with the laminated pictures, and I’m glad that it was easy for those to interact with.
