Future self: Grief Project

Future self: Grief Project 

My future self project is about grief and the grieving process and specifically helping children and young teens recognize where they are emotionally in the process. This will help aid parents and maybe even school counsellors.

My initial idea was to make a book based off a poem I was writing about the stages of grief, but upon further research I found breaking it down into a linear clear cut process for example

1. Denial 
2. Anger 
3. Bargaining 
4. Depression 
5. Acceptance

Can actually do more harm than good.

No one experiences loss in the same way. Some people might skip certain emotional states, some might experience additional emotions and some may revisit certain stages. I don't want my work to pigeonhole people into believing there is only one correct way of grieving. The only incorrect way of grieving is not letting yourself go through the process. So keeping this in mind I reconsidered the book and/or booklet idea because it is too linear, and I have been considering making cards instead. I am still fine tuning how they are going to work but right now I am thinking of having 3 types of cards.

• Character cards
• Tip cards 
• Blank cards

Character cards will have a personification of the emotion for example Anger on them with the name of the emotion. The child will pick out the card/s which reflects how they are feeling, the descriptions of each emotion will be listed in a booklet which will come with the cards. Parents can get their children to redraw everyday or the children can display the cards on the fridge, their bedroom door, on a notice board ect and change them when they feel the need.

Tip cards are for what the child can do to experience the emotion in a healthy way, for example anger can cause problems if not dealt with correctly especially with school age children and teens.

Blank cards are for if the child or teen is experiencing an emotion that isn't on any of the pre existing cards. I'm including these because as I said everyone experiences loss differently and I want to try and keep all bases covered.

What kind of grief are these cards for?

I wanted to keep the cards so they can be used in any situation that involves loss. This could be loss of a pet, loss of a friendship or relationship, familial breakdown (divorce) and the loss of family members.

Other outcomes?

The other outcomes I want to make are

• Booklets
• Stickers 
• Rag dolls
• Clothing/Textiles

Book review: The art of Howl's Moving Castle

I am a huge fan of Studio Ghibli and my friends have helped me build up my collection of Studio Ghibli art books by buying me them for Christmases and Birthdays.

So The Book I will be talking about today is The Art Of Howl's Moving Castle. It is a collection of Sketches, illustrations, concepts, backgrounds and character design from the making of the film.  

Part one of the book shows Hayao Miyazaki's concept sketches, unlike western film directors Japanese film directors more specifically those dealing with animation are expected to draw concepts and the storyboards for the film before passing them onto other artists.

Hayao Miyazaki's concept sketches are normally pen and watercolour or pencil and water colour. Some are vague some are detailed.

"Howl's Moving Castle is set in a world conceived by late 19th century European neo-futurist painters where magic and science co-exist."

"On a research trip for Miyazaki's new film Howls moving castle. The staff visited Europe for 12 days and, although their research centered on the eastern province of Alsace in Francewhere the film was set, they also spent time in Heidelburg (Germany), and Paris, Visiting the Alsatian city Colmar for its colour and atmosphere proved to be a productive experience for the staff.  

A drawing of one of the scenes from the film.

In the film there is a parade going on which seems to be based around the military, People are waving flags and having a good time. 

The main protagonist Sophie is cursed by the witch of the wastes turning her into a 90 year old woman, she flees the hat shop where she was apprenticing under her step mother, and stumbles across howls moving castle.  

 Some storyboards drawn by Miyazaki as you can see they vary from detailed to rough sketch.

Part two of the book is all about character design finalizing concepts and what went into each part of the film.

Concept drawings of howl's castle.

Concepts for 18 year old Sophie (pre-curse)

Concept are for The Hatter's House at night (the hat shop).

This is how it looked in the film.

Grandma Sophie concepts, there was a lot of thought put into older Sophie's appearance.

"I was determined to make the aged Sophie look, cute, but I had to dismiss that approach almost imminently. She simply wouldn't look old without her skin being wrinkled and blemmished. She might appear plain, but I made sure she would have the appeal of a refined old lady."   

Michiyo Yasuda discusses the subtle changes in colour through out the film to convey emotions.  

Howl's room concept 

Howl's room in the film

 Howl's room (cave) concept 

 Howl's room (cave) in the film

Part three is a write up of the screenplay/script. It shows all of the characters lines and how they are supposed to be spoken any calls to action the voice actors might need to convey the lines correctly. It's really quite fascinating to look at.

Doll test how ingrained is racism?

I just watched this video and the video really made me feel uneasy, which I think is what it is supposed to do.

This video is entitled Doll Test and in the video the people conducting the experiments ask children from varying racial backgrounds questions about two dolls and a diagram with different skin colours. What really pulled at my heart stings was watching the children of colour pointing to the "black" doll and labeling it as the ugly doll, with most preferring the white doll. And when asked to give the researcher the doll which looked like them they handed over the "black" doll which they had earlier categorized as the ugly doll.

The fact they considered a doll with a similar skin colour ugly just shows how much the stereotypes made by white people have been rooted within coloured children. I felt tears come to my eyes several times no child should think that their skin colour makes them ugly or untrustworthy.

Kids art workshops

In easter I am thinking of volunteering to do kids art workshops at MMU to enhance my CV and I thought it would make a cool personal project. I would need to plan some workshops to do with them and I would want to design a booklet or zine for the kids to take home with them, and it would have mini projects they and do. It might even give the parents a bit of a break from trying to find ways to occupy them.