My FMP started life as a children's magazine called Piccolo - this idea then changed into a magazine aimed at adults with the nostalgic theme of a child's magazine. This meant that the puzzles would have more adult words, the games would have been more tongue-in-cheek and used adult imagery. I'm drawn to art that takes something nostalgic or 'safe' and alters it to reflect a subversive undertone. In the end the project was bigger than my time and/or capabilities would allow - at that stage, I still didn't know how to use Photoshop, Illustrator or In Design, which was an enormous handicap. It was with great reluctance that I let go of Piccolo Magazine, I'd done a lot of work and research and I was frustrated to have to stop work on it. The saving grace, however, was that one of the elements I'd started playing around with was an idea for an anthropomorphic male and female paper doll for the centre pages:
...and a much simpler plan was born. I've been interested in anthropomorphic imagery for as long as I can remember and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to have a go myself.
In the end I chose to make my FMP about a series of 9 prints exploring the differences and similarities in character and expression between animals and human beings. I chose 9 because of the visual symmetry the group would make as a collection on a wall. I originally wanted to make them modern, almost in a hipster/fashion illustration style but as my investigations and research continued I found that the Menagerie series was taking on a life and flavour of its own. I soon realised that I was leaning back into the nostalgia I had wanted to explore with Piccolo Magazine - this ended up having a great influence on the colour and pattern of the overall images - not to mention the late 70's/80's flavour of the subject matter.
What follows is a record of my explorations and experiments, some good and some not quite so successful - but all a huge, enjoyable learning experience none-the-less.
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