The Play Zine

Illustrator Collage: Campaign for Play

Based on the article featured on MSNBC, Experts: Lack of play time is hurting children, Associated Press copyright 2009, I've made a "campaign for play" poster. That's me in the background, discussing something "serious" missing out on Elanor chucking the hay everywhere!

I like this image, because it's good message for these days. The best things in life are still free.

Peeks Traced and Filled In

A sketch of Peeks.


A tracing of Peeks.


Peeks filled in.

I picked Peeks because he was fun to work with -- lots of obvious shapes and crazy colors to begin, and clean lines, fun lines to trace. I had some difficulty with his hair on the right side, and far left -- it colors black when I tried to apply the gradation.

Logos - Visual and Words

THE AFTER
I went back home and applied new ideas from class to creating logos. In each of these I tried to reflect a playful creativity in coming to learn at Souderton Charter School Collaborative, my daughter's school. Here's what I came up with:


The Weave & Butterfly; this is my favorite.



The Butterfly



The Mapleleaf



The Tree


THE BEFORE
For my picture logo, I focused on creating an image for my daughter's school, Souderton Charter School Collaborative (SCSC). As you might guess from the name, one of SCSC's primary goals is to be a community that creatively collaborates. This matches with the abstract meanings I've been drawing out of my Doodad project -- encouraging children to run with their imaginations, to get into the story -- where play is real learning -- confined in safe and appropriate spaces.

The idea, I liked, but flushing it out was a challenge. I started with the image of a woven cloth, then moved to an image where you can't see the seams of the cloth. Then, I added an image of one of the school's front windows, and played around with how to use the cloth there. The last two logos are examples of this.

Why these are in process -- I actually like the concept behind these, but the images don't grab me -- despite the time it took to fill in the colors and weaving patterns!


Woven cloth, with seems and colors I like.


Woven cloth, no seams with school colors.


Window into the world, through a woven cloth. The window frame designates boundaries.


Window into the world, weaving extending it's boundaries.

Doodad Collage

Entering Wonderland.

I chose to arrange the collage to show play as my two daughters, Elanor and Claire, see it. Their imaginations are incredible. When they play, they become part of their toys' world. That world is real. To illustrate this world, I picked Alice and the cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. This photo is courtesy of Lenny's Alice and Wonderland Site and is illustrated by John Tenniel. I chose this not just for Lewis Carroll's depiction of Wonderland, but also for how books frame and outline their play. It's magical to listen to. As a backdrop I used a flower pot to suggest that our creativity flourishes within boundaries, within limits. Order and creativity must mingle. If you have only order, there can't be freedom for creativity. If you have only creativity, you cannot make use of it or see it. They both need each other.



The fairy.



A container.


Elanor


Peeks, a doodad.


The umbrella, a doodad.


Claire, on the left.


This photo is courtesy of Lenny's Alice and Wonderland Site. Illustrated by John Tenniel.

Fairies: Through the Eyes of My Daughters

Where they live, in the tree next door.


Come in, Fairy.

6 Images of Doodads: on their own terms

This is how Peeks lives, in his box.



Peeks' hand.



How Peeks got his name. Likely from China.



Under the doll umbrella, looking up.



The top of the umbrella, looking down.



The umbrella collapsed.