Personal projects! For the oodles of free time in my life. Nah but really, these are important, in terms of mental/creative reset. Here is the list of possibilities I compiled:

1. set of 10 cards or postcards w/simple illustrations, using color palettes from 10 of my favorite films
2. complete children’s book that has been years in the making, see it through to publishing
3. create an original music theme and score for a favorite movie scene, then create an animated version of the scene
4. brand redesign for a product I like
5. 15-min daily design challenges for 3 weeks, using designercize or chatgpt or prompts from Marc Salverda
6. “meals for menus” 5 menu redesigns for local restaurants in exchange for lunch/dinner
7. ask 5 friends for their favorite jokes or cartoon captions (don’t look at any imagery), and illustrate them using simple graphics
8. check out a new camera and take a series of 10ish (final) forced perspective photographs
9. create a series of 10-20 emojis that capture regularly-occurring frustrations of creative professionals
10. mural designs for 2 local building facades, including going through the approval process, organization, funding, and execution of the projects

Out of all of these, I’d like to do the cards/postcards. I think they might be the most useful and easy to reproduce, maybe even give away as gifts, plus a fun excuse to revisit some favorite films and draw inspiration from them. Sourcing color palettes from the chosen movies, I’d do some simple (perhaps digital or mixed media) illustrations, related to certain scenes. Could even be abstract artwork- colorblock, geometric shapes, simple outlines. I think it could be fun to either tie in the illustrations to the mood/overall feeling of the film, or to depart completely from it, while retaining common colors.

If they came out well, they would make a visually appealing addition to my creative portfolio, showcasing illustration skills and effective use and understanding of color. See moodboard below for some possible directions/scenes/illustration inspo: