Sugar

what is an illustration?

purpose of assignment

My personal essay was based on personal space and how I feel conflicted when others invade it. I wrote about how I rather keep my distance with people due to the level of discomfort I feel when they are constantly in my space. However, at the same time, I have realized that invasion of personal space can be a good thing. To represent this, I decided to put moths in a sugar container. I wanted to use sugar because they symbolized addiction to me and how personal space is my addiction. I decided to add moths because they are these dull and plain creatures being trapped. I also decided to place them close together, with each invading each other’s space. In addition, I added light bulbs at the bottom of my illustration because I wanted to show that the moths would eventually go to the light where it is more alive and bright. Through my illustration of the light bulbs, I wanted to show that we can choose the brighter option as represented by the light even if our personal space will be taken away. What I basically wanted to show was a contrast of a dull and bright environment.

I started my illustration without any clear direction. I just knew that I wanted sugar to be part of my symbol. Since I wanted that to be focus of my illustration, I decided to place a huge image of it in the middle of my illustration. After seeing that I need a more cohesive look, I decided to put light bulbs as my mid ground. My biggest struggle was coming up with a background that went along with my symbol. I was quite unsure about my symbol so coming up with a background made it harder. I also had some technical problems with Illustrator. The first technical problem was layering things. Sometimes, even when I thought I added a new layer, I had accidentally put objects in the same layer. Another technical problem was sizing and arranging my illustration. There were many times where I was unsatisfied with my project that I constantly had to adjust it.