Zine artist statement

In this project, my primary aims were to make compositions that were immediate, understandable, robust, with a relatively cohesive but versatile aesthetic. I wanted each page to explore new effects and experiments, draw from different points of inspiration, and most importantly be a product of me messing around and having fun with the software over being particular, precise, or overly picky with ideas. The backbone of the concept for my zine was to make a bizarre surrealist restaurant menu inspired by the sort of dated sit down places that have menus full of ultra saturated pictures of their food. Though these pictures are rarely flattering, they make for an oddly distinct design aesthetic that is relatively easy to replicate and fun to play with. Some of my ideas went beyond the scope of that style when I really got into the weeds of making weirder, more random dishes, but I think it came across in a handful of the mostly earlier compositions I made, along with the front and back cover of the menu.

I'm glad I had constraints for the creative process of this project, because it felt liberating to not hold myself to overly serious standards and prioritize fun, learning, and following creative impulse. Because of this, I actually found myself keeping a good schedule to complete the project (I'm typically a time cruncher), looking forward to working on it most of the time, and incidently spending more time than I probably should've allotted for the project considering some of the other things I have to work on.

Ultimately, I'm pleased with the results and reassured a bit from feeling as much creative drive as I did for this project, considering how slow and cautious some of my projects can feel, especially when ideating for them.

Near the end of working on the project, I felt that I had strayed from my initial concept/aesthetic a bit too much, so I'd probably adjust that if I had to revise or improve the project, but I'm not upset with what I ended up making when I lost track of my concept a little.

This one is my favorite