Research and Design

I researched general information about letters looking for more inspiration. I looked into some of the origins of letters, like the first stamp. The first stamp used in the British postage system was the penny black in 1840. The first postcard was also sent in 1840 with a penny black stamp.

The victorian era has always been of interest to me, particularly because it links in with another topic I've always been interested in, fairy mythology. Fairy mythology before the victorian era was incredibly dark and twisted but the victorians made light of fairies, turning them from something to be frightened of to the fairies we have today, like the flower fairies imagery. 

I used that to inspire an idea for olio. In my sketch I drew a lighter fairy scene, with a girl not from fairy sat to the side, writing a postcard or a letter to someone else about everything in fairy.

I wanted to cram as much into the sketch as possible, the exact opposite to the much ado about nothing sketch. The characters are what is important, but I wanted it to be busy with lots of smaller details to only see if you really look at the picture. I also wanted to prove I could draw a scene rather than just basic characters.

I decided to take both the much ado about nothing piece and the fairy piece for my pitch.