For this project, I explored childhood creativity. As kids, we are much more open minded, curious, and creative. As we grow older, we tend to lose a lot of those qualities. Thus, my oblique strategy was to channel, or access, your inner child. I designed four characters which represented the four steps to channel your inner child: exploration, imagination, play, and love. For the symbols themselves, I wanted to reflect the cartoons that I drew and engaged with as a kid. The childlike nature of the icons themselves reinforces the overall theme of my strategy. Further, I wanted to implement an interactive element to my laser cut portion of the project. I wanted to replicate children’s shape toys (whereby they fit shapes into corresponding shaped holes) as a way of creating a fun activity for the audience, and bringing in more of the childlike element. I also hope that each person will engage differently with the piece, therefore embracing their own creativity.

 

My main sources of inspiration for my characters were the cartoons that I grew up watching, as well as the drawings that I myself created as a kid. I often drew animated animals and objects with large eyes, so I wanted to create characters that reference those while staying true to my current style. I wanted to use simple, recognizable shapes, again to make this piece accessible and easily understandable. I chose to implement gradients and variations in tone (such as the highlight details on some of the characters) in order to create more depth and a more retro look. As a whole, I hope my project conveys the message of embracing and connecting with your inner child in order to be more creative.