I wanted to create an Illustration based around growth and the struggles that come with that.

I know anyone can relate that growing comes with growing pains. The older we get, the more things we go through. Victories, Failures, Redemption, Tragedy, etc...

That's what this illustration represents for me personally and I hope that others can relate to it as well.

P.S.- I ended up taking this design and getting long sleeved shirts printed with the design on the back and the typography printed on the right sleeve.

Brain Dump/Rough Doodles:

In this part of my process, I literally just listed things that came to my mind when I thought about my life, growth, and things that I struggle with. I listed things both painful but also things with redemptive overtones in mind as well.

Look & See - image 1 - student project

Refine Message:

In this part of my process, I finalized what I wanted each element to represent. This is where the whole title of the Illustration came together for me. As I was writing what I wanted this illustration to represent/the story I wanted it to tell, the words LOOK AND SEE stuck out to me more than anything. I couldn't get away from it. It was fitting for the message and so I went with Look and See.

Look & See - image 2 - student project

Final Rough Sketch of Illustration:

This was the final sketch/Rough Idea I created right before taking it to be finalized

Look & See - image 3 - student project

Final Illustration:

The finished illustration. The design is a bit busy and chaotic to me, but thats just how I wanted it because it tied into the message even more for me personally. The chaotic-ness of this illustration represents how life can be (at-least for me personally). But even in and through the growth, pain, and chaos of life, I can Look and See beauty in and around it all.

Plants/Flowers Representing growth and beauty. The thorns in the mix representing the Pain that comes with that.

The Skull representing death. Sometimes the struggles that we face can feel like the end of us.

The hand gesture. That gesture stands for 'OK'. Representing everything is going to be Ok in the end. I was unsure at first why I placed the hand over the eye of the skeleton, it was more of an aesthetic thing I guess, but then it all made sense when I came across the words LOOK AND SEE. Looking through the chaos and messiness of life to find the beautiful things and being hopeful.

Look & See - image 4 - student project

Look & See - image 5 - student project

Brett Wilbanks

2

2