Future Plans for The “Bansheeyume” Project
The Banshseeyume project is one that I planned to continue to develop beyond the one-year thesis timeline and use as my introduction into the professional world. I began formulating the idea during my freshman year of college though It began as another idea that was eventually scrapped and reconstructed to become Bansheeyume. This initial idea eventually became the continuation of my current project that I plan to complete in X amount of years after I complete the initial Bansheeyume storyline. I thought It would be best to make sure this project had the best chance to be successful by conceptualizing over a long period of time. Bansheeyume didn’t get its current identity until the summer of 2018 as it was inspired by an unusual week of extremely vivid dreams that now escape me. The idea of dreams and how the mind uses them to cope with real-world experiences interested me. The foundation was solidified when I began to research deeper and came across the idea of Dream-reality confusion. Which is described as a difficulty or inability to determine whether an event or experience occurred during the waking state or whether it was part of a dream.
Because the initial idea was inspired by dreams, the design philosophy behind the project was always to “bend reality”. Meaning I wanted to display reality in a very exaggerated, surreal, and poetic way visually. I use the term experience as I see the project using many forms of visual mediums to tell the story in some way. While the manga would be the main source of any readable storytelling, I wanted streetwear to be integrated as I see that as another form of art with an opportunity to be integrated with manga. By the end of the semester, I plan to have a solid foundation that will allow me to seamlessly transition into a self-employed career as an independent artist and designer. From there I hope to grow Bansheeyume as an experience as it encompasses mediums such as manga, fashion, and motion graphics.
I see this project as a skill and portfolio building opportunity as it prompts me to constantly produce works and implement techniques to improve those works. Over the past year, I’ve seen a drastic improvement in my digital artwork technically and conceptually. I’ve been given many opportunities to work through problem-solving scenarios that have had a positive impact on my skillset. More time than ever has been spent focusing on my craft rather than other tasks that I don’t find useful to my overall mission because I chose Bansheeyume as my thesis. Just a year before I wasn’t sure if I could compete in a professional market, but because I was able to develop my skill set through my thesis, I have more confidence than ever to tackle the professional scene.
Update: I have come to the decision to compile all of this digital art into a book titled “Burning Dreams, Howling Vengeance” that I plan to compile over the next 4 years and have published.
