Study Task 1 - About the author Zine

Designing the Zine: 

• Based on the facts I had learnt about Huxley I wanted to make my zine about his connection with the mescaline drug. 
• I looked at photographs of the peyotes and did some sketches, they are really cool looking so could work nicely as a page for the zine. 
• I like how they form in a weird abstract repetitive pattern, some interesting pictures could be made with this.

• I did some rough layouts of the pages for my zine, I liked the idea of having a slight narrative.
• Maybe having Huxley getting the mescaline and try to show how it was the solution to his problem.
• I liked the idea of him sat at the desk thinking about ways he could fulfil his need for a new psychedelic experience.
• And then a double page filled with a peyote pattern to emphasise the use of mescaline, and it works as a nice image that gives an almost psychedelic appearance with the odd repetitiveness. 
• I want to use some type to explain his thoughts in each scene. 

• I like this double page for the end of the narrative, where he is letting the drugs do there thing.
• The shapes going off the page work well to give the idea of 'expanded' or 'extended' thoughts.

These are refined thumbnails of my zine pages where I have figured out the narrative and the text that will go with the images. The narrative will show Huxley coming into possession of the mescaline and use text and imagery that explains his thoughts and the effect of the drug.

A quick sketch for the front cover design, a portrait combined with parts of the peyotes structures, makes a nice vignette image for the centre of the cover.

Final Zine:

• Front and back cover. (Back) A small icon/symbol of a peyote.

• Page 1/2 - Sat at the desk contemplating life, thinking about meditation and his need for a better psychedelic experience, and also the words Humphry Osmond (how he found out about the drug).

• Page 3/4 - A peyote pattern flowing across the pages, representing the discovery of them and them coming into his life. 

• Page 5/6 - Holding the cactus, thinking deeply about it, contemplating 'drug or research chemical?'.

• Page 7/8 - A look of shock in his face, the point where the drugs kick in and he realises what can be achieved with them, along with his quote ".... a toxic short cut to self transcendence." I felt this worked really well with what i'm trying to visualise in the image and helps explain it.

• Page 9/10 - The final double (above), where he is experiencing the drugs at there fullest and making discoveries within his head, with the title of his book 'The Doors of Perception' as i guess this was the point where his perception was changed, and the doorway is put onto the characters head.

Overall i'm pleased with how I managed to have a narrative run through my zine. I think it made the zine more involved with his life rather than just a series of images to do with Huxley. I feel like I made it quite personal to his life. In feed back it was said that it gave a funny comic style view on his life. And that the way I have been drawing his character suites the theme and tone of voice I am trying to achieve with my designs, so the caricature is something I will continue to develop. Im not so please with how the type turned out in final drawings - I wanted a hand crafted appearance but it is too inconsistent and hard too read. The use of colour in the rough was effective - I would have included this in the final if i didn't spent to much time thinking about how to make the narrative work.