Roughs...

Peyote Brains

I revisited the idea of giving my Huxley character a brain made of peyotes, It was difficult to figure out how to construct the image but eventually I had some good roughs. This design would translate nicely into print because it involves lots of overlapping. I really like using solid green circles for the shape of the peyotes, it makes a nice variation from line work. I want to try and push the use of shapes in this design and see how I can break the image down and simplify it.

I like how this design works conceptually. It creates ideas about the human mind/brain, and how peyotes have altered the way Huxley thinks. 'The Doors of Perception' is all about how the drug gives him a new perception on the world around him, or lets him realise and differentiate between the alternate perceptions. I guess this image would represent him using the drugs.. (looking through the doors of perception).

I tried some variations of the image...

• I don't like how it looks contained in a triangle shape, I think it works better as a floating vignette image. 
• I really like the brain as just a solid green shape with no separate peyote sections. This is a tricky one because I like them both. The other could suite the concept more but I think the subtlety of the solid brain works really well, especially with the overlapping lines that follow from the face shape and separate the brain (bottom right).
• Overall I like the facial structure and form to the image, I want too explore how I can develop this idea into a print.

It made me start to think of what would work for my final set of prints... Each print could be a vignette illustration of something totally different but that still represented and communicated the same themes. I like how these two images work with each other, they are both graphic and iconic, and have a similar balance of colour and line work. A set of 5 prints with these consistent qualities could work well. I want my finals to match and have an obvious connection with each other.