Third Year!! The Essence of a Pencil

Val Garland for Vivienne Westwood

Third Year has finally started and it feels really weird to be here. Everything gets kicked off with a two week mini brief (no pressure) all about the pencil. The idea is to 'explore the qualities and encapsulate the essence of the pencil in the most innovative and challenging way'. I got thinking about the whole leaving marks part of the pencil and how the pencil is linked with childhood and learning but as we get older we are encouraged to use ink.When i was a child the pencil was creative and uncertain and mistakes didnt matter because it was a learning experience and could be easily changed. Another thing ive noticed is that the only pencils i use regularly as an adult are makeup related, like eyeliner pencils, lip liner etc.

The idea for this project is: the pencil was so free and creative when i was small then as i got older the uncertainty of making mistakes became a bad thing and every mark i made needed some kind of forward planning, so do i still have the same child-like creativity in my life in makeup or am i just conforming to ridgid beauty standards and controlled creativity.

Im going to create a series of self portraits which represent the pencil in my life from childhood until now, so showing the difference between confience and fear of making mistakes and stifled creativity or if theres still the possibility of being truly creative and breaking rules. For inspiration im looking at some really amazing makeup artists that do really avant garde stuff like Val Garland, Alex Box and Lisa Eldridge.

Alex Box creative director for makeup brand Illamasqua