Rose: A Junior Narrative Illustration by Nina Clauer (2018)

In my Flash fiction I am exploring the feeling of perfection. The greater idea in my flash fiction is that to be happy, you don’t need to be perfect. I am showing that through a female teenager that is searching for a perfect rose from her dreams and fails because all she finds is a “ugly” rose. I started my layout with thinking about what personality traits I wanted my illustrated animal to have. I chose a puma head to show loyalty, but also beauty. I chose a baby bear because it represents youth, and I chose a horse to symbolize shyness and kindness. When I started sketching my animal I wanted it in a position where it is in a hurry but also lost. In detail I focused on having earth tones that connected the metaphors from nature to characteristics such as kindness, calmness and shyness. For the background I chose the opening cover of my Flash Fiction in which I have a beautiful bright rose with the golden light of the sunrise making it almost glow. I am representing my character at the beginning of her journey in her dreamworld right when my flash fiction starts.

As a costume I chose to do a fancy shirt because it shows the girl trying to show off with clothing to appear perfect. The shirt with little details reminded me of a really fancy designer shirt that pops out in color and in which she is almost trying to hide because she thinks the rest of her would not be good enough.