leading through action
Given the choice by a professor to either design a beer label or apply to a mural contest hosted by the MSU Leadership Institute, I chose the later. It was an opportunity for me to exercise my illustration skills and offer my work into the community. Though I did not get 1st place in the contest, I did get 2nd and a scholarship prize, and I am still proud of taking a chance and putting my art out into the world.
My initial sketches featured a circle to show the cycle of aid and change, but the circle felt somewhat detached and left lots of blank space in the middle of the design. To fix this, I placed the figures within an infinity loop; this filled up a lot of empty space in the canvas and better conveyed the idea that the cycle of small acts of eladrship are interspersed and neverending.
Ideation for this project began with the question: what is a leader? Often times, people are only called leaders when placed into positions of high power, when they rule over companies or entire nations. However, the Leadership Institute prides itself on teaching students that true leaders serve the people around them in ways that lead to positive change.
I decided on using soft and inviting pastel colors to create the overall shape of each character, rather than fully coloring in each person. Initially I had only one color specific to each person, but after talking with one of my colleagues, they brought up how each person’s contribution to the next should be color coded, connecting the two persons together and helping guide the viewer’s eye through the cycle of kind acts.
