:The Calendar

After years of sketching, I’d collected a lot of drawings, enough that I felt I could finally make something out of them. The first thing that came to mind was a calendar: twelve months, twelve designs, a year of my world on someone’s wall.

But the quality wasn’t there. I was still learning Photoshop, and because I hadn’t saved the files properly, they were gone. I couldn’t trace back how I’d layered the effects to create the colours and textures. I felt hopeless. I didn’t want my first product to feel cheap or look bad just because I’d been too lazy to learn.

I was told the designs would be much crisper if I redid them in Illustrator. I’d never used it, and it felt like I had to start from zero.

Then someone pointed something out: a calendar expires. When the year’s over, you throw it out or put it in a drawer. So instead of something with an end date, I decided to make a print series. I picked the ten strongest designs and planned to release them two at a time, so the collection could build momentum and grow into a whole concept.

So I learned Illustrator and redid every design properly. It took a lot of time, and there were moments I wanted to give up. But I reminded myself that learning these things is how you make better work.

Looking back, I’m so glad it happened this way. The new series is much stronger than the calendar ever was. It’s more cohesive, and every piece feels intentional. The shapes stayed exactly the same. Only the way I brought them to life changed.

That’s how the calendar became COLLECTION 01.