Environmental Storytelling: Choosing Locations.

For this brief, we were asked to go out and draw three different environments, two of which had to be unfamiliar to us (well, that's the brief in a nutshell). I had no idea where I wanted to go, so got a few suggestions:

- Harrogate
- Seaside/the coast
- Tropical World (my sister has been pestering me for MONTHS to take her there, but no).
- Brimham rocks

The coast really stood out to me, as there would be a nice combination of nice views and towns/buildings, and I could even look at fairground rides if there were any. Despite this, I was still unsure of whether I wanted to go. I had been to a lot of the main places along the coast anyway (eg. Blackpool, Scarborough, etc), and wanted to stay true to the brief and not cheat. That, and it was going to be FREEZING at the coast.

I decided I wanted to go to a town or city, and ruled out looking at rural environments, simply because I thought urban places would allow for more interesting drawings, and I could look in depth at the architecture of the buildings, and really consider the space surrounding them.

After a few days of thinking, I finally decided on my locations. York and Nottingham. I chose York because I had heard that it was a beautiful city and wanted to check it out for myself. I would be able to look at the Shambles, York Minster, Clifford's Tower, and the medieval walls that enclose the city.
The reason for Nottingham isn't as good though I'm affraid. Two of my dearest friends moved to Nottingham back in July, and I haven't seen them since then. I was invited to stay over with a couple of other friends, and thought it would be a good opportunity to walk into the city center to do some drawings while I am there. Granted, the reasoning behind choosing Nottingham isn't ideal, but it is still a popular tourist destination and It would be nice to find out why. I do know that Nottingham is home to the largest city square in the UK, which is dominated by the Council House, which would be nice to draw.

For my final familiar place I think I'm going to stick to Leeds. In particular, I'm going to look at the city center, and the different shopping quarters as I think the architecture in those buildings are beautiful.