Keeping Busy
I was dying of anticipation leading up to the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but was worried I wouldn’t be able to find the time to properly enjoy it. It quickly became clear that this would not be an issue, as my final weeks of University shifted to online, and my post-graduation job fell through.
As someone who struggles with anxiety and depression, I was finding it increasingly difficult to find the motivation to continue with day-to-day life. Animal Crossing: New Horizons gave me tasks to work on each day, while building towards larger goals, and really helped keep me afloat during the start of the pandemic.
I’d just graduated from Vancouver Island University with a degree in Graphic Design, and since the job I initially had lined up had been put on hiatus, I decided to put my effort into posting daily to my newly created Instagram design account in hopes of getting more eyes on my work.
Meanwhile, life on my island of Enid was going much smoother than my real life. So it was no surprise that it would begin to inspire my design work. I used Animal Crossing as a muse for many of my pieces uploaded to Instagram during the start of the pandemic.
Enid Angler’s Club
Eventually, things were stable enough within my small town that the owners of the store I’d been offered a job at were, once again, doing well enough financially to be able to hire me, and I stopped posting daily to Instagram, as it had fulfilled its purpose (though I do continue to upload, just less fervently).
However, I didn’t stop playing Animal Crossing, and now, 300 days since its launch, it has been a part of my daily routine for each and every one of those days, and will likely continue to be for some time yet.
K.K. Worry
The work I’ve included are a sample of some of the work I produced based off of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The piece Keeping Busy [top image] was directly inspired by two of the things keeping me sane during the start of the pandemic: Animal Crossing and working on my cars.
Enid Angler’s Club: Fishing is one of my favourite ways to spend the days on Enid, hence the creation of the “Enid Angler’s Club.” K.K. Worry: Another combination of interests. This time I decided to K.K.-ify a favourite album of mine, Jeff Rosenstock’s Worry.