The Illustrated Self - idea development

I started to consider myself as a character that could be a part of all of my illustrations. I didn't get very far with this, character design is not what I enjoy doing and I get frustrated with it so I decided to only use certain parts of my body in the illustrations, for examples my hands or face. I think this will provide more variation within my work but still have a common theme running through them. 

Something I wore - I wore myself out. 

I like the one on the bottom right because the rain and cloud suggests a miserable time and visually shows how the stress and late nights affected me. 

Something I have been thinking about - My knowledge of the world. 

 These were some initial ideas, I liked the idea of information being sucked in by my brain but this didn't specifically show a connection to me. 

This idea is better because it shows how I want to immerse myself in new topics and learn about things I never new about. I think it gives a sense of discovery and an eagerness to know more. 

Something I'd rather not have done - Played it safe. 

My initial ideas were based around thinking inside the box, but this idea itself was very 'inside the box'. I wanted to think of a metaphor for taking a risk and thought of diving but then walking away and not taking the plunge. I like the subtlety of this idea and think it gets my idea across well. 

Something that tasted good - My cooking. 

I went through a battle of composition with this idea, I knew what I wanted to include in the drawing but couldn't get the balance right. I like how the grip of the fork is strong as to me it suggests success and self confidence which represents how I feel when I have managed to make something good by myself. 

Something that made me happy - Meeting new people.

I am struggling with this idea because my roughs so far have been very basic and not very inventive. I think the one at the bottom has the most potential but I will need to revisit this point later. 

Something scary - The prospect of second year being even more challenging. 

At first I thought about having closed gates in front of me to show that I don't know what to expect but then I thought it would be better to have a path ahead of me that looks challenging. I like the ideas at the bottom of the page with the gates open and a difficult path ahead. I might change the gates to a flag as a kind of checkpoint with the next checkpoint in the far distance.