DONOVAN!
I made my friend Donovan a bunch of stuff for his birthday. His design interests are focused on municipal and earth moving equipment, and to a lesser extent the humans who operate it.
I am not a strong 2D designer, but as Donovan is only three years old his taste is as yet unrefined and allows for my shortcomings.
I made heavy use of The Noun Project
The mailbox is made from a nightstand covered with foam core and lots of blue paint. It was important to me that the mail door was weighted such that it would close on its own.
I have adapted to my struggles mathematics. My work-arounds almost always avoid using representational modeling of any kind in favor of methods that allow me to manipulate variables in the material world.
The unexpected difficulty of pulling off a small feat of physics.
My brother, who is my academic antithesis, helped. Representational modeling via illustration is sometimes necessary.
In addition to a dozen small paintings on cardboard, I did three larger paintings on wood. These were installed in his room one afternoon when he wasn't home.
Guests at his birthday party were invited to write a letter to Donovan and drop it in his mailbox. They could chose to write to present day Donovan, or they could postpone delivery and send a message to Donovan in the future.
When he was about two, former baby Donovan said to me, "There are a lot of pylons at someone's house." This enigmatic phrase delights and perplexes me. I bought him a collapsible pylon about it.
There are a lot of pylons at someone's house.