Witch Characters & Interior

Photoshop - 2022

Made in my Digital Painting class, this project was an exercise in character and environmental design. It features two character turnarounds and an interior. The first character is a witch girl named Myra, known for her determination but bad luck. The second character is her familiar, nicknamed "Poncho," who has both a corvid and human form. The interior space is the witch's cottage, in which I wanted to reflect the characters' personalities without them even being there.

Weeping Willow & Fairy Tale Cottage

Photoshop - 2022

These projects involved designing both an organic and an architectural asset. For my organic asset, I designed a weeping willow tree and then placed that asset in a fantastical environment as an example of its use. For my architectural asset, I wanted to challenge myself by still using organic materials so I designed a Fairy Tale cottage for a character on a tiny scale.

The Haunted Hedge Board Game

Photoshop - 2022

This project involved designing a board game for older children. I tackled character design, board design, game piece design, packaging design, and writing rules for the assignment. Then, a physical prototype was constructed for playtesting.

What's in the Dark?

Photoshop & Mixed Media - 2022

This is a project from my Children's Book Illustration class. It is an interactive board book targetted at very young readers, with the goal of helping children overcome their potential fear of the dark. I designed a cover and some example inner pages and utilized a "magic flashlight" in its construction. After printing the pages, I cut out flaps that children could open. Behind the flaps are sheets of clear plastic, a spacer, and then black paper. There are then drawings on the clear plastic so that kids can take a white piece of paper made to look like a flashlight, slide it behind the plastic, and reveal the images.

Stretch for the Stars

Photoshop - 2022

For my Children's Book Illustration studio, this assignment features a wrap-around cover design, four inner spreads, and accompanying merch proposals. I utilized an unorthodox vertical composition for a book to emphasize my character's journey as a giraffe. The story encourages new readers to dream big and work hard for their goals. The merch proposals also demonstrate further commercial opportunities for book characters.

Goth Pigeon

Photoshop - 2022

This project from my Children's Book Illustration studio features a wrap-around cover and single inner spread idea. The story follows two birds who seemingly have very different personalities but like each other nonetheless, teaching kids to be true to their feelings and to accept other people.

Color Series

Mixed Media - 2019

This series utilizes primarily monochromatic color schemes throughout each iteration. They also all feature part of a figure, fruit associated with each respective color, multiple mixed media elements, and accompanying text.

Closure

Mixed Media - 2019

For this assignment, my art class was challenged to create a piece using a specific list of varied items. These included a playing card, colored foam, various types of paper, and textured plastic sheets. The goal was to seamlessly incorporate them into a unique composition. For my design, I focused on the idea of closure in its relation to death, both as an end and a new beginning.

TV Kid Series

Mixed Media 2019, 2020, 2021

This series includes "Technicolor Dream" (2019), "Penny for Your Thoughts" (2020), and "Art School" (2021). It explores the fear of growing up and the psychological struggle that comes with maturing. The work's creation coincided with my transition from high school to college, mirroring my own fears surrounding newfound independence. The first part focuses specifically on the desire to cling to childhood, the second on dealing with negative thoughts as an adolescent, and the third on my experience beginning to seriously pursue art in an academic setting.

Burnout Bulletin

Mixed Media - 2021

This project is from my Fibers I studio, in which we had to incorporate crochet, looming, sewing, and printmaking in one cohesive piece. I chose to focus on the concept of burnout and overachievement as I have experienced throughout my academic career. It reflects the desire to perform exceptionally well, the pressure that our current school system puts on students, and the feeling of always coming up short.

Sitting Ducks

Mixed Media - 2019

This project comments on the increasingly prevelant issue of gun violence in America, particularly in relation to schools. A seemingly soft and innocent drawing at first, fit for a children's book even, the design uses subtle imagery and wordplay to reveal a darker narrative and bring attention to such an emotionally significant topic.

Trich of the Eye

Mixed Media - 2020

This non-traditional net design centers around themes of mental health, self-expression, and vulnerability. It specifically delves into trichotillomania—an obsessive compulsive disorder characterized by the impulse to pull out hair. Eyelashes are a common focal point of the issue, and with this net brings much niche symbolism. Featured in UNCC's 2021 Juried Student Show.

Disconnected

Charcoal, Wax, Yarn - 2022

This project was made for my Figure Drawing I class but has gone on to inspire my upcoming exhibit "Desensitized." The work stradles this line between Instagram photoshoot and crime scene, focusing on the contemporary reality of how instantaneous news can affect people. In the age of the internet, global tragedies are seen nonstop, leaving most people desensitized to violence and risking its romanticization.

Self Portraits

Charcoal - 2022

These self portrait studies from my Figure Drawing I class were an opportunity to experiment with expressive markmaking and practice rendering the human face. The first is called "Frustrated" and the second is "Charcoal Self Portrait."

Still Lifes

Charcoal, Graphite, Pastel, Acrylic - 2020

These various studies demonstrate my technical skill in rendering objects from observation, both in black and white and in color. They include "Charcoal Still Life 2," (2020) "90s Retrospective," (2020) "Pastel Apples," (2020) "Overgrown," (2020) and "Charcoal Still Life 1" (2020). "90s Retrospective" particularly focuses on creating a narrative through objects, reflecting on traces of trends from the 80s-90s. "Overgrown" also creates a narrative, focusing on how nature can reclaim manmade structures.

Firebird

Colored Pencil - 2020

This study demonstrates my technical skill in rendering the human form in color.

Out of Tune

Graphite - 2019

In this drawing, I wanted to explore the idea of past interests morphing into new identities. This work features a grand piano hidden away in an attic space, but that attic space is actually the inside of a violin. It demonstrates how someone's identity and the things that seemingly define them, such as hobbies, change with them over time.

Figure Studies

Graphite, Charcoal, Pastel - 2022

These studies demonstrate my technical skill and experimentation in rendering the human body, both in black and white and in color. The work includes "Charcoal Figure," "Zoomed in Figure 1," "Zoomed in Figure 2," "Graphite Foot," "Graphite Skull," "Pastel Figure 1," "Pastel Figure 2," and "Graphite Figure."

Self Portraits

Photoshop - 2022

These self portraits are from my Digital Painting class. They helped me practice digitally rendering human faces and background, while also including creative narrative details via clothing and poses. They include "Desert Scene Self Portrait" and "Villain Self Portrait."

Why Do Aliens Abduct Cows?

Adobe Fresco - 2021

From my Illustration I studio, these three designs all explore the prompt "Why Do Aliens Abduct Cows?" Each utilizes a different size composition as a problem-solving challenge. Moreover, together they can be viewed as a sequential story, revealing that aliens abduct cows so that they can have milk at their cookie party.

Plaga MMXXI

Adobe Fresco - 2021

This project utilizes my own photo reference to create an illustration reflective of the year 2021. I incorporated elements of the historic Black Death to mirror the Covid-19 Pandemic, but also included some subtle details to reveal the actually modern setting.

Plagued

Ink & Marker

This illustration tells the story of a plague doctor rushing off somewhere in the middle of the night. It demonstrates my line-work, movement, and storytelling capabilities.

Preservation

Marker - 2019

With this illustration, I wanted to communicate issues of environmental protection and habitat preservation. Each of the habitats are kept preserved by scientific equipment, but each are at risk of the effects of pollution and global warming. These risks include deforestation, melting icecaps, acidification, etc.

Owl Eyes & Cordial Corvid

Scratchboard & Acrylic - 2018-2019

These animal studies allowed me to focus on texture within close-up compositions. It demonstrates my mark-making ability and use of emphasis with a unique medium. "Cordial Corvid," the second piece, also delves into ideas regarding death. Crows and ravens often symbolize death, which is something people often attempt to romanticize or dress-up to be more tolerable, but it is dark nonetheless.