Project Details

2D Animation,

Illustration,

3D Modeling,

PLA 3D Printing,

Photography,

Fine Art

Tools Used

Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe Animate CC,

Autodesk Maya,

Adobe Photoshop CC

BFA Artist Statement

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them” (Maya Angelou). Over the past few months, I have been really observing the people around me, not only listening to their thoughts but also watching their body language. Learning about their personalities caused me to start experimenting with symbolism in animals by creating a bestiary, which is essentially a dictionary for myths and monsters.

I wanted my bestiary to be unique to my world. So I created characters by mixing certain animals to portray specific elements of each person’s personality. I worked a lot with first impressions that dictated whether the person would be seen as a prey animal or a predator. A person seen as a prey animal is considered to be more introverted versus a predator that would be seen as an extrovert. These first impressions also show a lot of masks and shells that people wear. Some had loud extravagant features that would distract others from what was inside or a shell that hid them.

I am a multimedia artist and wanted to incorporate as many elements into the pieces as I could, so many pieces will either have an animated element or even a physical element. Additionally in each drawing, I wanted to add in my photography by using distorted photos to achieve brilliant colors into my animals.

What I wanted to make clear in these pieces was the personality behind the scenes, their raw self. I wanted each person to be aware of the features they use to evade people but to understand how important it is to show the person behind them. I wanted the audience to feel as if they are experiencing real creatures from different dimensions.