Illustration Project 3

Thumbnails/ sketches

Final Sketch

Final Illustration 

Reflection 

For this piece I wanted to do something whimsical and slightly magical but with a twist. I wanted the illustration to appear magical at first and then as you got closer it felt very creepy to the viewer. 

The ideas for a mermaid claw machine game to me felt like a reject that could be really fun, had great opportunity for narrative, and could have some very interesting lighting. I wanted the scene to at a first glance look like any old arcade or aiming area, but as you look closer you see that the prizes for the claw machines are little mermaids. At first this idea looks cute. You can take home a little mermaid like you would a gold fish.

The real story begins when you start to look at the body language of the mermaids. Two clutch each other tightly, others swim away. The pink tailed mermaid is in the claws clutches as the blue mermaid reaches for her. A cute little game suddenly becomes a scene of horror and chaos. It becomes a tragic tale of loss and superstation with no hope of escape. 

I didn’t want to just focus on the mermaids so to enforce the wonder/horror of this world I decided to put in a second claw machine, but the price for this one was dragon eggs. To further the horror of this little scene I wanted to make the human appear unbothered by the chaos within the machine. I wanted it to feel like a normal part of her everyday life. 

I also knew for this illustration I wanted to play with dramatic lighting and so the ideal atmosphere and neon lights really allowed the world to come alive and feel as if it was glowing. I wanted this work to force the viewer to look at and spend time with the work in order to deduce the true narrative behind it. I love pieces that have more to them the more you look at and observe them so it is my best to create an illustration to do just that.  

Illustration Project 2- Magazines

Thumb Nails

References & Inspiration

First Composition

Final Composition

Final Illustration

Final Illustration With Text

Reflection

Throughout this process I wanted to keep in mind the golden age of illustration, but specifically the 1930s is what I chose to focus on. I found some references online and chose to combine 3 or 4 different styles to create my magazine cover. I wanted to start with clean lines and a simple outline, but I liked the illustrations you could see the clear strokes of color and decided to exaggerate them to make the front page feel blurry and not quite right while also keeping in the clean line work to help define shapes and not lose the inspiration of the 1930s. 

           For the composition I chose this out of about 20 that I did, quick thumbnails of it is composed of a girl sitting alone in a room that's empty. I wanted the feeling of loneliness, but I also wanted a clear sense of space. The woman is drowning but the rest of her face is covered with a sticker of a smiley face meant to look like it was placed on the magazine’s cover. This was to hint at the fact that depression isn’t always noticeable and like it reads on the cover “ the outside doesn’t reveal what’s within”, so we can’t always take smiles at face value. I knew there would be text so I wanted to leave enough open space in the original illustration so that it wouldn’t feel cramped or cluttered. I also added the price of the issue at the bottom mostly for fun, but also to get the feel that this is a magazine cover. 

            The concept behind this was depression and how what’s on someone’s face doesn’t always match with what is going on inside of them. That is why I chose Plato as my philosopher because he deals with perception vs. reality. I wanted the magazine to read one way upon first glance, but to reveal its true nature upon further inspection, much like what happens when you interact with people, they tend to hide what’s really going on just below the surface. 

Illustration Project One- Warm Up

Mark Library 

Design One

Design Two

Design Three

Value Study

Simplifying Shapes

 

Warm Up Drawings

02/02/2026

Prompt: Fear

02/09/2026

Prompt: Circular Shapes & Sharpie Only

02/17/2026

Prompt: Witch

02/23/2026

Prompt: Line Weight 

03/03/2026

Prompt: Favorite Animal

 

Illustration Project One- Finals

Physical Design in Ink

Expressive Line-work & Flat Illustration

Mood: Dark & A Little Unnerving

Digital Design on Procreate

Surrealism & Minimalism

Dark & Whimsical

 

My Favorite 2D Work

 

Fluxus Box

 Deception

Closed

Open

Deception, Mosaic Glass Pieces, Clear Gorilla Glue, Glass Jars, Air Dry Clay, Paint, Synthetic Plants, Wood, Paper, Ink, 9”x12”x15.5”

Objects

Details

Artist Statement

This Fluxus Box was created around the concept that “things aren’t what they seem”. I’ve always had a fascination with poisonous plants and flowers and see them as one of natures biggest deceptions. Like so often with poisonous things, poisonous flowers look beautiful and are quite common in the case of the lily but can cause some nasty side effects if they are touched or ingested. This was the first deception I added to my box. At first it look like a pretty little greenhouse but as you interact with it and take out the little planters you read the side effects of each plant and get a hint of what’s wrong. The second deception is when you open the planters and find little severed body parts in each planter. Suddenly this greenhouse doesn’t seem so pretty. Thats what I wanted to accomplish with this piece I wanted to take a place that looks safe and peaceful and completely flip the viewers perception of it. I wanted to take something expected and twist into something else completely. The heart of this work is that things are seldom what they pear on the surface. 

In-Process Pictures

Research Images

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/advice/g1174/deadly-poisonous-plants/

Artist Inspiration

https://foundations3ddesign.blogspot.com/search/label/Fluxus%20Box%20Artists

Notes

The Maze Runner: Death Cure

The Emperors New Groove

The most tedious part of this process was putting the mosaic glass into each “panel” along the box and lid and then waiting for them to dry.

My favorite part was creating the little body parts by sculpting air dry clay. I’ve never used it before and it was really fun to expire next and learn how to use a new material. 

I’m happy that I was able to incorporate one of my interests into this project as poisonous plants have always been a point of interest for me. The hardest part was making each plant miniature and still resemble its actual plant counterpart. I think adding the labels with the plants name/side effect helps with that, though.