Illustrations

Hair Is Feminine

Self-portrait, digital, 18×24″

Hair is Feminine is a personal piece I created to show the femininity within body hair. Women are expected to be clean shaven in order to be seen as beautiful. The hair within this illustration is depicted by strands of wild lavender – which is one of my favorite flowers.

To begin, I took reference photos of different poses that exposed my armpits. Once I chose a pose that I liked, I began sketching it out in Adobe Illustrator. I chose colors that looked nice with the lavender petals. The different shades of pink show the different levels of femininity that women can express.

Self Love

Self-portrait, digital, 6×6″

Self Love represents the challenge and accomplishment of accepting and loving myself. Growing up, I have never liked my body, personality, and overall self image. I pretended to be who I wasn’t, while shoving my real identity away. I’ve learned to love myself, and to stay true to who I am. I’ve learned that I am more successful in my social and romantic life when I am genuine!

This illustration was extracted from a photo of myself in a mirror. I changed the shape of the mirror into a heart, to show I love the person I have become (and still becoming)!

Mushroom Girl

Self-portrait, digital, 6×6″

Mushroom Girl is a fictional self-portrait that represents my constant struggle of getting stuck in my head. The red mushroom, named Amanita Muscaria, is a slightly poisonous mushroom. When eaten, it causes lightheadedness, dizziness, and nausea. When I get stressed, and overthink, I feel these symptoms and they effect my ability to focus. I want to curl into a ball and sleep my problems away.

I took reference photos of my body in this position, exposing my stomach. I wanted to include the roles of my stomach, to show my “imperfections” and to connect the fiction back to the subject.

Evil Eye

Digital, 6×6″

Evil Eye was drawn as I learned the meaning of this symbol. An evil eye is caused by a stare that causes bad luck or misfortune, it is often unexpected or unknown. The ‘OK’ gesture has many connotations around the world, enabling the message to be open-ended. To me, the evil eye is ok, though it is unwanted, the only thing you can do is protect yourself and be aware of the dangers around you.

Evil Eye was the focus of a giveaway I conducted on Instagram in September of 2020. I gained over 100 followers and reached over 6,800 people! It was one of my most successful posts.