Artist Statement:
'The Trick in creating an immersive Illustrative world or distinctive style is consistency.
By simplifying my pallet to White on Black with an allowance for hints of colour I aimed to create a harmonious portfolio of an abstract and highly stylised 'Shadow world'.
Working traditionally with White gel pens and pencil crayons on paper/card of which I have also recently introduced inexpensive children's stickers in which to keep a sense of playfulness within the inverted colour scheme.
Initially the play on perspective and the warping of the worlds environment was to experiment with contrasting dark empty space and areas of obsessive detail however in time its convenient use for text space potential has since given me a better understanding of how to structure my scenes.
The aliveness this gives my backgrounds is polarizing in effect with the blanked eyes of the inhabitants of the world. The whispers of detail upon the characters faces hinders the indications of a characters emotions and with the lack of facial expressions as well as the absence of facial features and skin tone seemed a limitation on character design but by enhancing the high detail and silhouettes of the outfits and focusing on exaggerated poses the story and character design is further enhanced.
I find that creating none digitally that the 'flow' strikes most intensely in making small mistakes; the gel pen leaks and in the hurried fix it gives me pause for thought to take the piece in a slightly different direction. The scanner has unevenly picked up the dark background but it has unspeakably given the space texture and depth! For these reasons I like to celebrate that un-perfectionistic attitude by not being so irritated by the small marks and scuffs, the touch of white pencil crayon scratching in a overall highly polished looking image allows for character to form. Editing for my work practice is there only to enhance and despite the time saving and simpler correction abilities it can risk losing the human touch. Overall I want my art to read as fun and approachable. I do not aim for realism. In the end I want my illustration's to look like illustration's. The kind of illustration's I would love to see'
