Illustration

Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/10177/40386

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 24

Dylan Mead 2025
(2025-04-14) Mead, Dylan
‘Squander Your Potential’ is a multimedia installation, analyzing the concepts of potential, self-actualization, and all the self-sabotage that comes with being creative in the 21st century. In the context of a constructed fictional city, “Lew Nork City,” combining the signs and symbols of New York and Los Angeles, I’m questioning the role large cities play in artistic career and ambition, and what they represent for success and failure. I am using this exhibition to probe personal questions about art, career, ambition, success, and how labor affects an artist’s spirit. To the viewer, this installation becomes an immersive trip into 'Lew Nork City' and the life of an artist, inviting you to explore whether or not the idea of “potential” is something viable, tangible, or even a healthy thing to live by.
Soren Spina 2025
(2025-04-14) Spina, Soren
For this project I am mostly working digitally to create character designs, backgrounds/environments, and assets, as well as write a 12 minute pilot episode and season outline. The physical style of the piece will combine a more cartoonish style for characters and objects, mixing them with a looser style for backgrounds and environments. Some of my biggest inspirations for Nowhere Special are series like Over the Garden Wall, Yellowjackets and Welcome to Night Vale. I really enjoy the way that a lot of these stories seem to take place somewhere outside of time. The way that the characters within these worlds exist in such a strange and removed place is so intriguing to me. I also really enjoy these stories' balance of comedy and seriousness, as someone who likes to be a bit silly within my work. I really appreciate when a piece of media can find a good balance between fun and plot. My hope for my thesis after graduation is to pitch it to a studio like adult swim or channel Frederator, but since I am aware that getting a series picked up (especially with how streaming treats animation right now) is very challenging, I could also see myself creating my series independently and then releasing it onto a site like youtube for people to be able to enjoy.
Relic Michelle Puente 2024
(2025-04-15) Puente, Relic
Step into the shoes of Soloria Cervantes as we help our friends Aneli, Ismena, and Octavia run a food stall at a big convention over the weekend! Dressed in bows, frills, and heels, get ready for the feels! Panadería is a visual development project with a vertical slice demo for an eventual visual novel-styled dating sim that utilizes character costuming in connection to aspects of personal identity. Each character has been designed and written through the lens of different contexts, such as heritage, religious affinity, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Each theme is utilized not only in a way that connects to their storylines and backgrounds, but also in how those themes have transformed the characters' outlet of self-expression, making costuming an important aspect of this project.
Audrey Shuman 2025
(2025-04-14) Shuman, Audrey
For my thesis project I created a 48 page self-ended picture book dummy about a shepherdess who turns into a werewolf, as a metaphor for medical trauma. Her journey is about self-acceptance and about the difficult emotions that arise from developing a chronic illness at a young age. The story talks about a lot of difficult emotions, but the overall message is about leaning on friends and family for support and that even if you have a chronic illness, it doesn’t mean you’re broken. The core idea of my project is to tell the story of a girl who is a shepherdess in a fantasy world. She spends her days tending to her flock and is very dedicated to her task. But one night she starts hearing howling and it keeps happening night after night. On the third night she goes out to investigate because it keeps scaring the sheep. She wanders into the night and is bitten by a werewolf, she is scared and confused and runs home to her parents. Her parents are upset but they accept her and comfort her, but she is in denial about it and acts like everything is normal. But her body starts changing and it makes it harder to do her job, eventually she reaches a breaking point and runs away from home. Her family chase after her, when they find her, she tells them to go away but they stay and talk through things with her. They talk to her about how things won’t be easy but that she can work through them and still achieve her goals. And that things are harder, but she is not broken or wrong, just different. In this way my story will be a metaphor for what it’s like to have a chronic illness.
Oliver Owens 2025
(2025-04-17) Owens, Oliver
Tometoiled is a fantasy roleplaying game which draws upon many different inspirational sources to create something which feels both familiar and new. Pulling from more traditional fantasy (ie. gothic, high fantasy) to weirder fantasy (ie. 70’s pulp and art house films) as well as the occult symbolisms of tarot, victorian illustrations, engravings, and illuminated manuscripts. This game allows players to access a more embodied gameplay experience by focusing on engaged storytelling and sensory descriptions. Players will be guided through stories told by the game master and interact with the world around them based on the cards in their decks/hands. These cards are highly reminiscent of tarot, being fully illustrated with loads of symbols held within. It differs from traditional tarot by employing the five sensory organs in place of the four suits of tarot (wands, swords, cups, and coins). These new suits are to give the GM and players descriptive examples of what their characters are experiencing, as opposed to rolling dice to see what happens (as is commonplace in most other TTRPG’s). This game in addition to being an RPG is a deckbuilder game, where the players and game master are “leveling up” by adding additional cards to their decks/hands giving them more options in their experience. There is no goal to a roleplaying game other than to tell great stories, however in tometoiled the character creation process allows players to have personalized “life goal” for their characters, giving a stronger sense of personality and direction to the narratives created. Tometoiled thrives by not over encumbering any GM or player with too many rules which are set in stone, allowing for exploration and creativity. Some sections of the book and cards are not fully defined and give room for one's imagination to wander.
Alexandra Lawson Mangum 2025
(2025-04) Lawson Mangum Alexandra
Pory Roku My main inspiration for my thesis in general is mythology and folklore, more specifically Slavic and Eastern European folklore. I created a 12 month calendar inspired by Slavic myths and folklore as well as Slavic culture and their associations with the seasons rooted in paganism. Each image in the calendar draws influences from different folktales as well as characters like gods, goddesses, mythical creatures, and deities. My family on my mothers side is Ukrainian, Russian, and generally Eastern European, so my personal family history has also informed the subject of my project. I have created 5 copies of the calendar as well as twelve larger posters to display the illustrations. It is an illustration project first, and a design project second, and is a deeply personal project showcasing my interests and love for mythology as well as the pride I feel for my family history and where I come from.
Jesse Armstrong, 2025
(2025-04-25) Armstrong, Jesse
For my thesis I created a series of character designs, poster illustrations, and icons for my story As Above. In this narrative, the Hell Vessel has descended upon the planet Antigone and unleashed an invading demonic horde. Our protagonist, Princess Alexandria, is fighting to protect her kingdom, but the invasion unearths deeply buried secrets that may tear her kingdom and family apart. The entirety of the project is executed digitally on both Procreate (iPad) and Photoshop (computer). Prior to executing each design I spent time collecting and reviewing reference material, before moving into the thumbnailing and sketch phases, and then into the line art and rendering phases.
Robin Winwood 2025
(2025-04-15) Winwood, Robin
My project, titled “Philip’s Monster,” is a 40 page separate ended picture book about Philip the mouse, and the monster that follows him throughout his everyday life. The book explores themes of platonic intimacy and the comfort of home, as well as trauma, emotional sensitivity and mental illness. The book is memoir-esque in that Philip’s experience is a direct parallel to my own. The book is largely a reflection of my complicated and difficult feelings around the friendships and losses I experienced as a homeschooled, autistic adolescent growing up in the Pacific Northwest. Philip’s Monster is a retrospective project for me, which gave me space to look back on my childhood, while also serving as a stepping stone into my adult life. Going forward, I plan to pitch this book dummy to publishers and agencies, while using it as a portfolio piece in the meantime.
India Rel-McNeese 2025
(2025-04-24) Rel-McNeese, India
Baby Teeth is a Midwestern Gothic fairytale taking the form of a 64-page picture book dummy with graphic novel elements. It follows twelve-year-old Luisa, who has grown unhappy with the many changes in her life. Leaving her old home behind, Luisa and her mother start anew in an isolated rural town. Strange teeth and a mysterious creature begin to appear as she grapples with her fears of growing up. Although Baby Teeth is not autobiographical, it is intrinsically connected to my experiences in Nebraska, my family's history, and my childhood. Like a scrapbook, all of these little pieces of myself have been taped together into a single narrative. This project has become more than just a story, but rather a therapeutic exploration of fear, grief, and the many experiences that have shaped me.
Izza Pollacek 2025
(2025-04-15) Pollacek, Izza
Circuitboard is an illustration-based skate brand that explores creative freedom, interconnectivity, and the subconscious mind. I’m using the human body as a vessel to express these ideas. Circuitboard expresses new avenues of design and illustration working together through 2D and 3D realms. Through various mediums such as carpentry, painting and digital illustration, I’ve constructed a series that brings illustration and skateboarding together. In this project, I’ve abstracted the body to explore the layers that shape who we are—memories, regrets, inspirations—all the things we carry. My work invites vulnerability and acceptance, embracing the intricate parts that make us whole and letting our guts spill out figuratively. Skateboarding is deeply physical, and I imagine the skateboard as an extension of the body. If our experiences left marks, etched into us, the board would carry those too—becoming a part of both body and mind.
Laura Quintero Anton 2025
(2015-04) Quintero Anton, Laura
El Camino del Quetzal This 24-page visual essay reports the journey of Gally, an undocumented immigrant, and depicts her dream of finding a better future for herself and the family she left behind in Guatemala. Through illustrations, which incorporate textures and analog-made elements, I explored different emotions that Gally experienced along her journey. Furthermore, the visual essay expresses Gally's hope and courage to achieve the American dream.
Alex Zarate 2025
(2025-04) Zarate, Alex
The First Cyber Monarch is a 28 page visual essay that tells the story of Valeria, an immigrant who moves to a new city where technology triumphs. We follow her and through her experiences as an immigrant. A vision of a new life, experiences, emotions, feelings and perspective. With her, we get to meet new people with unique personalities that comes with moving to a new place to help those close to you. Her new life, emotions, feelings, experiences, perspective are what real immigrants feel. We are not aliens, illegals or wetbacks but we are human. We experience the complexities of what it is to be human and even the mistreatment we still experience to this day.
Emma Schoeni 2025
(2025-04-16) Schoeni, Emma
Revision is a messaging campaign designed to create a narrative of possibility and agency for women’s sports. It is designed to inspire, to actively subvert gender expectations, and to challenge social paradigms to reclaim negative narratives surrounding women’s sport with a sense of agency. It is a celebration of athletes and a celebration of creativity. It is a multimedia endeavor, blending design and illustration in different ways to emphasize its message. That message centers on creating a culture of support for women’s sports and inspiring young athletes everywhere to keep playing. It aims to balance the challenges being faced with celebrating the success, progress, and the positive impact of women’s sports. This is a project that celebrates all I have learned and continue to learn from sports and visualizes what I believe sports can become.
Albany Case 2025
(2025) Case, Albany
Through creating a pitch bible for an animated feature film including character designs, backgrounds, and supplemental illustrations, I used the characters of anthropomorphized racehorses to explore themes of male relationships, their nuances, the dynamic shift that defines a romantic or platonic relationship, and to make an authentic and accessible narrative of male-male love. Targeted at general audiences, Off the Bit seeks to bring queer stories to a broader demographic and to remove the stigma of queer stories being only for adults. Following the story of the characters Sterling Silver, Lord Desmond, and Little Red, this work’s focus themes are self-acceptance, finding your own peace, found family, and adjusting to major life changes and how those changes affect the relationships a person has.
Laura Livingston 2025
(2025-04-15) Livingston, Laura
Picture a world beyond our own, where the differences between us is what makes us strong- Welcome to the Galaxii! This line of unique and vibrant dolls are ready to accompany children across the farthest reaches their minds can imagine, teaching them that we don’t have to look, sound, or even think alike to form lifelong connections. Each Galaxii member has their own unique build and special characteristics that help them to conquer the unique challenges of their environment and make them special in their own way, and every child can learn to embrace what makes them special alongside their new intergalactic friends in this new journey of friendship! This presentation will explore the creation and ethos behind six unique characters , and how they’ve each been modeled into compelling and interesting doll designs.
Lena Gonzales 2025
(2025-04) Gonzales, Lena
The Silly Billy Sticker Sheets are five pages starring my original characters, Silly Billys, engaging in various scenes and activities. Each page has a theme that the stickers correspond to, such as Food, Ocean, Big City, Day in the Park, and Fashion Week. These sticker sheets act as a lighthearted satire of everyday life with a dash of odd cartoonish humor. This product is for entertainment purposes and acts in tandem with a wider pitch for a future merchandise brand starring the same characters. My main objective with this project is to bring joy and laughter to others when they view this work. The world has become a very serious and scary place, so I want my work to make people feel better and be a reminder to have fun and be silly every once in a while. The Silly Billys will be drawn in various ways and sizes (multiple heads/feet, arms/no arms, etc). This diversity of their forms is meant to replicate real people and the diverse communities we live in. These sticker sheets and their themes reflect our ordinary world and activities through a nonsensical lens while promoting living life to the fullest, even through the stupidest of means. Although its main purpose is to entertain, it is also a weird love letter to life and the things in it that give the world vibrancy and joy.
Francis Bagby 2024
(2024-11-20) Bagby, Francis
“The Urban Adventures of Pigeon Girl” is a 24-page black-and-white comic strip zine which marks the starting point for an ongoing series. It’s written first and foremost to be a satirical young-adult comedy, while touching on themes of anxiety, social awkwardness, and queer romance. The titular Pigeon Girl must deal with everyday problems while living in downtown Port Detritus circa the early-2000s; it’s a city teeming with monsters, mutants, aliens, and everything in-between! But other than that, it’s pretty normal. Her escapades toe the line between ordinary and absurd, with the setting and surrounding characters exaggerating mundane experiences like buying a CD into over-the-top chaos. She’s often pushed into new scenarios by her outgoing friend Kitty Cactus; Kitty doesn’t know it, but Pigeon Girl has a massive crush on her, which helps motivate the plot in their stories together. While the comic is based on my personal experiences with young adulthood, it’s intended for a broader audience including readers from ages 14 to 25 who value unconventional and lighthearted perspectives on the subject.
Kendall Carnell 2024
(2024-12) Carnell, Kendall
Cafe Mocha, is a young adult graphic novel series about navigating the chaos of adulthood, while also exploring themes of relationships, mental health, and family. After moving to a new town for college, Moka, our kind yet nervous bundle of joy, struggles to adjust to her new surroundings and make new friends. That is until she meets and falls in love with Kohi, the town’s most eccentric inhabitant. Cafe Mocha, will be a graphic novel series consisting of a total of four books. Presented at thesis was the first chapter of the series, which follows the story of Moka trying to get to work on time and Kohi coming to her rescue. This chapter consisted of 12 fully colored pages that mixed digital media and traditional media, mainly watercolor for the backgrounds. I took the watercolor backgrounds and scanned them into Clip Studio, to correct any imperfections, and tweaked them to fit the style of the comic. I have printed a prototype of the comic to be presented as a proof of concept to be pitched to a publisher or to be used for a kickstarter.
Aidryn Hinderhofer 2024
(2024-12-06) Hinderhofer, Aidryn
“Following the Light” is a picture book that deals with themes of personal resilience, community, and queer identity. The story follows a small insect faerie named Moth. They are a mail courier with one last package to deliver who, upon getting distracted by a grove of glowing plant life, finds that they’ve lost their way in the surrounding forest without a light to guide them. Moth wanders until they find their way to another faerie’s door. They introduce themself as Firefly and offer to show Moth to their final destination in order to finish their delivery. “Following the Light” is a 8x10”, 48 page, self ended picture book dummy intended for an audience of older children from the 4th to 6th grades (9-12 years old). The entire book is brought to the rough sketch stage, toned in black and white. Two important spreads, as well as the cover, are finished entirely. The whole thing is compiled in a dummy ready for publisher consideration.
Jordan Flowers 2024
(2024) Flowers, Jordan
Introspection: the examination or observation of one's own mental and emotional process. This set of three paintings and three embroidered doilies simultaneously evokes feelings of isolation and connection, as well as growth.

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