Illustration

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

Browse By

Now showing 1 - 20 of 32

Fionna James 2025
(2025-12-21) James, Fionna
Memory Garden is a series of mixed media illustrations on watercolor paper that is inspired by my time spent during the summers at each of my grandparent’s houses. After my grandma Anne passed away in January I narrowed in on my relationships to my grandmothers and explored both their similarities and differences with one another. The concept of a garden ties them together literally because they were both amazing gardeners and they each studied landscape architecture. Throughout the summer I spent time working in my sketchbooks and doing creative research to find common threads between the two of them. The finished work encompasses this research and represents the symbols and narrative that I discovered over the summer. The process is an exploration of how the identities we hold of others are non-linear and ever-changing in nature. The finished work aims to recontextualize how memory shapes relationships, and hopefully will connect with others reflecting on their own personal histories. While developing this project I wanted to infiltrate the construct I had made up of where my art can exist in the world. I tried my best to depart from the black and white thinking I'd been doing of what is fine art vs what is illustration.
Guidian Owen 2025
(2025-11-20) Owen, Guidian
SOUNDCHECK is a series of four mixed media posters highlighting queer musicians. I wanted each illustration to feel unique to the style of music, attitudes, and aesthetics of each band. The artists I depicted are Um Jennifer, Glass Beach, Kevin Abstract, and Adrianne Lenker. I was interested in depicting queer musicians because I have always been interested in how queer musicians generally express their queerness through both visuals and lyrics. I also grew up listening to queer musicians, they made me feel more comfortable in my own queer identity and inspired me to express my queerness through my art.
Katherine Meighen 2025
(2025) Meighen, Katherine
My project, titled “Folke the Kyrkogrim”, is a children's picture book about a guard dog named Folke, who through his own death, becomes the legendary folk character; the kyrkogrim. The book is written in a memoir style, telling the story of Folke’s life and death from his own perspective. I felt this was important in order to make the story more intimate, like you are sitting down to listen to an old man tell his tales. The intimate nature of the book aims to provide a bit of comfort and aid in minimizing children's fears of the unknown; helping to answer the age-old question, “What happens when we die?”
Felix Hastings 2025
(2025) Hastings, Felix
Lambie: The Nostalgia Series is a series of four blind box figure designs, inspired by themes of nostalgia and childhood memories. This series focuses on my original character Lambie, a plush sheep who serves as both a mascot and persona for myself. My thesis project explores themes of nostalgia, memories, and vulnerability through a series of blind box toys designed to feel like fragments of a childhood scrapbook. I wanted to capture small but meaningful moments, both happy and bittersweet. These memories hold both comfort and a sense of fragility, which I aimed to reflect in my designs. My project also highlights how toys can be more than just objects—they are a representation of memories, comfort, and belonging. I designed 4 unique figures, including turnaround sheets, sculpted and painted prototypes, and illustrated insert cards. Each figure was inspired by my own childhood memories. Playhouse was inspired by my memories playing in my backyard, as well as the bittersweet feeling of outgrowing your childhood. Homework was inspired by the helplessness that comes along with being a child, and the stressful memories I have of doing math homework that often left me thinking I was dumb. Play Pretend was inspired by childhood imagination and the many hours I spent daydreaming and playing pretend as a child, often with my little sister following along after me. Lastly, Cozy Day was inspired by the safe and comforting memories I have of spending days at home during weekends, vacations, and snow days, just playing games and watching movies with my sister. The turnaround sheets of each figure feature information that would be important in a manufacturing scenario, such as sculpt notes, painted details, and color palettes. Creating sculpted and painted prototypes was an important aspect of this project for me, as a multi-media artist, and these were sculpted in a mix of polymer and epoxy clay and then painted with acrylics. Often, blind box figures include insert cards of each design in the series, so I created watercolor illustrations for each of these, as well as wrote flavor text to introduce more context and create a better sense of worldbuilding in the project.
Rachel Belfrom 2025
(2025-11-20) Belfrom, Rachel
Within O.U.R world, there lies a biopunk-inspired character, Nova. A hand painted, 18-inch tall Figurine. Through her, I explore three themes that matter deeply to me which is inclusivity, identity, and mental health, especially for people who often feel unseen or misunderstood. Nova is a humanoid whose body has been altered through forced technology. She lives in a society where her senses and perceptions are controlled, and certain parts of the world are hidden from her. But she begins experiencing glitches, brief moments where she sees more than she is allowed to. Instead of seeing these moments as insight or a gift, Nova believes she is the error. That feeling of people insisting that you are the problem or that you are broken simply for being yourself became the emotional core of my project.
Georgia Rector 2025
(2025-12) Rector, Georgia
“In 1970, two childhood friends with a shared passion met a misfit farmgirl with a knack for guitar while on a trip to Montpellier. What started as a self-titled collection of the pair’s musical tinkering was about to be, well, a thing-- a spacey, rocky, multilingual, God-knows-what sounding thing. A lucky break secured the trio a deal with Disques Vogue, sending them on a years-long enterprise as the cultish weird girls of the French music scene.” -Rock & Folk Magazine, 1976 from the Lavender Valley Archive: lavendervalley.neocities.org Lavender Valley was a band of three young women that started humbly in the Pacific Northwest, achieved cult status in mainland Europe in the mid-70s, and was eventually forgotten except for a single rudimentary website founded in 1998. Though Frances, Beth, and Corinne are not actually real, my goal is to make Lavender Valley feel as real as I can. This type of storytelling is called unfiction, or immersive fictional stories told through nonfictional means. By combining unfiction with colorful vintage visuals, the Internet, and inspirations from my favorite real bands, I’m able to create a personally fulfilling extended project that necessitates I take on multiple artistic roles and goes far beyond thesis. The thesis project is made up of Lavender Valley’s 6 albums, for a total of 11 fully illustrated images. Visual codes of the design, photography, and type of the 1970s insert the band directly into reality, making the audience question if what they’re seeing is authentic. The album covers live on the Lavender Valley Archive website, the heart of the project overall. The album artwork has also been fabricated into LP slipcases and installed among real vintage albums for the audience to search for as if they were actually shopping for records. All of these methods of delivering this unfiction narrative serve to explore just how real I can make this band feel.
Yitong Li 2025
(2025-11) Yitong Li
Daydream Tavern is a worldbuilding project that focuses on character design and interior design. This worldbuilding concept is suited for industries such as game development. But I do not focus on game development or story writing; I Focus only on design and visual arts part. Daydream Tavern, is a small riverside tavern standing along a stream that flows toward the sea. Its setting is inspired by Europe in the 1980s and 1990s. During the day, travelers stop by to rest and enjoy familiar meals. The atmosphere feels peaceful, yet there is an odd sense of mystery surrounding the place. People are curious about this mysterious tavern, as it is said that you can find some unusual ingredients there. But what truly sets this tavern apart is what happens after sunset. At night, the tavern serves only monsters, and humans cannot pass through its doors. Even the owner herself is not entirely human, at a certain time, she transforms from her human appearance into a monster so she can serve the nighttime monster guests.
Rey Nolan 2025
(2025) Nolan, Rey
White Petals is a series of visual development pieces which will serve as concept art for an upcoming project of the same name. The story centers around Danielle Park, an investigative journalist sent to inspect a series of murders, initially thought of as cases of internal bleeding. Early on, she’s led to a mysterious abandoned church. Danielle’s girlfriend, Mary, joins her under the guise of wanting to shoot a short film. They meet with a botanist, Gabe, who is studying and taking care of the plants covering the former church. As they explore deeper, the story takes a supernatural twist as they become entangled in a world much greater and more floral than their own. White Petals is set around 2003/2004, so some of the items in the asset sheets (and the character designs) will reflect that. Throughout this project, you will see character sheets, asset sheets, interior pieces, backgrounds, fully rendered pieces, a preview of my other work, and challenges. Part of the purpose of White Petals is to explore parts of myself that I have historically ignored and artistically depict that through these characters. The other part will be to serve as portfolio pieces and as a guideline for me to write its story and continue development after graduation. Each of my works possess an attention to detail given to the characters, their designs, their colors, and their items so that they can tell a story by themselves.
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.

Browse By

Recent Submissions