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I work in animation and narrative illustrations. My works center around character driven stories that I animate or illustrate. Comics serve as both standalone projects  and for storyboarding  my animations. The two mediums often go hand in hand due to how much they overlap. Most of my comics are made through physical media , while all my animations are digitized. Both media are refined in the art programs clip studio and procreate.  My materials are usually a T square , technical pens, and dip pens on Bristol paper for comics. While I use my iPad Air 2020, HUION Kamvas 13 Graphics Drawing Tablet. All of these are my usual tools. Animation and comics are a preferred form of storytelling that allows the viewer or reader to immerse themselves in the narrative.  There is a saying my family uses: “I can show you better than I can tell you.”. I do just that through my comics. 

 

For my senior exhibition, I am making both a two minute prologue animation and a follow up twenty page comic based called: Moonlit lemonade. It is a scifi-fantasy story about a private investigator who has two days to solve a missing person’s case. She is hounded by the victim’s close relatives , her collaborators in the precinct , and her own mysterious nature. Her only clues are a few commonalities between her and the missing , the strange robot filing the case,  as well as a half squeezed Lemon on the floor. 

The theme throughout the story is how others define you vs how you define yourself, and the complications that come with human nature. This can go into real life parallels of conformity , cultural assimilation , and self identity. ( This is further emphasized as the main character, Valora , is black. A people that has often dealt with cultural assimilation as well as conformity, which often lead to a confused sense of self identity. )Where some feel the need to change but others feel the need to be the same, and both would be highly uncomfortable in their opposite outcomes. 

 

 I work heavily in characterization , with the goal being  my characters coming to an understanding or self discovery as they experience life’s peculiarities. Sometimes it’s funny , sometimes  it’s weird . Sometimes it’s devastating , but it is a part of living and coming to terms with it. Through this, my audience can relate to their struggles in one way or another. 

 

My inspirations for said works are Tex Avery, Blacksad (created by Spanish authors Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido ), Alex Milne (an artist for Transformers:more than meets the eye IDW comic), Osamu Tezuka , and Odunze "Whytmanga" Oguguo creator of Apple Black, to name a few.