artist statement
Header image from The Wind Rises, directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Central Question:
How do we change the racial landscape in media, especially in the cartoon world?
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Answer:
By contributing to the community myself! For my capstone project, I have created three, original, POC characters using an iPad, iPencil, and the Procreate app. This journey incorporated not only learning a new medium, but also how to represent non-white characters.
Literature
With the rise of social media and better development of technology, digital drawing has only become more popular with time. People use websites like Tumblr and Instagram to share their own interpretations of various existing fictional characters, as well as their own. Because there are many different types of digital art, I wanted to focus on digital drawing in my capstone. This medium emerged with the development of touch screen tablets and drawing pads being more widely usable in the 1980s. Technology has improved to better imitate an artist’s hand movements through pressure sensitivity, software pen brush, and the refresh rate (Li). Artists are now able to create extremely detailed pieces, which can be shared at an instantaneous rate. It is easier now for minority digital artists to have their work seen, increasing the representation in this space.
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Despite the fact that social media has given minorities the opportunity to share their work on a larger platform, change is not necessarily being seen in big corporations. The media often uses stereotypes when showing minority groups, which can be harmful if viewed at a young age. When the media displays a monolithic version of a minority group, it becomes reflected in the population (Washington). If everyone was exposed to better representation in the media, it could have the potential to break down barriers and create a more understanding and inclusive society. Minority groups need to be in “the room where it happens”, telling their own stories (Giardina). This ensures that the characters portraying various minority groups comes from a place of legitimacy, not fabricated based on stereotypes of subconscious bias.
The inspiration for my project is a result of years of following digital artists. Gabriel Picolo (@_picolo on Instagram) was someone that inspired me to start with the digital medium. I love the way he was able to achieve a range of colors and have the final piece look so professional. As I delved deeper into the digital art community, I began to like other artists' work that included more texture, such as Sam Yang (@samdoesart) and Laura Brouwers (@cyarine). These artists’ style redefined what ‘professional’ meant to me, and inspired me to create my own style.
Methods
In the beginning of starting my capstone project, I created a literature review for background information on my project. This review discussed the history of drawing tablets and how they have become more complex to better simulate drawing on paper. I dove into the question “Why is representation in media important?” and various techniques on how to become more adjusted with digital drawing. This research helped me learn how to start drawing digitally, and gave my project a larger importance.
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Moving to the production side of the capstone, my methods included sketches by hand and on my tablet with an iPencil and the Procreate app. I began by doing small, quick sketches of my characters on paper. I then recreated them on Procreate, and added more colors and details through the layering tool. I switched between the 6B pencil, studio pen, and round brush on Procreate; playing around with their sizes and opacity allowed me to accomplish my goals. The bulk of my methods was completed through drawing and trial and error. I relied on my background knowledge of drawing to create the outline for the characters. As I colored them, I had to test out what features worked best.
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Audience & Impact
My audience is the Arts Scholars community at the University of Maryland and the online art community. There is a large presence of digital artists on social media apps, and online platforms are the best way to spread a piece of work quickly. To reach the Arts Scholars community, my website will serve as a way to display my work. To reach my larger audience, I will be uploading my work to Instagram. I hope that my work inspires others to think about what types of people are generally seen in digital art and to try something new. My goal is to make the appearance of racial minorities in digital art more common. By contributing my own art, I am taking a step in changing it as well.
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Completing this capstone project has helped me grow as an artist and a scholar. Much of my art previously was focused on my biracial identity, and I had never attempted to draw a Black or Latinx person. Switching over to a digital format also expanded my boundaries as an artist, making me a more well rounded artist. As a scholar, I participated in the research process and gained more insight into how to jumpstart the creative process. While many of these techniques were learned in the context of producing art, they can be applied to any project and are paramount in expanding one’s skills as a scholar.
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References
Brouwers, Laura. “Late Night Shop.” Instagram, Facebook, 9 Sept. 2019, www.instagram.com/p/B2M29wdCAEj/.
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Giardina, Carolyn. “‘You Want to See Yourself in Cartoons’: Animation Pros Talk Inclusivity, Recasting Roles and What Still Needs to Be Done.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, LLC, 25 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/you-want-to-see-yourself-in-cartoons-animation-pros-talk-inclusivity-recasting-roles-and-what-still-needs-to-be-done.
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Li, Brandon. The Evolution of the Graphic Tablet. 18 Oct. 2018, medium.com/@bleeskylar/graphic-tablet-ae9752ddad7a.
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Picolo, Gabriel. “Raven Holding Plant.” Instagram, Facebook, 31 Oct. 2019, www.instagram.com/p/B4SwiPJJqFb/.
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Smith, Ernie. The Company That Waited Decades for the Touchscreen Revolution, Vice Media Group, 1 Dec. 2017, www.vice.com/en/article/nedwdg/the-company-that-waited-decades-for-the-touchscreen-revolution.
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Washington, Lauren. The Importance of Representation in Film and Media. 29 Dec. 2019, medium.com/@Laurenwash/the-importance-of-representation-in-film-and-media-2d006149cac9.
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Yang, Sam. “Woman Buying Dumplings.” Instagram, Facebook, 17 Jan. 2021, www.instagram.com/p/CKJwZAuhTIc/.
