My project follows the adventures of a curious youth who is pulled into a separate, sentient world that wishes only to capture the protagonist. They traverse through many strange lands and encounter unique characters and situations on their quest to escape the world. The story unwinds as the protagonist learns throughout their journey to overcome their selfishness and self-hatred, thus illustrating themes of compassion for oneself and others.

I am a story-teller and have looked into the works of contemporary artists in print and time-based mediums such as Scott McCloud, Lisa Yuskavage, and Michelle Czajkowski. My work is also based in the history of narrative images, some of the most poignant for me can be found in the exaggerated and expressive style of Mannerism, and more specifically, the works of Jacopo da Pontormo. These works focus on the human form and the elongation of such to create chaotic compositions and an emphasis on gesture and expression.

Color, style, composition, and narrative play significant roles in my piece, as they tie together my ideas into one coherent work. The use of color is especially crucial to my work, as it is utilized to illustrate the oddness and intensity of the separate world, as demonstrated by the transition from a grayscale palette of the original world to the larger scale of color in the other one.