Alexa Brown

My main question while going into this class was “how do I build a world through the lens of a graphic novel?” I began to brainstorm early summer and I landed on the idea of doing a dystopian apocalyptic setting with two relatable characters. I always loved comics and graphic novels when I was a kid because they had visuals to the stories I loved so much and I could stare at them for hours. I also wanted to include my love for Japanese-style media, like Anime. I practiced all summer on doing the same style over and over to provide consistency in the characters I had created. Throughout the whole story, I wanted to play with expression, lighting, what goes into making a comic, and storytelling. Most of all, I wanted everything to look like a consistent and realistic story. I want my pieces to be capturing and interesting to look at without being overwhelming. Going into this year I was thinking “What is something I can do that will push my own boundaries as an artist” and I realized taking a graphic novel-like approach would push me and force me to experiment with style, line work, and even digital painting. I went through and redid a few of my pieces, for example, piece 7 in my Sustained investigation is one of those revisions. I wanted it to look like a full body of work that stayed mostly in the same style and looked like something you’d buy off the shelves.