DIGITAL SERIES: PROMPT WORK
Whenever I need some additional inspiration for my work, I’ve always found it helpful to turn to prompt-based projects. Prompt work is a great way to not only get out of a creative rut, but also to focus on developing specific skills. Since the concept is essentially predetermined, it frees me up to focus on the more technical aspects of my work, and prevents me from overthinking it.
That isn’t to say that prompt work doesn’t come with its own set of challenges. Taking an existing idea and somehow creating something original can be difficult – it requires you to really dive into the nuanced ways you interpret the prompt, and convey those nuances through your artwork. In order to showcase this, I decided to put together my latest series, which is entirely based on prompt work.
THE CHOICE OF MEDIUM
This series is entirely digital, which is a relatively new medium for me. I used prompt work as an opportunity to develop my digital style and explore new elements that aren’t typically available to me in other media. Throughout the series, you can actually see the development of this style take place, with a progression of certain elements from piece-to-piece.
THE USE OF COLOR
The general theme for this series was October, so I wanted to keep the pieces cohesive by maintaining a consistent color palette that reflected the season. I’ve always enjoyed the contrast between the brighter, warmer colors of autumn with the darker, eerier aspects of the season – so I tried to incorporate that into this series. Choosing a limited color palette allowed me to play with the positive and negative space in each piece, along with the texture – all of which are inspired by the contrasting nature of the fall season.
COLLECTION HIGHLIGHT: A DEEPER DIVE INTO ELEMENTS OF FLOAT
Clothing choice: The prompts for FLOAT were “floating, accent color, hoodie, and cool outfit.” With my limited color palette and these elements in mind, I ended up wondering what my one go-to cold-weather outfit would be if I were the subject – and landed on this outfit. I decided on the large, flowy jacket because I basically live in oversized coats and I have a pretty great collection of them (all thrifted!) that I cycle through often. I love each coat for different reasons, but the common thread in all of them is that they’re incredibly comfortable. So if my character were to wear only one outfit, this would be it!
Stylistic inspiration: FLOAT is also inspired by a piece my friend, Sabrina, created a while back. I liked the elements of brightness she incorporated, along with the idea of holding yourself in the palm of your hand. While Sabrina’s piece is bright and beautiful, I decided to go with darker tones to match my palette and autumnal theme. I also made the outreached palm a zombie hand to take the “October” theme a step further.
Dipped fingertip detailing: While I initially added the dipped fingertips to the piece for balance, I decided to look into it to see if it had any cultural meaning I should be aware of. It turns out, dipped finger tips are used across many cultures for a variety of reasons. For example, henna is used on fingertips to show physical and spiritual cleanliness. Black-dipped fingertips is also a style of gothic makeup that’s been used for quite some time, and has even been featured by certain designers like Rick Owens and his wife Michèle Lamy. As for the dots on the nails, that’s just something I’ve been doing to my own nails for the past year or so, so I wanted to include it as a personal element – similar to the oversized coat.
I had a lot of fun putting this collection together and using prompts to push my creative boundaries. I definitely picked up some new techniques and elements while working on this series, and am excited to carry them over into my future work! All of these pieces are available in my shop as 8x10” and 12x16” prints and can be accessed here.
