Portfolio Application
MA ILLUSTRATION (ONLINE) – ARTS UNIVERSITY BOURNEMOUTH
EXPERIMENTING WITH STYLE
Before reaching out to editorial illustration clients, I studied professional portfolios and realised my own work needed a more consistent visual style.
I used a series of food drawings to experiment with this. As you can see across these five examples, my approach shifted from a soft, painterly look into something much looser and sketchier.
This carrot piece is where these elements came together for me, blending texture with a more expressive line and not relying on realism to depict the subject.
This process was a vital step in figuring out how to balance digital tools with hand-drawn, sketchy qualities.
STYLE INTEGRATION AND PORTRAIT STUDIES
The onions and garlic piece marked a significant breakthrough for me. I wanted to see if I could preserve a sense of realism while keeping the raw, energetic sketch lines completely visible. Finding a way to mix these two opposing approaches felt incredibly freeing and expressive.
I decided to push this contrast further by applying it to human subjects, using the realistic, painterly style for the heads and faces, and allowing the bodies to taper off into loose line drawings.
Across these three pieces – the portrait of a woman with an afro, the study of an Indian lady in traditional dress, and the kitchen scene with the Mediterranean chef – the colour and realism anchor the character's expression. This ensures the focus remains entirely on the person, much like a portrait feature in a magazine profile article. Meanwhile, the sketchy linework keeps the movement open and fluid. Bringing these opposing techniques together felt like a cohesive direction for my illustration style.
The result felt unique to me. I love that it does two things at once – depicting a person in a style that is close to life while providing an explicit reminder to the viewer that it’s an artwork, completing it as a loose sketch.
I am deeply drawn to this combination because I am also a cartoonist. This design choice helps to bridge the gap between my different artistic identities. It is a framework I want to explore further across a wider variety of materials and techniques, especially as I venture into graphic journalism and reportage.
To help editors and art directors see the practical potential of my style, I created these magazine layout mock-ups. Seeing the kitchen scene and food drawings integrated with cover elements and article text allows me to evaluate how my visual shorthand and mixed-style line work perform on a real, printed page.
SHARING MY COMICS PROCESS: RECYCLING VISUAL ASSETS
I describe the thematic structure of my diary comics project in detail in my personal statement. The full archive can be explored via my Substack link.
The examples below break down the behind-the-scenes mechanics of how these daily four-panel strips are actually constructed. Specifically, they show how I recycle digital assets to keep up with the demands of a fast, continuous daily publishing schedule without compromising the visual identity of the story.
I intentionally use a limited number of recurring backgrounds throughout the series, treating them like physical "sets"– such as specific rooms in the house or select external locations.
Limiting these environments allows me to efficiently reuse structural elements, such as furniture or character assets. This visual consistency acts as an anchor for the reader over time, while significantly accelerating my daily production speed.
The included timelapse demonstrates my digital workflow: I bring in cropped layers of background art from previous strips into Procreate to maintain exact architectural proportions.
The image below shows the original panel I took the staircase from to trace, as shown in the timelapse.
I want to develop this production system further during the MA, building an organised library of pre-drawn assets to streamline my workflow as I redraft panels for publication and sketch out the sequel.
The three panels below demonstrate how these recycled assets can also serve a narrative purpose. Here, the bathroom cabinet and mirror remain structurally identical across different parts of the story; however, the character’s reflection changes dramatically to mirror the shifting psychological context of the storyline.
Similarly, in the final example, you can see how I recycled the main character asset from the first panel by simply copying, shrinking, and reframing it to create an immediate sense of distance and pacing in the subsequent frame.
SHARING MY COMICS PROCESS: EXPERIMENTING WITH PANELS
I initially chose a vertical four-panel layout for the daily diary comics to fit social media dimensions. However, I was also planning for future book publication, ensuring the strips would sit comfortably on a standard printed page.
Early in the project, I felt constricted by the rigid portrait boundaries of the panels, which I spontaneously expressed in the comic strip below.
Showing my character pushing against the layout borders led to a breakthrough: I realised I could play with the structure itself to express my mental state.
Breaking out of the layout grid allowed me to introduce metaphorical, surreal, and abstract elements into the narrative. For instance, the dog-like ghoul shown below became the visual personification of my depression throughout the series – he appeared spontaneously in my sketches, and I ran with it.
In the example below, this character is shown unravelling a crochet hat in a literal tug-of-war across the panel borders. The scene captures a moment where I was reluctant to unravel and restart a failed crochet pattern. The "depression" character is depicted revelling in that sense of failure, using the physical structure of the comic panels to disrupt my character's progress as she pulls backwards, unwilling to move forward with the project.
I love drawing what an internal feeling would look like if it were physically happening in the real world.
In this strip, I am depicting the sensation of leaping down a research "rabbit hole" during a hypomanic moment. By showing my character physically diving deep into the laptop screen with only her legs trailing behind her, I use extreme physical distortion to communicate the intense, absorbing reality of a hyper-focus episode.
Here is another example of adapting the panel layout to communicate an internal state more literally. In this piece, my character is lost in a daydream; to show this visually, the entire subsequent panel shifts structure to become the physical boundary of her thought bubble.
In the strip above, I experiment with structural pacing to depict the rapid shifts of a mood swing.
By breaking two standard panels into multiple narrow, compressed slices, I am using the physical geometry of the comic grid to visually compress time, showing how quickly and jarringly my mental state can bounce back and forth.
In the strip above, I use physical allegory to depict "depression" actively trying to break me down with boxing gloves.
This surreal, metaphorical panel intentionally disrupts the visual reality of the rest of the strip, capturing the internal friction of fighting through a low mood swing while trying to complete my daily routines.
In this final strip, I split a single panel in half to land the dark, comedic timing of doing one thing and then immediately reversing it.
The layout captures a moment of frustration where I throw out my medication in a bold act of defiance, only to hastily retrieve it in the very next breath, knowing I don't really have a choice.
SKETCHBOOK PRACTICE
Operating within a fast-paced freelance environment, my default workflow has been to work out ideas mentally and move straight to final production to maximise efficiency. However, I want to establish a more dedicated, exploratory sketching routine to test layout concepts and play with style variations before committing to a final image.
I am looking to the MA to provide the structured space needed to embed this habit into my daily practice, which I know will enrich my visual vocabulary and support long-term growth as an illustrator.
The clippings below from my physical and digital sketchbooks document this shift toward open-ended play.
Generating character heads entirely from imagination serves as a vital warm-up exercise. It allows me to loosen up my linework, experiment with diverse facial geometry, and discover new character expressions spontaneously before beginning a structured drawing session.
The digital sketchbook timelapse above documents my character development process, focusing on layered shading techniques and line-weight variations, using diverse digital brushes.
Through these studies, I am actively focusing on expanding diversity and inclusivity within my illustration practice. It is essential to me that my work reflects authentic representation across all races, ages, genders, and physical disabilities.
Just as my diary comics aim to give an authentic voice to those navigating mental health disorders, I want my broader portfolio to reflect a commitment to a diverse and inclusive visual world.
Sometimes I use quick character studies to test new digital brushes and catalogue different texturing effects. Making a direct note of these settings allows me to build a personal technical library for future reference.
Moving forward, I want to expand my sketching practice to include live drawing on location. Capturing real people and places in real time will bring more organic movement and life into my visual storytelling, which is vital for the graphic journalism work I want to develop during the course.
I also utilise random photographic references online to practice rendering unfamiliar facial features. This deliberate exercise helps me break out of habitual drawing routines and prevents my character designs from looking too similar.
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: COMMERCIAL PROMOTION
As detailed in my personal statement, I manage an active freelance practice as a pet portrait artist and run an independent online shop selling my digital printmaking collections, fine art prints, and greeting cards.
The examples below from my professional social media channels demonstrate how I actively market my work and build audience engagement online.
Instagram Reel 1: Behind-the-scenes studio production and creative process content. (Please enable audio)
Instagram Reel 2: Promotional marketing content for an upcoming local cards and print exhibition stall. (Please enable audio)
Thank you for taking the time to review my portfolio.
I am excited about the prospect of bringing my sequential storytelling experience and professional creative history to the online MA Illustration community at AUB, and I hope you enjoy reviewing my work.
