Set Yourself Free
2023 | DIGITAL (PROCREATE)
When I put some music on and dance in the mirror, I feel like the most confident, powerful version of myself. I become someone who can own the room, someone who can intimidate others and stand tall rather than shrinking away.
In high school, I felt shy and lacked confidence, but once I was in front of my $7 full-length mirror from Target, I saw someone in the mirror who felt like a better version of me. Someone I wished would step out and inhabit my body so I could be her.
Initially started as an assignment to create a simple sticker, this project became one of my most personal and defining pieces to date.
Process
Most initial ideas were drawn on a piece of paper that I ended up making into a paper airplane
The first drafts of the sticker felt generic and lacked the emotion I felt I was trying to capture. Nothing about these represented the transformative aspect I felt when dancing in the mirror.
On the second attempt, I took photos of myself in my freshman dorm room and bathroom and spent one long night mashing these photos together and drawing over them to create the new composition. i also sketch monochromatically before adding color, which helps with contrast.
This video shows that process.
The final product included several choices to push the emotion/experience I wanted to capture:
Glitch effect / X eyes on the “real” version of myself, outside the mirror - represent how I don’t feel like the truest version of myself. The version of me in the mirror is clean, confident, perfect.
Neon, dramatic coloring - although this is part of my style in general, it especially adds a punch to the emotion in this one.
The quote: added from classmates’ feedback to have some words or lyrics that would make the meaning clearer.