Essay analysis (illustrator Aliyah Coreana)

                                         

                                       Essay analysis 

Website:https://aliyahcoreana.com/ 

Instagram: @aliyahart

In this essay, I’m going to talk about my favourite illustration or piece done by Aliyah Coreana. I recently interviewed Aliyah and we discussed her journey, inspiration, and process of her artwork. One of my favourite pieces by her were her illustration: ‘drowning’ as you can see from the photo I uploaded I wanted to analyse this piece as I feel as though it has a lot of meaning and people can relate to it a lot, especially someone like me and I think that’s one of the reasons I wanted to analyse this piece.

Inspired by the wonders and oriental feel that she got when she visited Japan, she chose to show this in her character or herself. You can see this from the hat and kimono she wears and of course who can’t forget the koi fishes swimming around. She chose to use koi fishes as it went with the theme of the illustration and she described that when she visited Japan, she saw so many of them. She realised that the colourful fishes sat so well with the blue water, so she wanted to capture this in her work to show everyone and share a sense of imagination as though they could see what she saw.

When it came to what she wore in this drawing of herself you can see that her intention was to add a different character to herself, especially with the hat. This allowed her to give the freedom to create an image of herself where she can show her journey or inspiration behind her work. The kimono adds to the Japanese feel and theme to the work, the colours fit well with the background and koi fishes and as you can see both these things stand out the most in her work.

The cartoon style of her work is shown a lot in this piece and that is one of the main reasons why this is my favourite. Most lines and structures are exaggerated in a few areas, this gives the effect of making the main objects or pieces stand out. The use of combination with thick and thin lines shown in this piece gives off a three-dimensional effect whilst also showing off the sleek straight lines around the colours. Using a white line around the flowers on the kimono adds definition and allows the flowers to stand out well against the koi fishes. This is something that we often see a lot of illustrators do and I think that it’s a very clever way to make an object or piece add more attention to the viewer's eyes.

The illustration was created, by completing a quick sketch idea that she did on her trip back from Japan. She started off-hand drawing her ideas down and carried this on until she did her first sketch of the piece. She then took a picture of the drawing so she could add: colour, line, definition and edit it on photoshop or illustrator. Experimenting with colour or finding new ways to complete things and using new tools on photoshop is something that Aliyah did on this piece. The slight gradient effect on the hair was something new she tried out and she was really impressed with the results, even using different brushes on photoshop to add shading showed a difference in her work when she did this illustration.

The meaning behind the work is one of the main things that caught my attention with this illustration. after going through a lot in her personal life, the idea behind the piece was to expresses the feeling of sadness and suffocation from a lot of issues she went through, which is why she named this: ‘drowning’. Looking at the work you can feel the emotion of sadness and the feeling of pressure or suffocation from the idea of herself being underwater. For me and for most people who observe and analyse art, the key aspect of the piece should always be the emotion you see or feel from looking at the work. This was something I got from viewing this illustration or even when I first decided to analyse it, as emotion is shown a lot as a vital part in this drawing. Personally, I think that looking at the meaning behind the work makes the viewer included in the piece. We can see the drawing of herself as anyone of us, as we all go through the same feelings or emotions in life. I find that this concept is shown very well in this drawing and allows the observer to relate to the illustration.

Furthermore, it allowed the illustrator to express her emotions and it gave her a chance to highlight mental illness, which is a subject she thrives to show in her work. Something that caught my attention when it came to this was, she illustrated how she felt at the time when doing this, I often find that most creatives perform the best when they’re in a low point in their life. I see this a lot with my work too and I personally think that when you feel down you have a lot that you want to let out to make you feel better, whether it’s journaling, drawing or doing music we’re able to share and let out our thoughts to make us feel better and express our emotions. I find that this idea is something that happens to all of us but yet it’s something that is not discussed a lot in the industry or on social media.

To conclude, the reason why I think that this illustration is a successful piece is that it creates a strong relation to the viewer and the illustrator. People are able to relate to a topic that is something we all go through or have been through in our lives. As a student studying illustration, I found it so interesting that Aliyah had the confidence to share and show everyone her feelings and thoughts on social media. She also agrees that it’s her favourite and most successful illustration too, as she was able to completely open up and received amazing feedback from followers or other illustrators to give her the confidence to produce more work similar to this, by portraying the subject of mental illness.