Dorian
Illustration 2024
Dorian started her artistic journey at a young age. In her teenage years, she started to lean into being the 'art kid' and would draw at every opportunity. At school she would often sketch her fellow students in the halls for practice but what truly inspired a lot of this early development was her favourite media. Dorian enjoyed thinking up new plotlines for tv-shows as she drew (a prominent one of these being Batman; The Animated Series) or doodling what her favourite book characters would look like illustrated in her sketchbook. Many of the characters she drew at the time were from or were inspired by games such as Life Is Strange, NieR: Automata and a variety of indie games. A plethora of different anime and manga also sparked her creative urge to draw, which still can be noted within her art style as a few common elements from Japanese stylisation remain evident in her work. Something that particularly captivated Dorian in these early days was unorthodox methods of storytelling, a shining example of this being the complex story behind the animated characters of the band Gorillaz. This was such a fascinating concept as their various methods of communicating a long, continuous story with various arcs and character work alongside music and animation was something entirely unique to the group. The more gritty and mature elements of Hewlett's style also influenced the direction of Dorian's artistic development.
Still ever looking to diversify, she has more recently begun delving into and re-exploring traditional methods such as ink-wash, charcoals and oil painting. This change from a previously more unswerving lean on digital illustration (with the occasional sketchbook inking session) was inspired by a few different elements of life coming together at the same time. A classic literature fuelled love of the aesthetes and decadence, accompanied by a trip to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, in which Dorian was moved by many of the 19th century paintings that she saw was the catalyst for this further exploration. Thereafter, she was granted a personal epiphany and a muse to practice oils from.
Dorian has worked on several private commissions with online clients and has gained opportunities to work on many projects in a myriad of disciplines including editorial and advertising skills as well as a live brief for Atomhawk since attending The Northern School of Art for her Illustration degree. Her final major project HONKERS !! really was a labour of love that allows her to express one of her many artistic identities with humour and style. HONKERS !! is a zine project that has allowed for Dorian to further test her merchandising abilities with correlating keepsakes such as t-shirts, stickers and prints that will be available on her online shop.