Persona is a personal reflection that focuses on the harmony of the body and the soul: the physical versus the spiritual, represented sometimes as one, sometimes as individuals. I try to blend the idealism of the human form in combination and contrast with the variety of people – people seen through the lens of reality varying in shape, size, and form. I like to use a lot of color, movement, and spontaneity in my compositions.

per·so·na: the aspect of someone’s character that is presented to or perceived by others. “her public persona” a role or character adopted by an author or an actor.

My process for creating my Persona: A Figurative Digital Art Series compositions start with working in traditional art mediums: drawing, painting, and most recently watercolor done during Life Drawing sessions from models. Once my figurative studies are complete I then scan my work into the computer. I use Illustrator to create my digital composition silhouettes by hand on the computer adjusting each point, line and curve to create the shapes and forms of figures intertwined and frozen in time. Once I am happy with the silhouettes and the negative shapes that the black background creates I transfer the silhouettes into Photoshop. In Photoshop I then take my scanned figurative studies and use a photomontage technique for the interior space of the digital silhouettes. By inserting and using the scans of my work I preserve the strokes, lines, and bleeds that traditional art mediums produce. This process can result in having up to and over 150 layers of figures within each digital composition highlighting my concept of blending the idealism of the human form (the silhouetted figures) in combination and contrast with reality (my scanned work). Once I am happy with the photomontage process I sometimes choose to play around with the colors, levels, effects, etc. to express my thoughts for each composition. I then print out my composition (usually multiple times with variations) to perfect the print color till I get a print of my vision.