trapped in elegance

A collaboration with the incredibly talented friend Lizzie Ku-Herrero.

A while ago I was feeling quite frustrated about a project that had a major direction shift on design and I suddenly caught myself having to draw a bunch of skinny women. It's not a message I stand behind (we're all so tired of that) and it really pained me I couldn't make them more diverse, chunkier and real.

But I had to swallow it up and get used to drawing more "elegant" and thinner shapes for the project. And as I was getting more familiar with the style, I drew a few extra sketches to vent my frustration too: anonymous faceless women trapped in boxes, their bodies as empty vessels for "beauty".

It was good therapy, but I ended up forgetting about these sketches for a while. Then earlier this year I was feeling quite low on creative drive and decided to revisit some old drawings to see if anything would spark a flame. I saw these ladies again and had a hunch they could actually look cool in the 3D, so I asked Lizzie if she would be up for a little collab. I was stoked she was said yes and BAM, this series happened :)

Role: Design and color grading.

(2021)