Art Lately: Change is Good

for inconnumag

for a zine I made that I'll put in my shop soon!

did some book covers

my new favorite

Since I'm graduating and all I've been thinking back on (my life) a lot.

Specifically, since I'm about to get a degree in Illustration, I've been thinking about my art style in particular and how it's changed.
I used to be really into fairytale illustration, and illustrating things I read about in books (especially couples, I was all about couples). My art used to be really escapist and whimsical, and though there are still elements of that in what I do, I think the focus has changed.
As I learned more about feminism and racism and discrimination in college, my art developed with my mind. My art has always been really important to me, like it's an extension of myself. It's why I'm not good at taking critique on my personal work, because I feel like if you don't like my art, you don't like me. And if someone really gets my art, I take it as a major compliment, like "Rachel, I like your SOUL."

In the past year, my art has taken a turn towards a more girl-power oriented deal, and it's definitely more concept-driven. I used to paint things just because they looked pretty (there's nothing wrong with that, btw), but now I think, "What message can I get across with this piece?" I paint more portraits now, I actually have a hard time painting anything but, because I love faces so much.

I think a good way to summarize the changes in my work is that I'm much more interested in painting real things for real people than imaginary stuff.