emmarose heath illustration
portfolio
emmarose heath 2017-2018 age 17 albuquerque, new mexico
'"vida" digital painting, 10.5 x 16 in. september 2017 This is a portrait of my best friend, Eden. It was inspired by a day we spent in the mountains in Northern New Mexico; it was golden hour and the sun was hitting everything so beautifully. I also wanted to use that light to reflect both her presence and the way she makes me feel: radiant.
"self portrait 04" digital painting, 14 x 14 in. september 2017 I created this piece after we were assigned to create a self portrait for a drawing class I took. I have an obsession with giving skin tones subtle unnatural color tones, so I wanted to do that on myself. I feel like it reflects the mysterious personality my friends often say I have while still seeming open and inviting. The leaf in the background is just a bonus: There's not much I love more than plants.
"intergalactic" digital painting, 51.5 x 49.5 in. august 2017 My incredibly talented and intelligent friend, Baylee, is an aspiring astrophysicist. She has always loved astronomy and the stars, and I have always loved the moon. I knew I wanted to draw someone with the moon, and Baylee struck me as the perfect fit. I gave it to her as a birthday gift.
"celestial" digital painting, 10 x 6 inches august 2017 Part two in the 'Baylee space series', this piece illustrates Baylee holding the moon, in contrast with the previous work where it was simply in the background. The messiness of the moon and background provides a view of my preferred artistic style, with a detailed and precise face and looser background, hair, and other features.
"pose study 01" digital drawing, 12 x 16 in august 2017 Baylee appears in many of my pieces both because she is an excellent model and because of the impact she has made in my life. She has always been my rock, ever since middle school, and she's taught me so much. Drawing and painting her is the only way I know to express my gratitude.
"worth" digital drawing, 11 x 10 in. september 2017 Arguably the most important thing Baylee taught me was how to value myself and know my own worth. On the day that this work was inspired by, we sat in a park near her house and talked for hours, put flowers in our hair, and danced to no music. It felt like a scene out of a movie.
"pose study 03" digital drawing, 9 x 9 in. july 2017 This started as a brief life drawing that I did in my sketchbook after school one day, but I turned it into digital art when I got my first drawing tablet. It was an opportunity to play around with the brushes and effects, but I love the way it turned out.
"occupĂŠ" digital painting, 83 x 55 in. oct. 2017 This was started after I went to the botanical gardens with friends for the first time, despite living in the same city for my entire life. It never crossed my mind to go, it was just a bunch of flowers, right? I couldn't have been more wrong. I cried the first time, and I still go there all the time to clear my head or sketch or read or talk. It's my favorite place in the world, so far. This piece is titled 'busy' in French because I neglect technology and outside-world contact when I'm in the gardens. I'm fully present.
"parallel" digital painting, 83 x 55 in. july 2017 This was inspired by a more difficult time in my life. Most of the time, I felt like I wasn't in my body, I wasn't real, wasn't alive, and therefore not valid or worth anything. It was very complicated and confusing, and I grew distant to nearly all my friends and loved ones. This work is me attempting to illustrate how I was feeling to others.
"fleur sauvage" digital painting, 38 x 43 september 2017 "Wildflower" is my favorite term of endearment/nickname/word of empowerment to call myself and my friends. It makes me think of beauty, resilience, and strength, qualities we are often taught cannot coexist. All my friends prove that is absolutely false.
"like the sun setting" digital painting, 55 x 83 september 2017 As a gift for my favorite teacher, I drew a bike in a field of intricate and detailed flowers. It was an incredible turning point in my artistic life, as I started enjoying art again for the first time in a long time. More than anything, I loved the meditative drawing of the flowers, and after that, my family and friends began to refer to the black-and-white stylistic foliage as my 'signature flowers" I wanted to illustrate an interesting juxtaposition of the relatively precise drawing of my friend with the cartoony, unrefined style of the flowers.
"paused" pen and ink, 9 x 14 in. march 2017 This is my favorite piece of art that I've ever made. It got me out of a creative rut-- because I was excited about the purpose, I was excited about creating it. I worked tirelessly, almost ten hours a day on the weekends. It was a gift for a teacher who radically transformed my life in a way words cannot express, and I am infinitely grateful for all that she did and continues to do for me. This work rekindled my love for art and the process of creating. I don't know where I would be without the day I got the idea to draw this. It changed me.