ILLUSTRATION PORTFOLIO
Hande Kurk Illustrator
Hande342@gmail.com
BIO Illustration symbolizes a way for me to free myself
for a few years now, I create illustrations and continue to grow my photographiy skills.
RIDDIM
2019
With the use of a funky color palette and figures moving freely, this piece brings forward the feeling of riddim-music. This illustration was originally made as a concept for an album cover.
EXPLO SION
2019
This illustration was made as a sketch to introduce myself to the tools and workflow of Procreate. I started by using a brownish color palette— however I decided to experiment around with some effects and different colors. This resulted into adding more green and pink tones, along with some yellow to keep the palette warm.
MY EYES ARE UP HERE!
2019
In this illustration I intented to normalize the image of nudity. I drew a person pleasuring themselves, though this seems to be an illusion. As this person pleasures themselves, a crowd watches in awe. The color palette and textures were inspired by the album cover of Hell on Earth by Mobb Deep.
BLUE MONDAY Perhaps I was going through a blue monday when I illustrated this! Well, it was originally a concept idea for a small animation I was working on. The animation was about a typical blue monday; you barely get out of bed and you immediately feel that this is going to be a long, gloomy day. In this case, my character was having a moment of such. He gets out of bed, and looks at himself in the mirror, with no intent to feel motivated. In the animation, my character was supposed to get ready for work and show you the feeling of a daily 9 to 5 job in the office where no one pays attention to anyone.
2019
I ironically used a blue color palette, and throughout the animation that same palette was going to be used. The only thing that brings light to the illustration, is the light that shines through his bathroom window.
Instead of organs, this creature seems to have objects in its body. With the use of a dark color palette, I wanted to emphasize the dark unsettling feeling its face and body bring. It looks almost human, in a way.
2019
X-RAY
”The legendary master is forced back into the game by Sio, a deadly woman from his past. She won't stop attacking until Afro gets schooled in the brutal lessons he dealt to those who stood in his way.”- synopsis from Google
2019
AFRO SAMURAI
This illustration was made based on the Japanese anime Afro Samurai.
SAMURAI CHAMPL OO
Just like the illustration I made of the Japanese anime Afro Samurai, this illustration was based on another Japanese anime I used to watch, which is called Samurai Champloo.
2020
”The anime series Samurai Champloo is set during the Edo period. It follows a young woman named Fuu who hires two samurai, Mugen and Jin, after helping in stopping their public execution. The group is on a quest to find the mysterious samurai who smells of sunflowers that Fuu wishes to find.”- synopsis from Google
This illustration was yet again made in order to introduce myself to a few new brushes I was using. I find sketching nudity and faces a nice, useful way to learn how to use the brushflow and play around with the textures. As you might’ve noticed, whenever I introduce myself to something new, I don’t like to hold back on using a bright palette that just screams for attention. I think I like to see it as a remarkable feature, just like the color of someones iris, or the sctructure of someones face.
2020
EMBR ACE
OH, WISE ONE
2020
With a bright yand groovy color palette, I wanted to show off an illustration of a figure that would resemble a buddha, however I wanted to give my own twist to it as well.
CAN I HELP?
”The Boondocks is based on the satiric Aaron McGruder comic strip of the same name. The show follows the adventures of two black boys, Riley and Huey Freeman, who experience a culture clash when they move from southside Chicago to the "boondocks" to live with their grandfather.” synopsis from movieweb.com
2020
This illustration was inspired by a few clips I had seen of an American cartoon called Boondocks.
PANIC! In late October of 2020, I stumbled upon an exhibition that allowed artists to come and exhibit their work. This was the first exhibition I had ever participated in, and I was just in awe of what the other artists had made. I think if I remember correctly, the exhibition was mainly about comics.
2020
After walking around, I found a few stickers that struck my attention. After buying them, I decided to take a good look at them and felt inspired to draw immediately. That is how I created this illustration. It brings forward an unsettling yet soft feeling of eeriness. It shows multiple figures, visibly distraught and panicking.
2020
JADED
With the use of a dark background, this illustration brings forward the beautifully blended colors I had used. It shows the gimmicks of a face, a body, however they seem to be in some sort of situation; a dilemma. I intended to portray agonizing feelings captured vaguely, almost as if the characters weren’t able to recognize their emotions themselves.
CAP TURED
2020
I think I'd like to call this illustration a selfportrait, mainly because it is represents myself. The color palette I used is one I use in many of my other works; I just love the feeling these gloomy, funky colors bring.
During the making of this illusstration, I must have felt a little like the figure. I think I was able to represent my feelings well through the colors I used. I think it is no surprise that I truly do value the colors in my work.
2020
BLUE MAN
With how little the background of this piece has, I tried to focus the most details I wanted to add on the monsterlike creature. The little girl seems to wonder how she got here, let alone who this strange creature is.
2020
WHO ARE YOU?
After not being able to create something for a while, I struggled with positioning an older drawing of mine. After countless of failed attempts of having it the way I imagined, I decided to fool around and it turned out better than what I actually wanted.
2021
LEMON HEAD
After struggling a little with the thoughts I had during this time, I decided to let my hands go freely with what my mind wanted to get out. The mess of letters resembles the calamity that was taking place mentally, and the space shows that letting it go was okay.
2021
ABC'S
CAN I KICK IT?
2021
Ofcourse, this illustration is inspired by the well known song ”Can I kick it?" from A Tribe Called Quest. I have been listening to their music for a long time now, and this song always gets me going creatively.
I could look at this illustration for an infinite amount of times, and it would still bring me a feeling of joy. I tried to portray the bird surrendering, however it seems that both parties seem to surrender equally.
2021
SUR REN DER
LOSS
2021
What could the mushroom be going through? Everyone seems to have pointed their attention at them, even the tree grew a face. Whatever the mushroom is going through, it is lucky tot have its friends there to support them.
SERENE When a friend of mine who is part of RUIS Rotterdam approached me about if I was willing to create something based on my views on the Covid-19 pandemic, of course I said yes.
With this illustration I intended to focus on what it meant to me. I illustrated a figure, of which its face seems to enter a bubble. To me this resembles a feeling of serenity. On the outside of this bubble, things seem to be chaotic. What I meant to resemble, was that everything that is going on might be incredibly difficult to deal with by yourself. The bubble resembles a safe space, where someone is willing to help you. I think during these trying times, it's really important to check on not only your loved ones, but also on yourself.
2021
I could never put into words how much the pandemic has, and continues to, affect everyone in the whole world. It has brought us a lot of emotions such as defeat, sadness and unfortunately even grief. The past year has been incredibly difficult for everyone, including myself.
STAR ANISE
This piece was inspired by one of my favorite artists, Yoshitaka Amano. His use of colors, how everything seems so out of order yet so in place; every single piece he has made, inspires me continuously.
2021
By now, you should know I adore showing off the female body. During my job as a barista at a coffee shop, I noticed how wonderful and interesting the star anise looks and I was immediately drawn to adding it into one of my pieces. The tree resembles how tangled this woman is, the flower resembles her beauty and the passionfruit adds to the star anise. The cloth she has around her waist barely covers her, which resembles my style.
IN AND OUT
2021
In this piece, I tried to play around with some lyrics of a song I was listening to. I like using lyrics of the songs I listen to during making art in my work, in my own most unique and unrecognizable way. This image resembles a man, who says "figured it out on my own" to the monster that it talks to, which the monster replies with "had time to grow". I don't think this piece necessarily has any deep meaning to it, I was just very much inspired by the lyrics and decided to play around with drawing and seeing where the lyrics led me to.
BELLA DONNA
This probably has to be one of my most recognizable, favorite pieces I have ever made. It resembles my style in an incredibly detailed and eerie way; just how I prefer it. In this piece, I illustrated a female with her long, black hair that resembles the flow of a river. She is herself; she moves as a river.
2021
The teeth resemble a mouth, one that likes to talk back and offend the woman. However, these are only words, and the woman isn't affected by it. But she is tired, of a life time of being judged. Her eyes show how these 'words' have impacted her throughout her life, yet in the end she moves just as freely and fierce as a river, sometimes calm; sometimes violent.
THROUGH MY FINGERS
This is another one of my favorite pieces. Again, this is just the right amount of eeriness it brings. It gives off an unsettling feeling. especially the face seems to be giving the most detailed and unnerving feeling. However, this is just what I like. I love bringing forward this feeling, it describes me and my inspirations.
2021
This woman is completely nude; she slips through the fingers of someone. The fingers are positioned in a way that shows how females are able to sexually pleasure themselves. The unnerving part is, that this woman does not want to be pleased. In a way, this resembles sexual assault. At least, that's what I wanted to bring under attention in my own way and I think that I did a good job on showing what I wanted to.
OFF SHORE
This piece was dedicated to my older sister, Handan. To celebrate her getting another year older, I decided to write her a poem and a children's book-like illustration to go with it. I was inspired by her, and my dad. My sister inspired me to turn it into children's book, because she likes to write and would one day want to make and bring out her own children's book one day. My dad inspired me with writing the poem. As a child, he had planted a tree in his hometown near our current house in Turkey. Whenever we visit, he talks about how his tree has grown into this huge, beautiful tree comparing it to how small it was when he planted it 40+ years ago. He always asks us to think of which tree we would want to plant, so naturally I began thinking of a tree. I went with an Oak tree, because it is a strong tree. The poem resembles how this person is like an Oak tree, changing yet staying strong and powerful. Just like how my sister is in my eyes, she stands out like a beautiful tree to me.
2021
I had the whole book printed at a local print shop, and gifted it to her. You can read the whole book and poem here.
CELLS
In this piece I liked to experiment with two words which would have to be an animal and the word 'bacteria'. As for the animal, I picked a wolf because I feel most drawn to them. Their build, the way they look is just incredible.
2021
I tried to draw something like an x-ray of the paw of the wolf, the black round 'label' seems to show the cells that the wolf has. Ideally, this resembles an actual microscopic view of bloodwork. If it is actual bloodwork from an animal/wolf, I don't know for sure.
A FRIEND With Junji Ito's 'Tomie', I was inspired to draw something that made me think of his work. I decided on sketching two heads that seem to be intertwined, almost like siamese twins. The two heads seem to be friendly with each other though, they fool around with one seemingly photobombing the other.
2021
I wanted to add a little touch of glow to it, though. So I went with a glowing, dark green-blueish tint and color palette. I think that with this piece, I captured what I had in mind perfectly.
BLUR
2022
Very blurry, this piece shows off a being sitting in a tailors sit, looking down. The point of this piece was to show that this being feels unwell, maybe they are hallucinating? or drunk? They seem to want to hurt themselves, to snap out of it. However it is powerless, and it continues to sit and wait till the blur is over, so it can continue doing what it was supposed to do. That's how I feel about this piece.
DO SOME THING
I was feeling a little overwhelmed when making this piece, I was incredibly tired and I wanted to put on paper how I felt. I felt as though I was having three people inside of me, deciding for me what to do. One wanted to rest, the other to be productive, and the other was annoyed because I was still up and drawing. That's how this piece came to what it is now.
2022
It is also one of my favorite pieces, because the fade of the shadows look so good in my opinion. it also has an unsettling look to it, which is ofcourse totally my style & my thing.
KEEP IT QUIET, PLEASE?
As someone who is highly sensitive to the sounds around me, I made this piece to represent my own thoughts a little. I often think to ask people to "keep it a little down".
2022
As you can see, the being in my drawing seems to be incredibly exhausted, maybe even a little sick. it's eyes have seeped into his skull almost, too. He seems to have turned blue, could that possibly be because he seems to be scared to ask people to keep it a tone lower? Who knows...