Michelle Vu

My sustained investigation focuses on immersive storytelling through full-page illustrations. This form of narrative art uses the power of visual images to invoke the viewer’s participation through a moment or sequence of events. My sources of inspiration comes from artists such as Atey Ghalihan, and Kelly Aleshire because of how they tell stories through powerful pieces of polished artwork, by using digital media and effects.

Before creating an illustration, I research what the character and their environment would potentially look like. This consists of mood boards and reference gathering. Each piece has a foundation of three rules: feeling, perspective, and immersion. Feeling is the mood I create by using lighting and certain color palettes. Perspective allows me to create an illusion of depth to draw the viewer in. Immersion allows the viewer to experience the scene like they are a part of the world. Throughout this series, I’ve shifted my idea more into tying stories to one another. I do this by placing subtle details from previous works into my current works.