Anna Koubek
Visual Art
Perspective
Japanese animation (anime) and comics (manga) have influenced my artistic development. My roots originated from anime and manga; however, several factors helped contribute to being the soil, light, and water to my art.
This piece “Perspective” made me reflect on individuals and objects that led me in the path of an artist. I chalk it up to three events, such as the meeting of Karla and Dasha, and the introduction of technology in my life. Before I made this piece, I dug down and wrote several scenes from my past. I cherry-picked some of them and put them in the piece.
I grew up in a small town in Iowa. Being half Russian gave me the superpower in other children's eyes because of my bilingual background. In fourth grade, a girl, named Karla, approached me and asked me to translate a Japanese comic to English. That incident took me through the rabbit hole of anime and manga. Several years later I met a girl, named Dasha, in Russia. She was also a big fan of anime and manga. She could draw anime characters and that was an eye opener to me. Seeing someone my age make amazing art that I enjoyed made me question what I was doing with my life.
Technology contributed to my roots as an artist because without it I would never have found more anime and drawing tutorials online. With all of these contributors I grew into the artist I am today. However, it still saddens me that Dasha and Karla will never know what an impact they made on me. I lost touch with them due to my move to Virginia.
I drew this in an anime style to connect the art form that got me into art. I decided to draw Karla standing by a bookshelf, and Dasha watching me draw. I made this piece digital to pay tribute to how technology has affected my artistry. I did this by showing the roots of my drawing. I showed the layers of sketches, such as the perspective lines and base poses in the piece. I wanted everyone to see the process of the piece. By showing the simultaneous build-up of the sketches, it adds more depth to the piece. I also had Ai color some of the art and I merged the coloring with my own in the finished piece. I finished it off by adding noise to the drawing to make it look like an old tv screen. The piece itself is messy and tangled, just like roots.
I often find myself reminiscing in my memories. That leads me to the void of trying to reach up and tell people their impact on me, but I know I will never see them again so I can only look back. That Is why I have drawn myself in an anime style looking into my memories.
Some struggles I had with my piece was choosing the ideas that I wanted to roll with. At first, I wanted to make a manga but I later scraped my idea. In addition, COVID-19 and all the implications involved with that made it a challenge to focus and stay focused.
