Lizbett Romero

       As a Visual Development Artist, my work is based on mystical, wonderous, and otherworldly environments that communicate various narratives. My work brings my characters to life and viewers into the story. My projects take the characters on a journey through environments as they discover their destiny. I predominantly focus on character design, environment concepts, and illustration, which I execute with traditional ink, marker, pencil, or digital. With digital work, I am proficient in Procreate, Photoshop CC, and Adobe Illustrator. My passion for becoming a Visual Development Artist began in my sophomore year of high school when my cousin, also an artist, created a story she wanted me to be a part of. Of course, at the time, I did not know how to write a story or draw characters, but through this project, my passion for art was born. 

       

       My style is semi-realistic with colorful color palettes, painting style, and cartoony traits. I focus on creating fantasy and mythological characters, which I have developed from my imagination from Greek and Korean mythology. In the majority of my works, I have a particular color palette that focuses on purple, blue, red, and gold. It conveys a cool color palette with a few warm tones, creating a vibrant and strong scene. 

     

       I have also expanded my practice by drawing environments where my characters can live. A character's environment builds their back story and provides the viewer with more information. Environmental concept art can be relaxing, and difficult to create, and I often use Pinterest, Google, and other artists’ work as inspiration. Combining characters and environments equates to a fully illustrated scene and a developed story. Illustrating was something I never thought of doing until I took illustration classes. Drawing illustrations is an important aspect of my work because it helps me understand the story in more detail and creates a connection between the characters and their personality.

       

       The process of creating my work takes time. I start by researching references and viewing my surroundings. This includes photos, nature, color palettes, or other artists’ work. I create a series of thumbnails with different compositions and perspectives, then choose the best as the final. Then I start the line art, flat coloring, rendering, and lastly details. One specific character I always draw is named Emiri Nishinyama.  Emiri is a mythical superhuman hybrid based on Greek and Japanese mythology. Emiri became my symbol, my alter ego, and a comfort character. One artwork based on Emiri is called The Hydra’s Cave (June 1st, 2020).

 

       This piece surrounds a fiery, dangerous, and villainous aura. Emiri stands tall, walking out from a glowing lava cave, wearing her polished and piercing armor. Beside her in midground are two lava falls creating smaller trails of lava towards the foreground. Lastly, behind Emiri is the entrance of the Hydra's cave (it's mouth). This cave is structured to be shaped as a Hydra’s skull, made out of rocks with smaller lava rivers flowing and curving between the rocks. The main color theme for my work is gold, royal blue, black and red. The purpose of this piece is to present Emiri as the type of person she is and the symbolism of her power. She is strong, fierce, and brave. Her power is the ability to shape-shift into Greek and Japanese mythological beasts but, her main inner beast is the Hydra Dragon. 

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