master portfolio

p ortf ol i oDiana Rute Costa

2012

I ntr oduct i on

The present portfolio displays a great diversity of

illustrations performed during my graduation in

Graphic Design at the Fine Arts College from the

Univesity of Porto, for the period of 2009-2012.

Additionally, this portfolio shows other illustrations

freely created outside the course context during this

time.

The work selection here exhibited demonstrates my

preference for traditional illustration, though I am

also able to digitally illustrate. The technical skills

employed to perform the marjority of illustrations

encompass watercolour or pencil colour painting

and vector drawing.

A common theme in my work is the representation of

the female body and costumes, deeply influenced by

the Medieval fantasy aesthetics. I am also inspired by

the paintings of the Pre-Rhaphaelite artists Edward

Burne-Jones and John William Waterhouse, which

portray females from ancient mythology, legends

and tales. In this connection, the beauty and fashion

illustration field is another of my interests.

I ndex

2009

Contrasts

Makeup

2010

Dog Fashion Generator

Eyjafjallajokull

Fairy Tale Witch

Nations

The Mists of Avalon

2011

Greenpeace

Hansel & Gretel

Moon & Sun

Orbis Color

Summer Flower

Spring Fashion

The Curse

Xeque-Mate

2012

70’s Rock

Medieval Anthology

Space Fantasy

Romantic Vampires

Medieval Collection

Elves & Fairies

Flowery Ornaments

2 0 0 9

C ontrast s

The intention was to create high contrast images

by using the watercolour technique. Beauty and

fashion illustration were the main inspiration.

Watercolour on Paper

free work

Watercolour on Paper Watercolour on Paper

Makeup

Makeup trials by using pencil colour. I explored

bright and strong colours. mostly in the eye area.

Pencil Colour on Paper

free work

Pencil Colour on Paper

2 0 10

Slumdog G enerator

In this project, I used the Nodebox software to

create an image generator that continuously

changes the picture of a slumdog wearing different

outfits and accessories.

The purpose was to hypothetically insert this

generator in a website that advertises clothes for

dogs.

Vector Illustration

college work

Vector Illustration

Vector Illustration

Eyjafjallaj okull

This 3D piece was exhibited in an exposition

organized by the Fine Arts College from the

University of Porto, whose theme was the eruption

of the Icelandic volcano “Eyjafjallajokull” in 2010.

I pictured the moment before “Eyjafjallajokull”

eruption as an asleep boy dressed with traditional

Icelandic clothes, laying on wood branches.

college work

Colour Pencil on Paperboard

F a i ry Tal e S or c er er

This project aimed to create a profile image of

a facebook group entitled “Old people that look

younger than what they really are”.

I represented a very old sorcerer whose

appearence is still young and somehow seductive.

I was inspired by the classical tale illustrations of

Eric Kincaid.

Colour Pencil on Paper

college work

Culture s C o stumes

The three following images depict maidens wearing

typical costumes of spatially and temporally

unrelated cultures: Portuguese, Persian and Aztec.

Pencil Colour on Paper

college work

Pencil Colour on Paper Pencil Colour on Paper

The M is t s of Avalon

I redesigned the cover of “Mists of Avalon” by

Marion Zimmer Bradley. Due to all the female

esoterism and mystical symbolism present in the

book’s story, I turned its cover into an inverted

triangle, a well known symbol of women.

college work

Collage on Paperboard

Pencil Colour on Paper Pencil Colour on PaperDemonstrative Photography

Pencil Colour on Paper

2 0 1 1

Gre enpeac e part I

The top poster criticizes the waste resulting

from bad packing, whereas the bottom poster

criticizes the fact that most people ignore the risks

associated with nuclear energy. Such posters were

hypothetically meant to be part of a GreenPeace

environment campaign.

Vector Illustration

BRAND

BRAND

BRAND

BRAND

BRAND

I am sorryGreenpeace folks,bad packaging issuch a waste...how I wish I had been moreresponsible

I am sorryGreenpeace folks,I always thought you were a bunch of hippies trying to do your thing...how I wish I had faced the facts

college work

Gre enpeac e part I I

I created a one minute video for Greenpeace

concerning the consequences of forest destruction

by fires, which has been a major problem in

Portugal during the summer seasons.

The characters and scenerios were made with

paperboard and colour pencil and were manually

animated. The following images depict captures of

the video’s narrative.

Color Pencil on Paperboard

college work

Some screencaps of the video sequence

Hansel & Gr et el

In this project, I illustrated the pages of the famous

tale “Hansel and Gretel”. I drew the characters

in a very classical way keeping the background

minimalistic, so that the story course could be

understood based on the charaters’s expressions

and features.

Colour Pencil on Paper

college work

Colour Pencil on Paper

Mo on & Sun

The antagonistic concepts of moon/night versus

sun/day were personified as human characters,

with influences of arabian culture.

Watercolour on Paperboard

free work

Watercolour on Paperboard

Orbis c olor

The diversity of characters here represented

belong to an imaginary world populated by many

different fantasy cultures.

Colour Pencil and Collage on Paper

24

free work

Colour Pencil and Collage on Paper

Spring Print

Through the use of wood stamps, I printed flowery

patterns on the character’s clothings.

Colour Pencil and Wood Stamps on Paper

free work

Colour Pencil and Wood Stamps on Paper

The Curs e

In this project, I created 3 villains cursed to be

depressed, broken hearted and crow shaped. In

opposition, I invented an optimistic and laughable

hero resembling Charlie Chaplin, that possesses a

very intellectual bulldog as a sidekick.

Colour Pencil and Collage on Paper

college work

Colour Pencil and Collage on Paper

Colour Pencil and Collage on Paper

Xeque -mate

The following sequence of illustrations represents

the clash of the white and the black chess kings, in

which the black chess king decides to interrupt the

marriage between the white king and queen...

Watercolour on Paper

free work

Watercolour on Paper

2 0 1 2

70 ’ s R o ck

This set of images were meant to illustrate a

magazine about rock and pop music of the 70’s.

The idea was to correlate each person’s favourite

kind of music with its respective fashion style.

Colour pencil on paper

college work

Colour pencil on paper

Med i eval Anthology

This set of illustrations was created for a small

sized book, which gathers several texts about the

Portuguese medieval literature and its authors.

Watercolour on Paper

free work

Watercolour on Paper Watercolour on Paper

Spac e Fantasy

The following illustrations depict various characters

with a fantasy futuristic look.

free work

Watercolour on Paper

Watercolour, Graphic Pencil and Ink on Paper

Romant i c Vamp i r e s

A collection of Romantic vampire characters,

inspired by the 19th century costumes.

free work

Watercolour on Paper

Graphic Pencil on Paper

Graphic Pencil on Paper

Zen

This work was inspired by the Buddist symbolism

and I tried to represent characters that would

express a certain meditation pose.

free work

Ink on Paper

Ink on Paper Ink on Paper

Med i eval c oll e ct i on

Image collection of female characters and outfits

inspired by medieval fantasy.

free work

Ink on Paper

Graphic Pencil on Paper

Ink, Colour Pencil and Watercolour on Paper

Elve s and Fa i ri e s

Image collection of female characters and outfits

inspired by fairies and elves from the celtic

imaginarium.

free work

Ink on Paper

Watercolour, Pencil Colour and Graphic Pencil on Paper

F lowery Ornamentsand headp i e c e s

The following set of illustrations focuses on female

decoration by using flowery ornaments.

free work

Pastels on Paper

Ink on Paper

Ink on Paper

p ortf ol i oDiana Rute Costa

2012