About
Heyo, I’m Ella (or “Tuu”) :3
I like to use clean line work, soft colour palettes and ambient light to compose detailed focal illustrations.
I primarily work digitally, creating comics and illustrating the worlds of my favourite books and video games.
My work is inspired by artists such as Yusuke Nakamura and video games like Gravity Rush™ (using simple lines and stylised colour work), as well as the music from my playlists, ranging from psychedelia to baroque pop.
I hope to take my skills into the comics and video games industry, creating enchanting worlds and concepts that just may inspire others.
Kartoffelchips Brüderschaft
For our first brief of our fourth year, I was given the phrase/memory: “I love me more than crisps”.
This soon spiralled into ‘Kartoffelchips Brüderschaft’ - the two figures mirroring one another’s pose as their arms interlock in the German custom called Brüderschaft (translation: brotherhood). In this, the two people intertwine their arms at the elbows and simultaneously drink together to consolidate a new friendship - I was curious to see how one would do this with crisps (German: kartoffelchips).
Transliteration: ‘Potato-chips Brotherhood’
[Note: I am not a fluent German speaker, so this is more than likely grammatically incorrect – simply using my basic understanding of the language to try and express something that is difficult to explain in English].
For the colour and overall bright, bubbly theme, I was initially inspired by the music video for Kate NV’s ‘Ça Commence Par’. Another source of inspiration was the opening animated sequence for the PsVita title ‘Persona 4 Golden’ (2012).
The Strange Library - Graphic Novel Adaptation
Page 1
Panel 1: The Boy make his way through the library, passing several rows of tall, dark bookshelves. “The library’s silence felt heavier than usual,” he thinks, “the evening air laden with damp”.
Panel 2: His footsteps echo through the emptiness of the library, a small, winged insect flutters around the lights above the bookshelves.
Panel 3: The Boy ventures deeper, possibly being watched through the shelves.
Page 2
Panel 1: More winged insects flutter around the lights above the dark shelves. The Boy thinks to himself “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it… the sound of new shoes against the linoleum.”
Panel 2: The Boy’s leather shoes clack against the checkered tile linoleum as he walks towards the circulation desk.
Panel 3: A woman lifts her head from a book, noticing his presence. “The lady who usually worked the circulation desk wasn’t there that day” he notices.
Panel 4: The woman places her book down on the desk, waiting for the boy to speak.
Panel 5: The Boy holds up one of his books, wishing to return it.
Panels 6 to 11: The woman takes the books and begins the returns process, carefully flipping them open to assess their condition. Each is stamped “returned” in red ink.
Page 3
Panel 1: The final book in stamped returned, the page filled with several red inked “returned” stamps from previous readers.
Panel 2: “Instead, there was a timid woman, deep in a book”, the Boy studies the woman as she returns to her reading. A slightly sparse bookshelf stands behind her.
Panel 3: The woman crosses her feet beneath the desk, dressed in black ankle boots.
Panel 4: Noticing the Boy still wishes to speak to her; she snaps her book shut.
Panel 5: The Boy grips his backpack, tilting his head to one side as he asks where he may find some specific books.
Panel 6: The woman looks up with sigh at his request, somewhat aloof.
Panel 7: The Boy glances at the bookshelf behind the circulation desk.
I chose to adapt Murakami’s novella ‘The Strange Library’ into a graphic novel.
The tale follows a boy who decides to visit the local library on his way home from school. In search of some books on tax collection in the Ottoman Empire, he is directed to the mysterious Room 107 within the library’s basement.
Told that he may only read these books within the supposed Reading Room, he is led by an old man through a seemingly never-ending maze. There he meets the Sheep Man, who reluctantly imprisons him in a cell upon the Old Man’s orders. He is told that he has one month to read and memorise the three large books, after which the Old Man will eat his brains once full with knowledge.
Aided by a voiceless girl and the Sheep Man, the Boy plans his escape from the strange library.
The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems
From left to right. Stood in an elegant white dress, Guenevere wrings her long, red hair as she looks up with tears in her eyes. Behind her, a wall of pink peonies. Next to this illustration is its accompanying text from the poem: “Though still she stood right up, and never shrunk, but spoke on bravely, glorious lady fair! Whatever tears her full lips may have drunk, she stood, and seemed to think, and wrung her hair, spoke out at last with no more trace of shame, with passionate twisting of her body there”.
In the centre is a poster. Illustrated is Guenevere, her red hair in two plaits that fall upon her white dress. Her veil stretches out behind her and into the background. Stood behind her is a figure resembling that of a knight holding a sword before him, dark wings from his back curling around his body. Surrounding the two, peony-like flowers have opened to reveal the watchful eyes of the court as butterflies flutter about. The text reads: “The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems”
To the right, Guenevere stands with her red hair unravelled from its plaited style. Her white dress is open at the chest, revealing her skeleton, full of peonies and lush leaves surrounding her heart. A tear runs down her cheek, her body bathed in a golden light. Next to this illustration is its accompanying text from the poem: “Christmas and whitened winter passed away, and over me the April sunshine came, made very awful with black hail-clouds, yea. And in the Summer I grew white with flame, and bowed my head down—Autumn, and the sick sure knowledge things would never be the same, however often Spring might be most thick of blossoms and buds, smote on me”.
Made for a collaborative brief by DJCAD and the V&A Dundee. On my visit to the Scottish Design Galleries exhibit, I was entranced by the bound collection of poems by William Morris, which had been illustrated by Jessie M. King.
It was a challenge in bringing the poems to life whilst also trying to preserve the magic of the original source.
Currently, my work is unavailable for purchase (but it will be soon), so please follow my social media pages to keep up-to-date with what I'm doing~! Feel free to get in touch - I'm very shy, but am always happy to answer :3