Breathing Life Through Illustration and Animation

• Kelly Wang, Visual Communications, University of Delaware

• David Brinley, Art & Design, University of Delaware

Every religion has its own set of stories, each one carrying meaning to its believers. These stories have been recorded and passed through generations, many of them being hundreds, even thousands of years old. Though many in the modern world have heard a number of these stories, religious accounts are often regarded only as metaphorical tall tales. Such a view of these stories as mere legend often leads them to feel unrelatable and irrelevant. Though religious artists  throughout time have tried their hands at bringing these stories to life, today, religious art is mostly regarded only as a historical artifact. More than their predecessors, the artists of today have a wider selection of advanced tools at their disposal to implement into their work, more specifically in the digital realm. Through the use of digital illustration and animation, I plan to explore the extent to which I can bring these scenes to life. Although illustration will not make them “real” by any means, I hope that through the visual senses, by the use of expressive line, space, composition, color, and movement, I will be able to give these stories more layers of depth beyond words and make them more personal by evoking the emotional implications of three religious scenes from the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.