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.

Slumdog G enerator

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.

college work

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

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

Demonstrative Photography

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

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

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

free work

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

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

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

Med i eval Anthology

This illustration is an example of a set of various

illustrations created for a small sized book, which

gathers several texts about the Portuguese

medieval literature and its authors.

Watercolour on Paper

free work

Romant i c Vamp i r e s

A collection of Romantic vampire characters,

inspired by the 19th century costumes.

free work

Watercolour on PaperCharcoall on Paper

Graphic Pencil on Paper

Zen

This work was inspired by the Buddist symbolism

and I tried to represent a character that would

express a certain meditation pose.

free work

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

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

Graphic Pencil Pencil Color Watercolor Ink

F lowery Ornamentsand headp i e c e s

The following illustrations focuses on female

headpiece decoration by using ornaments.

free work

Pastels on PaperInk on Paper