Email: annikatuggy@gmail.com
Hi! I am an illustrator who loves imaginative worlds with rich world-building and obscure lore. I want to help develop these wonderful worlds through my creativity, whether that is by illustrating books or creating concept art.
I enjoy a process of creation that engages physicality and movement, which can be seen in the sweeping lines of some of my artworks, or even in the "messiness" of some of my fine art projects, which involve me painting with mud using my hands! Even in my digital art, I reference physical textures.
Statement of Practice
I am an illustrator, concept artist, and fine artist who seeks to understand the connectedness of the systems underlying the real world, as well as fictional worlds. I am particularly inspired by the Book of Divine Works by Hildegard of Bingen. The book beautifully describes how the human body, the soul, the cosmos, and God’s plan of history all relate to one another and work together.
Something that has been particularly striking in the Book of Divine Works is the connection of spiritual reality to physicality. I see artistic creation as an act of incarnation. According to a Christian worldview, the divine Logos (Christ) became an embodied human being, enabling humanity to come into contact with Him. The theme of incarnation and physicality has grown increasingly important through my college years.
One one side of my practice, I work to flesh out the imaginings of a fictional world. taking the ideas from books or my imagination and making them “embodied” in a visual form. It is not enough for me to just have the idea; I desire to come into contact with it through my senses. Video games like the Splatoon series and fantasy book series such as the Stormlight Archive have fascinated me through their detailed lore and beautiful world-building. My attraction to this kind of world-building in concept art comes from the same impulse of understanding the underlying beauty and complexity of the world in the Book of Divine Works. The beauty of these worlds and their underlying systems helps me to better appreciate the real world and my place within it.
However, there is another side of my practice: side projects that are more experimental, fine art, and performance focused. Even though these are further from typical illustration, they help me to explore the interrelation between the spiritual and the physical within the world-system of reality. Much of my work incorporates expressive, dance-like movements into my art making. This allows me to be physically involved in the work. Through these practices, I explore my own state within the world as a physical and spiritual being, and the deeper connections bringing together reality. I am inspired by artists such as Kazuo Shiraga and Greg Lookerse who incorporate intentional movements as an integral part of drawing and painting.
Through understanding the real world and my place within it, I seek to be able to create believable fictional worlds that relate back to the themes I find in reality. And in turn, the beauty and complexity of fictional worlds can present the beauty of reality in a new way.