2024 Grad Show

Kayleska Blake

AUArts Grad Show Blake_Kayleska_Artist_Portrait 2023

VCD – Character Design & Illustration

Kayleska Blake

A 4th generation Ukrainian-Canadian With a special interest in pixel art and character design as well as cross-stitch. Recently invested in exploring horror and nostalgia; she has been developing a video game using techniques that mix real imagery and textiles with the sharp, clean swirls of pixel medium.

Acrid Tales

The Baba Yaga and Red Riding Hood characters interpreted as side scroller horror game sprites.

Acrid Tales AUArts Grad Show bbyroughsddd
Acrid Tales AUArts Grad Show bbysprts
Acrid Tales AUArts Grad Show Desktop Screenshot 2024.05.20 – 07.43.15.81
Acrid Tales AUArts Grad Show rrhroughs
Acrid Tales AUArts Grad Show rrhsprts
Acrid Tales AUArts Grad Show Desktop Screenshot 2024.05.20 – 07.32.09.02
Amalgamation The big bad flesh will mislead. Stay on the path, Red.

Amalgamation

An exploratory pixel medium comic page, spoofing a familiar fairytale.

Amalgamation AUArts Grad Show Little_Red_Guts
Amalgamation The big bad flesh will mislead. Stay on the path, Red.
Alphabet Book Page
Snowmen Hollow I like imagining what could live inside inanimate objects and what the home would look like.
Pinch of Sugar An autobiographical tale.
Peanut-Bubble Sandwiches A colouring page playing with a neat pun.

Children's Illustration

Children's Illustration AUArts Grad Show Alphabet Book (1)
Alphabet Book Page
Children's Illustration AUArts Grad Show Snowmen Make Cozy Homes
Snowmen Hollow I like imagining what could live inside inanimate objects and what the home would look like.
Children's Illustration AUArts Grad Show Pinchy Sugar
Pinch of Sugar An autobiographical tale.
Children's Illustration AUArts Grad Show Peanut Bubble
Peanut-Bubble Sandwiches A colouring page playing with a neat pun.

Isolation

Based on a nightmare.

Isolation AUArts Grad Show isolation

Little Old Owl Folk

Hootimer and Mabel Squabblebeak, an old married couple that live in an old magic oak tree.

Little Old Owl Folk AUArts Grad Show Squabblebeak Couple
Train
Hike
Cabin
Window Growing up in a rural area and then going to study in the city, nature changed for me. Where I used to seek out nature to be alone; I am now hyper aware of Calgary's nature being synonymous with public and uncertainty. Particularly for someone like me. This series seeks to represent the fear of being followed in places where I most seek solitude.

No Mountain High Enough

I explored depicting nature more in this series while using a medium with sharp, square edges. The colour palettes chosen are to reflect the progression of time with overcast afternoon, moody evening, blazing sunset and glowing, moonlit night. The character travels to a remote location yet is being followed constantly by a humanoid creature just out of sight.

No Mountain High Enough AUArts Grad Show Transit
Train
No Mountain High Enough AUArts Grad Show Atmosphere
Hike
No Mountain High Enough AUArts Grad Show Exterior
Cabin
No Mountain High Enough AUArts Grad Show Interior
Window Growing up in a rural area and then going to study in the city, nature changed for me. Where I used to seek out nature to be alone; I am now hyper aware of Calgary's nature being synonymous with public and uncertainty. Particularly for someone like me. This series seeks to represent the fear of being followed in places where I most seek solitude.
Lynn Fox The cross-stitch counterpart of the design. Despite creating this piece after the pixel, I found this one indeed stronger. It also took on a different meaning to me than the original work. The threads I used came from a passed relative, and thus a unique sentimentality took hold that had nothing to do with the design but instead the materials and process.
Pix Vix The original work I created was inspired by an online streamer that got away from her abuser husband. All most of her male fans cared about was that she had a husband. Some of them told her she deserved it for tricking them. There was such a strong, possessive, parasocial dynamic. All these people believing that she owed them something. It reminded me of traditional celebrity stalkers, but en masse. A "vixen" laid bare and being gawked at as though it was deserved.

Streaming Vixen

This piece aims to explore the links between craft and pixel medium. The consideration of each square on a grid, yet different results from the same design. Curious how the meaning and value shifts.

Streaming Vixen AUArts Grad Show 20230302_151428
Lynn Fox The cross-stitch counterpart of the design. Despite creating this piece after the pixel, I found this one indeed stronger. It also took on a different meaning to me than the original work. The threads I used came from a passed relative, and thus a unique sentimentality took hold that had nothing to do with the design but instead the materials and process.
Streaming Vixen AUArts Grad Show Pix Vixen
Pix Vix The original work I created was inspired by an online streamer that got away from her abuser husband. All most of her male fans cared about was that she had a husband. Some of them told her she deserved it for tricking them. There was such a strong, possessive, parasocial dynamic. All these people believing that she owed them something. It reminded me of traditional celebrity stalkers, but en masse. A "vixen" laid bare and being gawked at as though it was deserved.
Roland & Maybird

Twisted Tale

A twist on the fairytale of Hansel and Gretel based on my research into the original tale and my own flare. I pictured them as old-style point and click adventure game protagonists and created a mockup of those game manuals that used to come with physical copy games.

Twisted Tale AUArts Grad Show Roland and Maybird
Roland & Maybird

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