Ericka Urbano
VCD – Character Design & Illustration
Ericka Urbano is a Filipino-Canadian artist whose work draws from her childhood in the rural Philippines, where nature, observation, and imagination shaped how she saw the world. She works mainly with charcoal and digital tools to create illustrations and visual stories that reflect her thoughts, memories, and emotions.
Urbano is especially interested in how different cultures assign meaning to symbols, myths, and stories—even ones that have never interacted. This curiosity often leads her to study psychology, history, and mythology, with a particular interest in Carl Jung’s idea of the "collective unconscious"—the idea that people from all over the world share common symbols and ideas deep in the mind.
Her favorite part of making art is the process of research and idea development. She sees art as a way to connect people through shared emotions and questions, using her Filipino roots as a starting point. Whether working with traditional materials or digital media, Urbano’s goal is always to create work that not only expresses something personal but also makes others feel, reflect, and relate.
Communications Design
Collection of Communication Designs throughout the years in AUARTS.
3D Object Design and Fabrication
Character Designs
Character Designs from multiple projects throughout the years in AUARTS.
Environment Illustrations
Collections of Environment Designs throughout the years in AUARTs.
Nora and Tenten Comic
Set in Philippines, this is a development of a horror-comedy comic about a found-family relationship between two unlikely beings, a funeral Director and a Tiyanak, a baby ghoul in Phillippine folklore.
Relations Comic
Set in Spanish Colonial Philippines, this is a development of a horror comic about conflicting relationship between a girl and her Aunt.
Charcoal Illustrations
This body of work was exhibited at Fridge Gallery in Fall 2024 Semester under the title of "Enigmatic Unconscious". After experiencing burnout, I found new inspiration through charcoal and a deep exploration of Symbolist art, especially the dreamlike works of Odilon Redon and Carl Jung’s psychological insights. The tiitles were given after the works are done. The process is drawing reductively which means it involved covering the whole paper with Charcoal and using the gaps seen from the textures of the paper as a guide for the illustration.
Really Rough Draft Comics
Rooster's Job Comic
Series of short comics about The Rooster having a hard time in his job to wake up the Sun and start the day.
