Shields UP!: A Junior Self-Portrait Illustration by Davis Brown (2011)

The process of making the self portrait illustration was interesting and an educational experience. Since, I have barely worked with Illustrator before I decided to create my illustration in Photoshop using the brush tool first, then convert it into a vector inside illustrator. I was going for a very intense almost evil look in my illustration, by making the picture black and white with my face in the center. In my illustration the character trait that I was trying to represent was that I can get very intense and engaged in computer projects like using Photoshop or playing online video games. The computer robot character in the center represents me, because computers are such a big part of my life. The circle around me is a force field protecting me from all the things in my life that I have ignored because of being engaged in my projects. I get into this ''zone'' where I ignore my surroundings. I show this in my picture by having food, paper, words and a badminton racket flying towards me. The food represents times where I would not bother eating dinner, the paper represents homework and other work obligations I have ignored, the badminton racket is the sport I love, and most importantly I even ignored hanging out with my friends. One of my best friends would always say things like ''Davis come on… do it later,'' or ''where are you Davis?'' Of course he is talking about me on the computer. Instead of spending time with friends I am zoned out on the computer.