Mona Lisa After Manjit Thapp
This is the final assignment I did for my Illustration History class at Seneca. The task consisted of choosing the work of one artist/illustrator that really inspired us, to then research their influences and themes, dissect their creative process and thus learn from it while recreating Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic painting Mona Lisa, also known as La Gioconda (or La Joconde).
Initially I had so many artists in my mind that I wanted to pick but Manjit Thapp’s work has always been so inspiring to me because of her unique art style and the way she uses her work to talk about topics that I find very important, so I decided to choose her.
Working across various book covers, zines, fashion illustrations and her recently published graphic novel, Manjit combines traditional and digital media to create vivid, emotional and collage-like illustrations addressing themes of female empowerment, mental health, self-expression and Indian representation, elements that I wanted to convey in this tribute to her work.
I really had so much fun working on this since I really got the chance to notice all the little details and love that Manjit puts in her artworks, like that small halftone shading she often includes, or the many digital techniques she employs to create abstract and detailed textures that often appear in her compositions.
Initially I had so many artists in my mind that I wanted to pick but Manjit Thapp’s work has always been so inspiring to me because of her unique art style and the way she uses her work to talk about topics that I find very important, so I decided to choose her.
Working across various book covers, zines, fashion illustrations and her recently published graphic novel, Manjit combines traditional and digital media to create vivid, emotional and collage-like illustrations addressing themes of female empowerment, mental health, self-expression and Indian representation, elements that I wanted to convey in this tribute to her work.
I really had so much fun working on this since I really got the chance to notice all the little details and love that Manjit puts in her artworks, like that small halftone shading she often includes, or the many digital techniques she employs to create abstract and detailed textures that often appear in her compositions.
Academic Project / Illustration / 2021
