For the completion of my Digital Art Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, I crafted the first twenty pages of a comic entitled "NOVA." It's a young adult coming of age story exploring themes of emerging identity, human exploitation, isolation, and queer relationships with a bright, poppy retro-futuristic space environment backdrop.
Artist Statement:
The world and story in NOVA is a culmination of a bunch of things: my existential terror for the seemingly inevitable ecological destruction of our planet, the fascination that I hold for the ever-expanding limits of space, my cynicism for the idea of future space “colonization” with all the implications that that word carries, and my own process of sorting out who I am from who others have expected me to be. NOVA is a coming-of-age story at the heart of it, and reflects the loneliness and fear of solitude that many of us developed in the past few years. Visually inspired by 90s manga and retro-futurism, I hope that I’ve created a bright and exciting world for you to delve into, and you’ll feel a sense of kinship with the characters that will hold you there.
Summary:
“In the distant future, humanity has moved off Earth to settle on Mars. The new Martians are looking for a bright start in space, striving for innovation, beauty, and the establishment of a utopian society. Amidst the glaring shine of the developing new world on Mars, Nova feels incredibly alone as the sole non-human. Her alien mother, Andromeda, is said to have saved the colony in its fledgling years from great danger, and in the process sacrificed her own life, leaving Nova behind in the care of the human colonists. The Martians call Nova their guiding light, a symbol of their emergence from their selfish, destructive ways that they left behind on Earth. For them, she represents the wonder and hope that the unknown of space provides. Meanwhile, Nova is still just trying to figure out who she is, and if she’ll ever be able to escape the cocoon of idolization that has been woven around her.
When Nova is told that she and a trio of Space Force cadets will be making a publicity trip back to the former moon base, she thinks it might be a chance to make introduce herself to others as more than the figure on on every billboard. Perhaps to even make new friends. Her hopes seem to be interrupted over and over again, by the overbearing will of the authorities around her, people’s preconceived notions of her, and unexpected twists and dangers on what was meant to be a totally uneventful trip.”