Clive Hawken BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Walker

Cryptids incite a particular and peculiar fascination in most people; they are monstrous and elusive – lone, mysterious beings forgotten by evolution that waver narrowly between believable and fantastic. Though not all of this applies, the characterization of transgender people both culturally and in media holds many dehumanizing parallels. My comic is the 28 page first chapter of a of a full-sized graphic novel in which the main character is a transgender man whose strange, cosmic connection to a cryptid leads him on a journey that changes his life.

The story is about a man who has walked away from his former life in order to search for a fictional cryptid similar to the Pacific Northwest’s sasquatch. Told non-linearly, the narrative goes back and forth between flashbacks of the main character’s previous life and the somewhat mystical, frequently surreal adventure that unfolds on the road. Together, the two time-streams paint a greater picture of the man; his struggle with identity, masculinity, family, purpose, and how a combination of all of those factors resulted in the brash decision to set out on his quest in the first place. The disparate flashbacks between the ongoing, present narrative are the equivalent to literary vignettes – tied to events in the story in the tangential, meaningful way memories are.

While the story does contain an element of mysticism and horror, it is less a work of fantasy than a work of contemporary fiction that uses surrealism and fantasy as a device. My work is slow-burning, distinctly paced, and relies heavily on visual symbols used in a literary sense. Magical realism works in a way that higher fantasy doesn’t for me because it allows me to bend and expand on a world that already exists for psychological effect rather than having to establish the world beforehand, describe it to the viewer, and then subvert it.

Shyla Villanueva BFA Printmaking Thesis Spring 2017

Matthew Layng BFA Writing Thesis Spring 2017

Justine Highsmith BFA Intermedia Thesis Spring 2017

Aimee Sitarz BFA Photography Thesis Spring 2017

Alden Rodgers BFA Photography Thesis Spring 2017

Jesse Blalock BFA Photography Thesis Spring 2017

Andrew Saxon BFA Photography Thesis Spring 2017

Molly Carlson Animated Arts BFA Thesis Spring 2017

Cai Veronda BFA Animated Arts Thesis Spring 2017

Caitlin McIntyre BFA Animated Arts Thesis Spring 2017

Evan Stephens-Tiley BFA Animated Arts Thesis Spring 2017

Chaz Stobbs BFA Video + Sound Thesis Spring 2017

Tandy Kunkle BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Kaitlyn Nelson BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Colin Luton BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Elisabeth Young BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Joshua Hughes BFA Sculpture Thesis Spring 2017

Sage Cortez BFA Sculpture Thesis Spring 2017

John Wood BFA Sculpture Thesis Spring 2017

Kathryn Sifford BFA Sculpture Thesis Spring 2017

Hilary Hartner BFA Sculpture Thesis Spring 2017

Jamaali Roberts BFA Painting Thesis Spring 2017

Ashlin Bush BFA Painting Thesis Spring 2017

Valentino Quijano BFA Painting Thesis Spring 2017

Anna Marl BFA General Fine Arts Thesis Spring 2017

Cassandra Lankford BFA General Fine Arts Thesis Spring 2017

Lindsey Walker BFA General Fine Arts Thesis Spring 2017

Corey Ondrey Hernandez BFA Communication Design Thesis Spring 2017

Jourdan Simmonds BFA Communication Design Thesis Spring 2017

Mariah Currey BFA Communication Design BFA Thesis Spring 2017

Sydney Fort BFA Communication Design Thesis Spring 2017

Alexandra Gregory BFA Communication Design Thesis Spring 2017

Ellen Skiff BFA Communication Design Thesis Spring 2017

Elizabeth Karras BFA Communication Design Thesis Spring 2017

Alexander Roebling BFA Communication Design Thesis Spring 2017

Seth Lathrop BFA Communication Design Thesis Fall 2015

Vance McDermott BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Meredith Bardo BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Christina Brister BFA Illustration BFA Thesis Spring 2017

Hope Darby BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Subin Yang BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Bryson Kaps BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Brandon Gould BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Clive Hawken BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Samantha Fowler BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Zoe Kimball BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Joaquin Golez BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Grace Murphy BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Tess Rubinstein BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Seaerra Miller BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2017

Joshua Bone-Christian Animated Arts BFA Thesis Spring 2017