ARTIST BIO

Artist biography

As a self-taught artist, Monica began drawing as a way to give form to difficult situations. Her work is inspired by Japanese illustrations and manga; she creates black and white drawings that narrate her life experiences using pen and pencil on paper. Manga and anime are an important influence on her work, as they are part of her daily life.

In creating her drawing, she first composed a digital collage that features a variety of Australian birds which also includes her Indian Ringeck pet as Monica's personal touch to the art piece, thus bringing life and meaning to her creation. This digital collage then serves as a foundation for the drawing.

She emphasises the retention of white space to separate the subject matter, while adding flora to embellish the birds. There is no shading involved and each line is an individual mark, which emulates the common styles of manga illustrations. According to Monica, the main focus, or the "protagonist" of this piece, is detailed and surrounded by a thick black line. Although the details are realistic, the piece is kept novel as a story. She believes that "these life experiences, although they are real, will remain recorded as an incident or story that has happened in the past".