2022
Illustration, Animation, and Sound design
Born as a way to express myself during my first year of living abroad, Alone encapsulates the emotional and physical detachment from the world induced by loneliness. In moments of loneliness everyone around is nothing but an anonymous shadow fleeting past, and the familiar places become distant, a thousand miles away. Even when managing to reach out for help and the warmth of a loved one, there remains a sense of disconnection, a reminder of the struggle and melancholy that come with navigating life’s challenges alone.
One day I was having lunch alone in my apartment. Nothing special to it: like every other day I had my plate and glass in front of me and I was looking out of the window. I remember thinking how beautiful Paris was: the sun was out, people were gathering in the bar in front of my apartment and the trees were blooming again. The scenery was so beautiful, but it still made me feel so melancholic. I looked around and realised I was alone. A big white table and one single plate.
This image lingered in my mind for some time, I knew I had to try and capture it somewhere, somehow. I started sketching this moment with pencil and paper and, as I was drawing, I recognized a recurring theme in my experiences here: my life was incredibly beautiful but deeply lonely. I sketched all these scenes, one after the other, and started envisioning something bigger.
My first instinct was to illustrate these scenes in much more detail on Photoshop and attempt to bring them to life. However, I soon realised they felt emotionless, and somehow not impactful. That is when I got the idea of finding a monochrome color palette to give my scenes some color but still give a lifeless and surreal feeling to them. The idea of using a blue color palette immediately resonated with me. Blue gave my illustrations a sense of melancholy, giving them a timeless and cold atmosphere. It accentuated the isolation of the main character, intensifying the sensation of solitude.
Even after adding the color, I was left with the need to see these images moving, and experience the time passing slowly with the main character. To create a more immersive experience and really capture the audience in this feeling of deep loneliness, I decided to bring the illustrations to life, animating them.
Once my character was moving and the colors were dragging me into the pictures, I could almost already hear the noise and silence of these scenes. That was when I decided I had to incorporate it, and create a special sound design for my main character.
To this day, Alone remains one of the projects that is the dearest to me. It was my first experience with creating moving images that encapsulated emotions. Still today, my inspiration often comes from feelings and experiences I have in my daily life. I believe that Alone illustrates how the blend of technology and reality can allow me to bring the viewer into an imaginary world.