Illustration. Bachelors Portfolio

Willa Cornelius
Apr 10, 2023
3 min read

Updated: Mar 20, 2024

Bachelors degree completed with The Design School Southern Africa, now known as Vega. Subjects included: Graphic Design, Advanced Illustration, Business Practice, Advanced Photography, Art & Design Theory Research and Commercial Art.

What Projects to Expect in this Portfolio

Google Doodle - Traditional Media

Self-Portrait - Traditional Media

Time Magazine - Traditional Media

Edward Bananahands - Digital Illustration

Figure Study - Drawing

Vinyl Cover - Digital Illustration

The Raven-Children’s Book - Editorial Illustration

Badilisha Poetry X-Change Book Cover - Illustration

Michelle's Range - Fashion Photography

Inception Poster - Illustration

Zenan Poster - Digital Illustration

Each project is unique and aim to portray high quality design, showcasing a wide spectrum of Illustration projects worked on.

Google Doodle. Traditional Media

Gouache on paper.

“ A Google Doodle that celebrates the history of the classic game Monopoly.”

Monopoly, celebrating the origin of the game that can be traced back to 1903 where supposedly it started as an Educational tool explaining the single-tax theory of Henry George, that illustrates the negative aspects of private land monopolies.

Self-Portrait. Traditional Media

Gouache on paper.

“An Abstract Self-Portrait.”

Made up out of numerous items like fashion accessories, cards and shredded paper, this self-portrait sets out to illustrate my interest in various design and fashion trends.

Time Magazine. Traditional Media

Gouache on paper.

“Person of the year; Environmentalist, Julius Malema.”

Five-year political prediction for 2017, South Africa. In summary, Julius Sello Malema, politician, activist and Commander-in-Chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), is portrayed hypothetically as an Environmentalist five years into the future.

Edward Bananahands. Digital Illustration

Pen and Ink on paper. Print on Upholstery.

“Alteration to an original Movie.”

Edward Scissorhands, the 1990 American film directed by Tim Burton, whose scissor hands made life very challenging already, replaced with banana hands. The fan art is applied to a vintage chair that help illustrates the hilarious awkward use of bananas as hands.

Figure Study. Drawing

Charcoal and Pencil on paper. Charcoal and Water Colour Pencil on paper.

“Male and Female gesture drawing.”

Drawn in silhouette, these figures helped develop an understanding of the human anatomy, in scale, perspective and reality versus paper.

Kongos. Digital Illustration

Pen and Ink on paper. Digital Editing.

“A not so serious approach to a hypothetical album cover.”

The Kongos is a rock band that consists of four brothers, they use a combination of classic rock elements, African rhythms and Balkan beats to produce an orgasmic soundscape.

Their hit song ‘I am only joking’ inspired the theme of the cover, illustrating a destroyed plain affected by war, in the Republic of the Congo, with text reading ‘ I’m only joking’ emphasises the hilarious contrast of the songs lyrics. The band even states on their website that they are in no way affiliated with the Republic of the Congo, thus adding even more contreversy to the album art.

The Raven-Children’s Book. Editorial Illustration

Paper cutting. Digital Editing.

“Illustrating a children's book, The Raven, with papercut art.”

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" is a narrative poem about a mysterious talking raven that haunts a heartbroken lover, driving him to madness. The paper art creation depicts the raven flying through a forest towards the castle mentioned in the poem, bringing the story to life in a visually rewashing way.

Badilisha Poetry X-Change Book Cover. Illustration

Gouache. Pen and Ink. Digital Editing.

“Illustrate three poems for Badilisha Poetry X-Change poem book. ”

The organisation focuses on giving exposure to African historical and upcoming poets.The titles of the poems illustrated are: Black Rock, Were I become You, Life’s battlefield, all poems from new and upcoming African poets. Illustrations are inspired by themes within the poems. The colours used are very dull and earth-toned, this is to illustrate the poets' roots in Africa.

Inception. Illustration

Gouache. Digital Editing.

“An alternative conceptional poster for the movie Inception, written and directed by Christopher Nolan.”

The totem that belonged to Mal, Cobb's wife, has become an iconic symbol in the movie, representing Cobb's deep sense of regret and unresolved feelings about her death.

The movie poster features the city in Cobb's dream, which is built on the totem. This visual representation of the weight of the city on the totem captures the emotional burden that Cobb carries throughout the film.

Jean Zenan. Illustration

Pen and Ink. Digital Editing.

“Line drawing with a digital application ”

Jean Oosthuizen, who goes by the stage name Zenan, is a versatile independent artist who is adept at playing multiple instruments such as keyboard, drums, and bass. The illustration captures the intricate web of notes, instruments, and ideas that occupy the artist's mind, reflecting the chaos and creative energy that goes into producing music.