I have been drawing Isolation Monster since the beginning of lockdown to express myself emotionally. This piece is based upon a piece I did then, called “Drowning”. This is the first digital piece I created to express the hole that many may feel they have been sucked into, mentally, as they are isolated. 

Clawing at the light, yet sinking down even further into the darkness. 

The colour palette is restricted, just as our lives are restricted, stripped back to essentials. The cold element is created with blues and greens to further emphasise the sense of sadness and despair. The marks made for the creature and its surroundings are different, as we can only control ourselves and not our environment. The marks for the water are textured, they appear fluid but are actually made up of smaller, shorter rough patches, layered upon one another, and thin, long strings that tangle around the creature. This is to convey a sense of being tided up in the situation: a lack of freedom. The marks made for the creature are chaotic, organic, fine and expressive. This is because this is how I see humanity: chaotic, unpredictable and complex. Each life is made up of a series of fine, tiny choices: a thousand cuts of trauma and issues. There are horns on the creature’s head, to show the bold and fierce nature of humanity, while they are completely useless in the situation. The claws and tail are also useless, further portraying a sense of helplessness, as the creature fights to return to the light. The monster has no mouth, no way to speak out. There are faint bubbles around it but they are unobtainable. The eyes are highlighted to bring focus to the face of the monster and to show that we can only watch what is happening in our world. 

I hope that I have expressed the feelings of hopelessness and depression that many are feeling or have felt during the pandemic. Rather than fighting to claw our way back to the world we once knew, we must find a way to adapt, to uncover the world of the future in the unknown darkness around us.