Two practices, one instinct — illustration and photography united by a shared obsession with how light defines form. What a line does in pencil, shadow does in light.
Symmetrically Unorthodox — Illustration
Symmetrically Unorthodox began as an experiment in formal constraint. Start with perfect bilateral symmetry — then introduce controlled chaos. Each decision made with intention, never at random. The result is a series of illustrations that feel simultaneously balanced and unsettled: familiar forms made strange by subtle deviations from the expected.
The work started in pencil — loose gestural forms refined digitally in Adobe Illustrator. Each composition went through at least three symmetry passes before the deliberate breaks were introduced. The process demanded patience: knowing when the disruption was enough, and when it became noise.
Color was the final decision. Deep navy and violet, punctuated by warm coral accents that interrupt the cool equilibrium — a chromatic echo of the structural tension already present in the forms.
Symmetrically Unorthodox — poster series, pink and blue colourways
From Shadow to Serenity — Photo Editing
From Shadow to Serenity is a photo editing project built around a single concept: the journey from darkness toward calm. Each image was carefully retouched and colour-graded in Adobe Photoshop to explore contrast, mood, and the interplay of light and shadow — the same formal questions as Symmetrically Unorthodox, answered through the lens instead of the stylus.
The work began with images that captured raw contrast — harsh shadows, soft highlights, and scenes that felt emotionally charged. The tension between what is visible and what remains hidden became the conceptual spine of every edit. Each photograph asked: how much darkness can you remove before the image loses its truth?
Serenity, here, is not the absence of shadow — it is what you find when you learn to work with it.
From Shadow to Serenity — photo editing series, 2021
Reflection
Placing these two projects together revealed something I hadn't fully articulated before — that illustration and photography are, for me, the same question asked in two different languages. Both are about deciding what gets to exist on the surface and what gets erased. Both demand the same thing: restraint, and the courage to stop.
