Emily Harris

Emotional Illustration Diary

Since my freshman year at Penny W. Stamps, I have always focused on mental health for major art projects. Throughout the past 3 years of attending Stamps, I have been through a lot mentally and emotionally. So, I figured this was a good time to let people know about my story. To help myself let out my emotions and to let people get to know me personally, I decided to digitally illustrate my daily emotions based on depression, anxiety, and the aftermath of emotional abuse, and then color them based on how I am feeling on that specific day. After going through rougly seven different art styles, I finally found a style that stuck with me personally, one that I felt a deeper connection with. This style is very flexible and different compared to the art styles I have had in the past, since I am fully able to express my emotions through facial expression and arm positions. To make this artwork visible to the world, I created an Instagram account called @mixedemmotions so I am able to post and show my documented emotions by the end of each day, making my emotional experiences available for everyone to see, showing my mental and emotional patterns. Whether my mental health is getting better or worse throughout, days, weeks, months, or years, I'm learning about myself and bettering myself in the process.