Rachel E Cooper Portfolio
About
Artist Bio
Rachel E. Cooper, age 25, graduated from George Mason University with Bachelor of Fine Art and minor in Game Design. When not working on her career, Rachel can be found with her sketch book and colored pencils, camera or computer in hand.
She loves to experiment with color and texture. She often combines her pencil drawings and photographs to create mixed media artwork in Photoshop. Consequently, when working in group projects, she is often called upon to light, texturize or color environments, characters and/or backgrounds.
Ms. Cooper grew up surrounded creative and non-traditional art. Her father is a tattoo artist; her mother is a modern quilter; and, her grandmother is an avid oil and acrylic painter. Her home was also filled with animated movies, Doctor Who and super heroes. She realized from early age that not everyone learns or thinks in the same way. Her parents encouraged her to be solution focused and to think outside of the box.
Artist Statement
I create worlds that reflect today’s societal problems and brings light to the hopes of tomorrow. As children,we imagine monsters that hide beneath our beds. As we age, we faces and names to those things that go bump in the night. I realize that these monsters are reflections of internal struggles and real fears. Many people wear masks of smiles or positivity to hide their true feelings. In my creative process, I like to turn people inside out to personify and portray their inner-feelings by using monstrous imagery.
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Most of my artwork inspiration comes from classic “B” horror movies, such Frankenstein, The Thing, and The Monster from The Black Lagoon. I find the newer horror movies leave little to the imagination. Yes, some classify classic horror movies as “cheesy” or “low tech” but they play off the viewer’s inner fears and leave a lot to the viewer’s imagination. Also, the monster’s motivations are pretty clear –they are either killing people for food or to keep its home safe from human influences.To simplify, pure survive instinct is driving the monster forward.
I am also influenced by the works of some of the large animation studios –like Pixar, Disney and Ghibli. While I have many movies that influenced me, one stands out. In 2001, Pixar released a film(“Monsters Inc.”) in which they humanized monsters who took the screams of children to fuel their city! The animators made believable and relatable characters that allowed both young and old understand a complex story line. This movie helped me see that animation and monsters could be my artistic medium.