BIO and Statement

Adan Cortina is an aspiring, Hispanic artist and college student born in 2002 and raised in Arizona. He attended Estrella Mountain Community College and graduated with an associate's degree in fine arts. He strives forward as a freelance illustrator and designer.

My mission as an artist is to capture and express the power of negative emotions and dark imagery through surrealist illustration. The genre of surrealism was never something I particularly aimed for, but rather naturally fell into when I felt the most discouraged in life; the most hopeless and afraid. This odd relationship has given me a new found appreciation for the abstract and unknowable aspects of life, which is what inspires the imagery in my artwork.

My medium is primarily black ink on bristol paper, though I do dabble in mix media and digital. What inspires my aesthetic is western comics, traditional art, manga, and videogames. The meticulous linework and dramatic shading in comics and manga is something truly astounding to me, as it often pushes the relationship between positive and negative space to great heights. Lastly, videogames as whole has always been an integral part of my life, and thus I have been exposed to a plethora of unique art styles and designs over the years.