Diana Rute Costa's portfolio showcases illustrations created during her 2012 graphic design graduation. It includes college coursework exploring themes of fantasy, mythology, and medieval/Victorian aesthetics. Her technical skills include watercolor, pencil, and digital vector art. The portfolio demonstrates her preference for traditional illustration and interest in representing the female form through portraits and costumes.

1. p ort f oli o
Diana Rute Costa
2012

2. I nt r o d u c t i o n
The present portfolio displays a great diversity of
illustrations performed during my graduation in
Graphic Design at the Fine Arts College from the
Univesity of Porto, for the period of 2009-2012.
Additionally, this portfolio shows other illustrations
freely created outside the course context during this
time.
The work selection here exhibited demonstrates my
preference for traditional illustration, though I am
also able to digitally illustrate. The technical skills
employed to perform the marjority of illustrations
encompass watercolour or pencil colour painting
and vector drawing.
A common theme in my work is the representation of
the female body and costumes, deeply influenced by
the Medieval fantasy aesthetics. I am also inspired by
the paintings of the Pre-Rhaphaelite artists Edward
Burne-Jones and John William Waterhouse, which
portray females from ancient mythology, legends
and tales. In this connection, the beauty and fashion
illustration field is another of my interests.

3. S lu m d o g G e n e r ato r
college work
I used the Nodebox software to create an image generator that continuously changes the picture of a slumdog wearing different outfits and
accessories. The purpose was to hypothetically insert this generator in a website that advertises clothes for dogs.
Vector Illustration

4. E yj a fj al l a j o k u l l
college work
This 3D piece was exhibited in an exposition
organized by the Fine Arts College from the
University of Porto, whose theme was the eruption
of the Icelandic volcano “Eyjafjallajokull” in 2010.
I pictured the moment before “Eyjafjallajokull”
eruption as an asleep boy dressed with traditional
Icelandic clothes, laying on wood branches.
Colour Pencil on Paperboard

5. F a i r y T al e S o r c e r e r
college work
This project aimed to create a profile image of
a facebook group entitled “Old people that look
younger than what they really are”.
I represented a very old sorcerer whose
appearence is still young and somehow seductive.
I was inspired by the classical tale illustrations of
Eric Kincaid.
Colour Pencil on Paper

6. C u lt u r e s C o s t u m e s
college work
The three following images depict maidens wearing
typical costumes of spatially and temporally
unrelated cultures: Portuguese, Persian and Aztec.
Pencil Colour on Paper

7. T h e M i s t s o f Av alo n
college work
I redesigned the cover of “Mists of Avalon” by
Marion Zimmer Bradley. Due to all the female
esoterism and mystical symbolism present in the
book’s story, I turned its cover into an inverted
triangle, a well known symbol of women.
Demonstrative Photography

8. Ha ns e l & Gr e t e l
college work
In this project, I illustrated the pages of the famous
tale “Hansel and Gretel”. I drew the characters
in a very classical way keeping the background
minimalistic, so that the story course could be
understood based on the charaters’s expressions
and features.
Colour Pencil on Paper

9. Mo on & Su n
free work
The antagonistic concepts of moon/night versus
sun/day were personified as human characters,
with influences of arabian culture.
Watercolour on Paperboard

10. O r b i s c o lo r
free work
The diversity of characters here represented
belong to an imaginary world populated by many
different fantasy cultures.
Colour Pencil and Collage on Paper

11. S p ri n g P ri nt
free work
Through the use of wood stamps, I printed flowery
patterns on the character’s clothings.
Colour Pencil and Wood Stamps on Paper

12. Th e C u r s e
college work
In this project, I created 3 villains cursed to be
depressed, broken hearted and crow shaped. In
opposition, I invented an optimistic and laughable
hero resembling Charlie Chaplin, that possesses a
very intellectual bulldog as a sidekick.
Colour Pencil and Collage on Paper

13. Colour Pencil and Collage on Paper

14. X e q u e - m at e
free work
The following sequence of illustrations represents
the clash of the white and the black chess kings, in
which the black chess king decides to interrupt the
marriage between the white king and queen...
Watercolour on Paper

15. M e d i e v al A nt h o lo g y
free work
This illustration is an example of a set of various
illustrations created for a small sized book, which
gathers several texts about the Portuguese
medieval literature and its authors.
Watercolour on Paper

16. R o m a nt i c V a m p i r e s
free work
A collection of Romantic vampire characters,
inspired by the 19th century costumes.
Charcoall on Paper Watercolour on Paper

17. Graphic Pencil on Paper

18. Zen
free work
This work was inspired by the Buddist symbolism
and I tried to represent a character that would
express a certain meditation pose.
Ink on Paper

19. M e d i e v al c o l l e c t i o n
free work
Image collection of female characters and outfits
inspired by medieval fantasy.
Ink on Paper

20. Graphic Pencil on Paper

21. E lv e s a n d F a i ri e s
free work
Image collection of female characters and outfits
inspired by fairies and elves from the celtic
imaginarium.
Graphic Pencil Pencil Color Watercolor Ink

22. F lo w e r y O r n a m e nt s
a nd he ad p i e c e s
free work
The following illustrations focuses on female
headpiece decoration by using ornaments.
Ink on Paper Pastels on Paper