Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Shelby Doerfler

Digital Identity

“Digital Identity” is an animation that I have developed as I have become increasingly thoughtful about what the Internet has made of me, and who I would be without the Internet. With a lot of my work relating to the subconscious and all my time being spent online, I wanted to explore how this has affected me, and recent digital culture. Recently, it has become a trend for entertainers to use digital avatars created from 3D models instead of broadcasting their real identity. These types of entertainers have become increasingly popular even appearing in advertising and reaching millions of viewers. The desire to create a digital extension of self separate from the limitations of reality is very interesting to me. As well as second life and games where you can communicate to others using virtual reality avatars, there is comfort in the anonymity it provides, but how does it affect our perception of the real world ? This can develop into an unhealthy obsession or a dependence on the Internet. How far has the Internet influenced us? Down to our interests, hobbies and how we spend our free time it is impossible to know the extent of which this overwhelming number of visuals and ideas has affected us subconsciously. The anime inspired design of these avatars is influenced by Internet popularity as well as this genre has become a viral trend in Western culture as of late. With concerns on the problematic nature of some depictions in anime, it is interesting as to why this trend has become so popular.Virtual avatars like these show this digital influence that has created a desire to escape reality. For this project I have used mixed digital software to create and edit 3D models to follow a popular trend of virtual avatars and to represent someone who has lost their own identity and has succumbed to becoming one with the Internet after being subconsciously manipulated.