The theme of identity can be portrayed in many ways through a multitude of art forms whether it be through the artist’s view such as their mindset during the creation of the art, how the art was created, the look of the finished art and the unused concepts thought up while it was being created or through outside sources such as the branding, the audience the art appeals to and their reaction to it.
An example of artists showing their identity through their work is with comic artists. Depending on the creator, a comic artist might have a visualisation of themselves within the comic through various means, whether it be a small cameo, having themselves as a character in the story or to give insight into their mindstate when making the comic.
Osamu Tezuka is known to appear as himself in his series ‘Astro Boy’ to speak on various subjects like what he was inspired by when designing his comic, his audience’s reactions to stories, controversies regarding the violence in his series, etc.
Another example of someone inserting himself into comics is Harvey Pekar, writer of ‘American Splendor’, an autobiographical comic. In the comic, it follows him retelling stories from his life and him givingg his thoughts on various topics.
Self portraits:
Looking at a mirror from the side, pencil
Same, but from a different angle
Looking towards the mirror, sharpie
More caricatured sketch