Afro Nouveau

Art Nouveau, an art movement popularized by painters like Alphonse Mucha and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, is a restrained, yet powerful style has always been a favorite of mine. The subject matter usually involved the beautiful framing of a leisurely European woman, with decorative flowers and peaceful environments. I wanted to take this movement I admired and inject a new energy, new perspective…I wanted to turn it on its ear, blow it apart, and put it all back together again. Then it came to me… beauty comes in many forms…and it is not always shy or genteel. Demure European woman certainly have a prominent place in our art history, but if your’re really paying attention, beauty comes at us in many forms…we find and admire it in the bold, the strong and the independent. Powerful and heroic women of color particularly of the 60’s and 70’s eras immediately jumped out to me… instead of the long flowing hair Art Nouveau is known for, we would celebrate the Afro instead, a natural hairstyle of people of color, iconic of the 60’s and 70’s. Afro-Nouveau was born soon after; the kinky haired love child of Art Nouveau and iconic heroines of color. A way to celebrate both allure and strength, Afro Nouveau is a collection to remind us that badass is beautiful too.

“ So while today’s grads may be part of the most educated generation in history, they are also the most indebted twenty-somethings the world has ever seen.”

This project was for an editorial illustration concerning a social cause. I chose the Student Loan Debt Crisis, as it is definitely something that has affected my parents generation, as well as my own.

This project involved creating a cover for the iconic New Yorker magazine. We were allowed to create our own concept and topic, however we had to keep in mind the history of the magazine and its penchant for approaching difficult topics with humor.

I don’t eat eggs. I’ve found the most accurate way to describe why as follows, “They make me inwardly shudder”…they’ve just always just grossed me out… so the irony is not lost on me when I had to spend plenty of time observing eggs frying, to try and understand how render a food I never go near! The idea came to me thinking about the old depiction of it being so hot outside that you could fry an egg on the sidewalk. Many scientist believe if we don’t take care of our planet, we could end up with temperatures hot enough to fry one of these gross things…

This was a fun project! I was charged with re-creating characters from the tale Robin Hood, using animals. I was heavily pushed away from the classic depictions of fox’s, so I chose to depict my Hood characters through a world of dog characters. I definitely enjoy character design, creating inhabiters of the worlds we create… and I’d like to do a lot more of it!

Robin Hood

I took inspiration here from the Airedale Terrier. Its furry face made me think of the Shakespearean styled facial hair embodied in classic depictions of the character played out on screen. A good sized athletic dog, not overwhelming physically, but intelligent, more agile than powerful. Perfect for a dashing canine protagonist.

Maid Marian

I chose to model Marian after the Husky. I wanted to stay loyal to some of the more modern depictions of Marian, as a fierce warrior in her own right. Ive always thought the Husky had a magical quality to them. There’s something about those unique eyes, that could in one scene ensnare a masked hero and in another thread the needle of a bullseye shot!

Prince John

To personify the canine spirit of the villainous Prince John, I knew I had to go with a breed of dog who’s bark was much larger than its bite, yet somehow manages to order much larger creatures around according to its yippy whim. The Pomeranian embodied that attitude and its physical characteristics lent themselves to being made to appear regal…A little bling never hurts!

Little John

Little, the not so little friend of Robin Hood, in my opinion could not have been depicted as any other dog but the St Bernard/Malmute. A gentle giant, they are some of the largest of breeds, yet known for their peaceful demeanor, and if that wasn’t enough, they were bred for rescuing people from the snow. The challenge was to make him a big sweetheart, but with the brawn and might to throw down in a fight. Any guy who has a tree for a club, you want on your side.

The Sheriff of Nottingham

My Grandmother once had a massive Doberman named “Judge”. One day, while visiting, I was playing with him in the yard with and I grabbed his bone and tossed it to him. I was about 6 or 7 years old, and I didn’t exactly speak dog, but I knew from hearing Judge’s growl, that I probably shouldn’t have touched Judge’s bone and that it was time to book it out of there! I sprinted…which was probably a mistake. He caught me just as I entered the rear porch door to the waiting arms of my relatives, as they must have heard my shrieks as I lived my own version of the big chase scene from the movie, The Sandlot. Only in this version, the boy gets caught…right on the left butt cheek. I have the scar to prove it. Do I have to explain anymore why the Sheriff of Nottingham is a Doberman?

This was a project close to my heart. The original assignment was to design and illustrate a classic children’s book cover. It was one of my first forays into digital painting. When I started getting my portfolio together, I noticed a few things… I loved the design and the idea, but I had learned so much since I originally worked on it, so I thought it would be fun to take another crack at it. I also saw it as an opportunity re-think the character of Alice with a more culturally ambiguous appearance, because little girls of all shades should be able to see themselves in fairy tales. I used my mom’s skin tone as my reference, so that was really fun.

This project was for a Jazz inspired wine label called “ Round Midnight”. I took a lot of inspiration from historic performers like Lena Horne and Josephine Baker. Pretty happy with how it turned out!