Thought a lot about what my Serena Williams tribute sketch would be. I’ve been watching her whole career and decided rather than capture the things we reach for first when talking about Serena (power, triumph, dominance, other heavy sports cliches) I wanted to capture a moment we saw, but often missed: Serena’s joy. Considering how much Serena won and how happy she was winning, it’s shocking that our first mental images of Serena are not of her smiling and happy. I’ll remember all the power and dominance, but I want to be sure I remember moments like this too: a Black woman with space to find joy in her success.

Had the idea to make stylized picks for Black superheroes. I did a poster for DC and Marvel.

Stevie Wonder Poster Commissioned by Javeck Verdugo

Carlos Santana Poster Commissioned by Javeck Verdugo

Portrait of a Black Woman Commissioned by Alene Paulk

This was a freelance project that I did for the Drunk Black History Podcast.

You Can Listen Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/drunk-black-history/id1535495844

When the Captain Marvel Film came out there were images of star Brie Larson attending screenings in a very cool Captain Marvel Track Suit. It inspired this series of images showing different Marvel Women Characters in cool workout gear that I could picture them wearing.

This series was inspired mostly by a Pyer Moss Collection. I loved the bright bold colors and graphics and wanted to do more that just draw the collections so I put the designs I was drawn to most on marvel characters. I was going to do a Dapper Dan Gucci collection as well, but I had some other projects come up so I wasn’t able to dedicate a lot of time to it.

A series of drawings I did after being inspired by the film Into The Spiderverse

A Series of some of my favorite dunk contest dunks.

I took different comic book covers and flipped them to fit with different themes/narrative in Hip Hop

Gender Bending some of my favorite characters for the Swaptober Challenge.

This illustrations are interpretations of photos my friend Maurice Bland took at Afropunk this year.  He's a dope photographer. Follow him on IG: @reese.bland

So I've Finally gone full digital! I got an iPad and have really been working on exploring how my art translates to this new medium.  I grabbed a few instal-photos of young black talent and went to work. Its been and adjustment, but I think i have it down now.  All of these were done in the program Procreate

When Im in between ideas i look to instagram for photographers who take interesting portraits so I can keep my skills fresh and try new things. When I came across this Photographer I was blown away. Please go check out @celestamemoir instagram account. It's amazing.  Here are some illustrations I did of a few of my faves. And I have more in the works as well...

This is some fan art i did for my favorite podcast, Black Men Can't Jump in Hollywood.  The hosts are 3 actors who are hilarious and do a good job of unpacking a lot of the different race issues in Hollywood.  They review films with leading actors of color and decide if the films help "THE CAUSE" (getting more leading actors of color in Film).

I did art for each of the hosts based on running bits they have on the show.  I would go more into detail but, you should just check out the podcast.  

My next step in exploring Black American Dance is exploring the individuals who made dance fascinating to me.  Number one on that list is Michael Jackson.  I chose to do images from videos that have my favorite dancing from him in different aspects.

Billie Jean was always fascinating to me because he found a way to make simple things like walking down the street and hiding in the shadows look cool.  And the styling of the video with the freeze frames showcased one of my favorite things about Michael's dancing (which I tried to capture in these images): he was able to tap into these frozen moments that become iconic in the middle of the routines. Every moment ends in a picture.  

Beat It was everything that Billie Jean was, but ended in the epic group dance number that always mesmerized me as a kid. As great of a dancer Michael was, his dancing always get accessible which is why it never seemed crazy when everyone joins in at the end. They did what we all wanted to do.

Smooth Criminal is my favorite music video of all time.  It showcased Michaels appreciation for cinema and dance history, but still makes things fresh and new.   The video is ambitions and packed with iconic moments that we associate with Michael.  And with everything going on in the video, Michael commands the attention and focus of the view simply because he's the best dancer in the room.  RIP.

Media: Ink/Digital

This year I decided to use my art to study and dive deeper in to Black dancing as an American art form.  The obvious place to start for me was Soul Train (1971-2006).  If you wanted to know how to dance, how to dress or what music was cool, Soul Train was must watch TV in Black American households. For decades, Soul Train  showcased the best of the best in Black Culture.  For these pieces, i chose to focus on vintage Soul Train dancers because I thought this was the era that personified Soul Train the best.

Media: Ink/Digital

Most of my heroes in real life are the black women that helped to shape and mold me. So I decided to do a series of illustrations to show love to an oft under appreciated section of the American public by reimagining some of the most popular white male super heroes as black women.  Each picture represents a certain aspect of what i appreciate about black women and the impact they have had on my life.  So from my mother you had me and my grandmother who raised me to my wife, who continues to believe in and inspire me each day, this series was done with you, and every other black woman in mind. You are loved and appreciated!

Media: Ink/Digital

This is a project I did as a monthly challenge.  As a lover of comics and hip hop, I often think about how these two pop subcultures have overlapped in the past.  Because my style of illustration is so comic based, It made sense to try to reimagine some of my favorite rappers as characters from my favorite comic title, X-Men.  I limited myself to X-Men just to give myself a some boundaries as to the characters that i could use.  This led to me leaving some of my favorite rappers out of this project since they remind me of characters that fall outside of the X-Men universe.  I really enjoyed doing these illustrations so i added a border inspired by trading cards from the 90s.

Media: Ink/Digital

A mashup of a classic X-Men cover (featuring Gambit and Rogue) and the Rihanna/Drake music video, Work.

Media: Ink/Digital

A comic panel inspired by the music video for TLC's song No Scrubs

Media: Ink/Digital

Here is an original character I created while i had some downtime in Australia. The design is loosely inspired by Amandla Stenberg. I decided to name her Day Glo due to the brightness of her costume and the glowing plasma skulls the character generates  to use as projectiles.

Media: Ink/Digital

Sometimes i sketch photos my friends post on instagram...

Media: Ink/Digital

“I hate the way they portray us in the media,” he said. “If you see a black family, it says, ‘They’re looting.’ You see a white family, it says, 'They’re looking for food.’ And you know that it’s been five days because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite – because I’ve tried to turn away from the TV because it’s too hard to watch. I’ve even been shopping before, even giving a donation. So now I’m calling my business manager right now to see what’s, what is the biggest amount I can give, and, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help with the set-up, the way America is set up to help the, the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, this is – Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way – and they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us.” This is the full quote of what Kanye said that night, but like all things it’s been reduced to a sound bite. And even in that, Kanye still said something many blacks people felt about the Bush regime. It was refreshing as a young black man that has been know to speak his mind with controversial views to see someone with a lot to lose stand by his convictions and express a message that he’d been convicted to share. It gave me confidence, and I will forever have a special place in my heart for Kanye because of that. RIP to everyone that lost their lives due to the government mishandling of the Katrina tragedy.

Media: Ink/Digital

Illustrations based on Kendrick Lamar's song, King Kunta.

Media: Ink/Digital

Comic covers based on Rap Group Run The Jewels

Media: Ink/Digital

Sketches (full color) based on Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing

Media: Ink/Digital

Sketches inspired by the film Coming to America

Media: Ink/Digital

Sketches inspired by the film Juice

Media: Ink/Digital

A sketch I did when Leonard Nimoy died.

Media: Ink/Digital

A poster I illustrated inspired by the film Dear White People

Media:Ink/Digital

These are a few experimental pieces that i did, combining ink, digital media and photography.  I was trying to get better at designing costumes for comic characters and rather that spend time actually drawing the figures i thought it could be cool to create the costumes around already existing figures.

Media: Photography/Ink/Digital

Sketches inspired by my feelings surrounding some of the social injustices happening in America.

Media: Ink/Digital

Sketches inspired by the album art work of should singer, Minnie Riperton.

Media:Sketches/Digital

Sketch based on the album art for Daft Punk's Random Access Memories

Media: Ink/Digital

Sketches based on music videos by Michael Jackson

Media: Ink/Digital

Posters I designed combining illustrations of artists, lyrics and inspiration behind their work/names.

Media: Ink/Digital

A few posters i designed when i was developing this a 2 colors lifework style.

Media: Digital

Sketch (full color) based on the Rick James Album, Street Songs

Media: Ink/Digital

A comic panel inspired by the rap group Run The Jewels.

Media: Ink/Digital

Sketches (full color) based on Spike Lee's School Daze

Media: Ink/Digital

Sketches (full color) based on TLC's music video Waterfalls

Media: Ink/Digital

Sketches (full color) based on Yo! MTV Raps Trading Cards

Media: Ink/Digital