2016-PRESENT • CLIENT PROJECT, PRINT DESIGN, ILLUSTRATION

These illustrations were created for a non-profit educational organization called Debate It Forward (DIF), and are included in lesson plan worksheets for the students. Though I wanted the illustrations to be playful and cartoonish to make the content exciting and engaging, I wanted students to see themselves in the pictures. These illustrations also convey the attitude of young children via body language and facial expression to make them relatable to their audience.

I have worked with DIF on several projects over the last few years creating content for a variety of ages, so the following images are from a variety of projects. Each illustration was specifically requested by DIF, so that it could accurately accompany specific exercises, explanations, or examples in lesson plans.

2017 • ILLUSTRATION

 The following collection started because of a class project, but turned into a series I created for my illustration Instagram account for Black History Month, several of which were sold as merchandise to raise money for Black Lives Matter.

For the original assignment, we started with a photo made of only a few shades of gray by posterizing and converting it to grayscale on Photoshop, then traced the shapes with the pen tool on Illustrator. After tracing, the shapes were filled with skin tone shades pulled from our original images with the eyedropper tool. This created a dynamic portrait of the person, because the images have depth and detail through shadows and highlights, but still maintain the posterized effect.

2017 • ILLUSTRATION

As I got more interested in illustration, I wanted to develop my ability to capture the essence of faces, so I rendered the faces of drag queens (specifically from Rupaul’s Drag Race) to polish those skills and incorporate my current interests. This was a good way for me to practice creating facial features because drag queens’ characteristics are typically distinct and exaggerated due to their makeup and drag personas. 

2018 • ILLUSTRATION

After having worked with details in body language, facial features, and shadows and highlights, I wanted to see how much I could pare down my renditions of recognizable pop culture moments and figures. This challenged me to be discriminating about which features to keep, making sure the few details I did maintain were necessary for the recognizability of the image.