Sup fam, been a while since I shared one of these. Its a shelved illustration for a west coast teacher’s union. For some reason this didn’t quite make the cut but we got almost to the end so I thought I’d share. Check out some of the process.
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What is this? There are projects I work on as a freelance artist that never see the light of day. I mean , its possible that they get used but I think more often than not the organization or company is trying to do their best and sometimes it doesn’t work.
Final color
Dig this? Check out this piece about Migration from a few years back
Been awhile since I did one of these. I tried to quickly pick some recent drawings , projects, or paintings that I like. Some of these are client work, but some are personal. Top to bottom, left to right.
This is a fun project. Nkeiruka Oruche is the guest editor for this issue of “In Dance Magazine” and she invited me to write and illustrate a short personal experience relating to dance. When she asked me to participate my first thought was that I’m not a dancer but she wanted a mix of folks. Those whose creative practice it is to dance and those who’ve danced at some point in life, which I think is most of us. Anyway, check out my illustration from the piece.
Here’s my sketch, painting of dancers, and added background and text.
I had fun doing this and I’m thankful to writer, dancer, editor, multi-disciplinary artist Nkei for inviting me:). The magazine features a variety of folks from the Bay and nationally, regular folks and dancers of course with some interesting stories about family, tradition, culture, institutions, and lots of opportunities to move your body. Check it out!!!!!
Victoria Ying is an incredible artist and author from the LA area who I came across when she was working at Disney many years ago. I remember seeing a project she lead called “Extra Curricular Activities”. Then I saw her in the “Lovely” book with women working in animation. I have been a big fan ever since and I loved her books “City of Secrets” and “Meow”. Check out some of her beautiful paintings and drawings.
Yo, if you’re new: This is where I share artists that have been inspiring to me in my work sometimes directly and other times indirectly. Do yourself a favor and check out Victoria’s site here. There you can catch some of the amazing books she’s created such as “City of Secrets” and hear some interviews such as this one where she talks about her process for creating her graphic novel.
If you missed the last inspiring artist I posted, check out Ami Thompson or Elizabeth Catlett‘s work! And if you’re still looking for more inspiration peep inspiration board 41 I made because everybody gets stuck.
PS: Victoria teaches!! You can take a class she teaches on visual development here :)
Here’s a new self portrait for the new year. I pictured myself cruisin in a futuristic go-kart! One that hovers. Happy new year to you and yours. Trying to keep rollin with the changes. Every few years I do a new one to keep my website, blog, etc fresh. You’ll see this new image on all the tings.
Dig this? Here’s a previous self portrait I did in 2019 . Here’s another one from 2015.
I got the chance to collaborate with an amazing young artist named Luna Yoo to create the artwork for this poster in the 2022 Oakland Rising Voter Guide.
If you’re an Oakland resident check it out for recommendations on progressive local measures and mayor, city council, and school board candidates. For example I’m rooting for Greg Hodge, Sheng Thao, and Allyssa Villanueva as the new Oakland mayor.
Here’s some process artwork from this project. Shout out to Oakland Rising for doing hella work to connect every day Oaklanders with information and resources about their city. Respect!
I did the line work and Luna added the beautiful colors to the art. Awesome collaboration!
Claire Wendling is an incredible illustrator from France who was born in 1967. I believe I heard about her very recently through Schoolism or the “Trojan Horse” YouTube interview with Karla Ortiz. She’s an OG who has worked in illustration, comics, and animation. I love her figures. How much she studies the human body, animals, and creates creatures, relationships between beings, and the care she puts into her drawings which are amazing.
Yo, if you’re new: This is where I share artists that have been inspiring to me in my work sometimes directly and other times indirectly. Do yourself a favor and check out her Instagram. I couldn’t find a website for her but you can watch this interview with her.
If you missed the last inspiring artist I posted, check out Ami Thompson or Zeke Peña’s work! And if you’re still looking for more inspiration peep inspiration board 41 I made because everybody gets stuck. If you dig Claire’s work you can get her sketchbooks at Stuart Ng Books online.
Fam, the book is finally in the shop and the majority of the books have gone out to the backers. If you missed the kickstarter campaign now you can cop a book.
What up? This is a bit of process behind the cover for “Alejandria Fights Back/ La Lucha de Alejandria”.
First let’s start with the sketches. I usually do a bunch of sketches in my sketchbook or on paper. I think I did that too. But these are the first I presented to what was a huge team effort. Normally when you make a kids book you have 1-2 people to answer to. Thats either the author/creator or the art director. In this case I was working with a team of filmmakers and organizers called the “Rise home Stories Project” who initiated this project, writer Leticia Hernandez-Linares, and the team at Feminist Press (Lauren Rosemary Hook, Jisu Kim, and designer Drew Stevens. The book was translated by Dr Carla España.
The next round was refining these sketches a bit.
They picked the one at the podium and thats the one I really nailed down.
After nailing it down I went straight into painting the cover because the team was pretty loose with the art direction even though it was BIG. Here’s some of the painting process for the front cover. It was painted with watercolor. I start with an over all warm tone and focus where Ale (main character) was the focal point. Then I started to add color to the characters.
Here’s the final front cover painting w/ text on another layer drawn with ink.
Here’s a bit of the back cover sketches
They chose the one with a few things scattered around which was directly inspired by Dawud Anyabwile’s “Brotherman Revelations” back cover. Here it is painted.
And add the back matter (synopsis, logo, isbn scan) and the front cover design w/ type.
Love this book like so many of my others. If you’re not familiar with the storyline check out this video
You can get a copy of the book from your local bookstore, library, bookshop.org, or Feminist Press.
Did you like this? Check out my most recent book “Somos Yoga/ We are Yoga” written and published by Jill Guerra an author, teacher, and mindfulness/yoga instructor for kids.
What’s this? This inspiration board is one of the ways I stay inspired and sane through all of life’s trials, and tribulations, work, etc. I’ve been making inspiration boards full of films, books, music, events, people, artists, movements, and more for over a decade. Do you have an inspiration board? Please share in the comments.
Who am I? My name is Rob and I’m an artist working in kid lit, public art, and other disciplines. Go to my website, or follow me on IG or YouTube.
