Jan 24, 2015

Jan 22, 2015

Character 86- Band leader


Type Musical 1-Rhythm

not exactly sure where i'm going with this, but its more about the journey.

#TBT Afros the book on Natural Hair

#tbt This photo was taken by artist Michael July and is a shining moment for me to be featured in a book that celebrates Black Hair in all its beauty. Please check out the book and support that. Its a great gift and a great piece of her/history featuring youth and elders with fro’s that are black, red, and grey. He took this shot of me while painting with the “Trust Your Struggle” Collective in 2008 at the Afro Punk Fest in Brooklyn. 

When I was a teen I had long dreadlocks and my grandfather (a black man) would always half jokingly say “when you gonna let me cut that hair?”. In his day growing your hair out was met with dirty looks, insults, and denial of basic rights because of how you look. Somehow that same prejudice is still passed down through families and media portrayal of African Americans. This we know all too well can lead to jokes, disapproval, hate, denial of employment, harassment, and even death. I’m serious! I loved my grandpa, and I wish racism had not been passed down through judgement of brown skin our nappy hair. But i’m excited to see this book and blogs where Black men and women celebrate and grow their hair as it was naturally meant to be. punto.

AFROS the book

Jan 18, 2015

Character 85-Sometimes at the end of the day

Sometimes at the end of the day as a parent you feel like this. Where’s the manual? Am I doing this shit right?

Jan 17, 2015

Children's portrait 35,36- Iyari y Julian


So good to paint one of these for family. Ive known these kids' parents since we were teens. Such beautiful beautiful babies they have with roots in Mexico and El Salvador. This brother and sister combo are 3 and 8 months.

If you would like a hand painted/made portrait of your child/children, please click HERE.

Soul portrait 5- Son Little


Somehow Aaron's name and work slipped by me as is the case with so much music coming out these days but my homie Brian told me about this EP "things I forgot" which is great. My favorite song from the record is "cross my heart".

Jan 14, 2015

Character 84- Morning monk


Time to get back on my character design grind. Heres a new one for the new year. Mister Morning monk and morning salutations.

Jan 6, 2015

Artists against Police Brutality- Comics Anthology

via John Jennings:
We’ve all seen the pictures. A six-year-old Ruby Bridges being escorted by U.S. marshals on her first day at an all-white, New Orleans school in 1960. A police dog attacking a demonstrator in Birmingham. Fire hoses turned on protesters. Martin Luther King Jr. addressing a crowd on the National Mall. These pictures were printed in papers, flashed across television screens, and helped to change the laws of this Nation...but not all of the attitudes.

We’ve all seen the pictures. Michael Brown lying face down in a pool of his own blood for hours. Protesters with their hands up, facing down militarized policemen. We’ve also seen the videos. Eric Garner choked to death. John Crawford III shot down in Walmart for carrying a toy gun. Twelve-year-old Tamir Rice gunned down in broad daylight for the same reason.

This time, the pictures and videos aren’t doing much to change things; if anything, they are a repeated reminder of how worthless black and brown lives are to the justice system. So we need conversations to go along with the pictures, and we’re sending out an APB to artists and writers to help jump start those conversations.

APB: Artists against Police Brutality is a comic book anthology with one primary goal: show pictures and tell stories that get people talking. We are looking for artists across the disciplines to lend their talents and critical eye for this artistic examination of the US justice system and its treatment of communities of color. We are looking for personal stories, biographies, sociopolitical and historical analysis that shed a light on shared experiences across these communities, not just to act as an echo chamber, but to be used to change minds outside of these communities.

APB will be a black and white book that collects these stories. While primarily a comic book project, we will also consider following:

ONE- AND TWO-ROW COMIC STRIPS
PIN-UPS AND SPOT ILLUSTRATIONS
PROSE STORIES
 (whatever the genre; up to 1,500 words) and analytical essays (personal, sociopolitical, historical; up to 2,000 words)

The main goal is to encourage people to talk about the persistent problems facing this country in terms of race and the justice system in an accessible and powerful medium.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
PITCH PROCESS
Please send an email to artistsagainstpolicebrutality@gmail.com to give the editors (Bill Campbell, John Jennings, and Jason Rodriguez) the general idea of the story that you want to do. Tell us a little about yourself and send samples (or a link to your website) if you have them. ALL PITCHES MUST BE RECEIVED BY JANUARY 15, 2015.

throw something in there yall.

Jan 3, 2015

Soul Portrait 4-Rainy Milo


I gotta give it up to Tall Black Guy because without his remixes I would not have heard about this great vocalist. I don't know a whole lot about this young musician from the UK, but I am feeling the remix and the original version of bout you . Also love the song Rats . Keep an eye out for this one.

Dig this? Check out this portrait of Amber Mark