My Kickstarter is LIVE!

 

Hey fam, thank you for continuing to rock with me. Today is the day. My new kickstarter (my first since Furqan's First Flat Top) is LIVE!!!!! Please follow the link to see the campaign and stay tuned for more updates and posts about what it is and why I'm doing it!

THE LINK >>>>>> Bit.ly/ArtOfRob

A new Kickstarter project by Me- Coming SOON

 

Fam, just putting you on notice that this is coming. I'm about to be posting ALOT about this, just fyi. This is a new book project and I would love your support. Plz check back in a few days because it's about to be ON. 

Latinxs In Kid Lit Interview

 

Recently me and Leticia got on Latinxs in Kid Lit to interview each other and talk a bit about the making of this picture book. Its an audio piece so go to the blog and give it a listen! Shout out to Cindy from the blog for giving us a space to talk.

A few years back some of my work was featured on Latinxs in Kid Lit:

Pura Belpre illustration

Furqan's First bilingual picture book

San Jose Craft Holiday Fair - Nov 26-28, 2021

 

I'll be vending at @sjmade's holiday craft fair this year y'all. It's the largest winter holiday craft fair in the South Bay Area and this year’s three full days from Black Friday (Nov. 26) through Small Business Saturday (Nov. 27) and ending on Sunday, Nov. 28. Know anyone who'd want to go? Tag em here or follow SJMade.

The event features over 350+ amazing makers, artists, designers, curators, workshops, food producers and creative small businesses. I've been to two of their events as a visitor and its always a good mix of people and makers. Why come to a craft fair? Gifts and goodies you can't often get at a chain or corporate store! If you're a maker there is also lots of inspiration. So mask up and come through! 

Free to get in. Santa Clara Convention Center - 5001 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA 95054.  Friday Nov. 26 (12 pm to 6 pm), Saturday Nov. 27 (11 am to 6 pm) and Sunday (11 am to 5 pm). More info at sanjosemade.com/pages/holiday-fair-2021.

This video is pre-pandemic, but posting it so you can get a vibe.

Shout out to SF Etsy, heres my post from 2019 when I was a vendor there.

Wanna see how I made it to 1k sales on Etsy? Peep

Pause Sticker process

 

 Hey this is a new sticker in a series of self care/ encouragement/ affirming stickers. Sometimes you gotta hit the pause button, or maybe you need to remind someone to do it. 

Wanna see some of the creative process? Check it out:

First I did a bunch of different versions of the same word using different font styles.  The check marks you see are from my homies and my wife telling me which ones they preferred.

I narrowed it down a bit and combined some elements to make it a more simple shape.

I decided on the color scheme and did some rough color versions. And I chose the bottom right one finally.

Then I painted in gouache. Scanned it and then brought it into Photoshop and to clean it up, moving the shadow and letters a tiny bit to make it more symmetrical. I also adjusted the color a bunch because it was tough to duplicate the screen color.

And then here's the final product. I get stickers from a bunch of different places, but one I go to often is Sticker Giant in Colorado who just shipped these to me. What do you think? Dig it? I DO!! I love how it came out and I hope others will dig them. Eventually I'll make a sticker pack of these:

Grow

Focus

Rest

Breathe

Pause

"_______" one more to go!

One day I'll make a video talking about these stickers. But for now i'll just say that many years ago I made a series of paintings called "positive wall affirmations" made to serve people by offering a positive message for the home, class, office, etc. The original one of a kind paintings did ok and made some folks really happy. But the stickers are a bit more affordable, especially if you're not an art collector. 

Anyways, thanks for reading. You can get this Pause sticker here or get a sticker sheet I made a year ago for self care here as well. If you know someone who is learning to make merchandise using their art, please share this post with them.

Foster Power Illustration

 

Damn, going through old files I found this illustration I did for "Foster Youth Action" as a collaboration with Design Action Collective (Type design by Ivy Climacosa ). Foster youth in Action is an or dedicated to empowering kids of all stripes in the foster care system and working with national allies who work in the foster care as well. Check out some process for this below.

 Looking back at old work even from just a few years ago I see so many things I can improve, but I think its really important to post so you can see my growth because I'm trying to improve every day! 

Anyways, check out this piece I did for Sunrise Movement too.

Art for Cal Domestic Workers Alliance

 

Here are some pieces I forgot to share. I created these in collaboration with Design Action Collective and the California Domestic Workers Alliance. 

Update: Here are some recent uses of the artwork by CDWC:

Uses in 2021

Not sure if they ever used the version with type and design by Design Action, but heres a flyer they made using the art for new members. Please go to their website to check out their mission statement. They organize around domestic workers rights leading campaigns that increase awareness about workers rights and  they organize campaigns to fight for policy changes that affect real working people, most of whom are women of color! Here's their site.

Check out some of the other illustrations I did for them. 

This work is super meaningful as I have had many domestic workers in my family. My mother cleaned houses at a point in her life and so did I. I hella respect the folks who do the work whether in homes, businesses, or institutions. And I love the fact that CDWA helps them get better pay, more respect, and together they win more rights for domestic workers. Shout out to Sabiha Basrai who managed this and Riley who did the type design.

Did you catch the illustrations I did for California Environmental Justice Alliance?

Also, here is some artwork I created for them many years ago. LINK

Collab w/ CultureStrike & UndocuBlack

 

Yo, just did this really quick loose piece for The Center for Cultural Power and UndocuBlack. Check out the final and process artwork. 

If you're unfamiliar CCP (formerly CultureStrike) uses artwork as a tool to move cultural understanding about a campaign, people, or an issue forward. That hopefully helps organizers move law and policy makers forward. UndocuBlack is a crew of current and former migrants of all ages who organize around Black folks who are migrating. They do this to build Black leadership in immigration and to raise awareness about the rights of Black Migrants.

It is always an honor to work with CultureStrike as I have before in the past and to start a working relationship with UndocuBlack. Here in this image I collage some of the players in the story that unfolded on international media this Fall concerning Haitian migrants, their rights, disrespect and illegal action by the US government, and more. I stand w/Black Migrants!

Peep the statement from CCP and UndocuBlack:

Immigration is a Black Issue period!

This is the National Week of Action in support of Black Migrants. All Black Migrants deserve refuge and protection!

The Biden administration isn’t keeping its promise to address systemic racism in this country and is employing the Trump Era Title 42 Policy that expels black asylum-seekers. Revoke Title 42 and the metering system of processing asylum seekers now!

Since September 19th the administration has expelled more than 7,500 migrants, including children, with inhumane tactics. We seek immediate humanitarian parole so that migrants will be allowed time to process their asylum claims on the U.S. side of the border.

We must defend all black migrants. Every person deserves the right to seek safety, freedom, and protection from persecution and violence.

If you missed the last piece I did for Center for Cultural Power/ CultureStrike, check it out here.

Children's Portrait 65 - Mari

 

Here's a portrait of little girl named Mari who I painted earlier this year. 

If you would like to commission a painting of a child or a family member go HERE. If you missed the previous portrait of Belen's whole Family, check it out.

Video: SFPL Reading

 

Hey fam, heres a video recording of myself and author Leticia Hernandez-Linares reading "Alejandria Fights Back!" 

If you want the teachers guide, coloring sheets, or resources about housing check out AlejandriaFightsBack.com

Art for CEJA report

Yo, I made the illustrations for this last year and its being released now. Shout out to my sister Tiffany Eng (California Environmental Justice Alliance) who brought me on for this, but more importantly works on issues of environmental racism, city planning, zoning, and more. The work she does revolving around studies and policy helps to change laws which then positively effects people. 

Especially working class folks and people of color. Environmentalism is often seen as a mountain, river, or forest issue. It's often seen as something white people work on. But, the effects of things like pollution and climate change effect all of us, especially those who live closest to factories and freeways.

If you want to read the summary of this report done by CEJA and see all of the illustrations, I invite you to download it and read it HERE.  There you will find more information and the full report as well. 

Check out the last illustration I did for the Sunshine Movement who also work on climate issues.

Character 160 - Judging

 

I saw a lady in front of a Chinese restaurant and made an imagined doodle of her.

If you missed the last character, here she is : Digger 

And here is the last collage of characters 

Inspiring Artist - Bisa Butler (born 1973)

 

Bisa Butler!!  The first time I heard of this artist was through MC Black Thought on his interview series last year when the pandemic started. I had been seeing her incredible work and thought it was oil or acrylic when I saw it. Come to find out she sews and collages these incredible images together. Wow, so dope. Doesn't matter what your discipline is, just peep her work and support because she's a living artist who is still pretty young.

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. Again go to her site and check her out.

I love this woman's work and if you didn't catch the last inspiring artists check them out:

Elizabeth Catlett

Olivia Fields