Inspiring Artist - Cymone Wilder

 

Thank god for Maurice Cherry who has done so much work to highlight Black designers, artists, and creatives with his work. I just came across Cymone or "Simon and Moose". Wow, what a breath of fucking fresh air it is to see this person's work. She is Amazing. 

What's this bruh? This is where I share artists that have been inspiring to me in my work sometimes directly and other times indirectly. Check out Cymone Wilder's website here. You can see the many clients she work with , her personal work, merch, and more. Wow is what I keep saying to myself.

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I haven't highlighted that many type artists or designers who work with letters but I will do that more because I pull inspiration from them as much as I do illustrators or muralists. Cymone is someone you should watch and follow. Like now, do that now. Here is her IG.

You can read an interview she did with the Nashville Voyager (where she's based) and get a sense of what makes her do what she does. Stay tuned for more.

Did you catch the posts I made about these other amazing artists?

Bisa Butler

Elizabeth Catlett

Mira Nair

Victoria Ying

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Creative Mornings presentation!!!

Dig this? Check out my last inspiration board here.

Ethnic Studies in Every School 2- Purple

 

Just painted this new joint before the San Jose Made show and LOVE LOVE LOVE how it came out. I get in a rut sometimes and returning to this subject matter and composition really helped me do my thing and get loose. Check out some of the process art for this one below.

If you'd like a print of this bad boy, please visit my shop at THIS LINK

What is Ethnic Studies? Short version is that US history is Eurocentric and throughout time either mis-characterized, ignored, or completely barred stories and history from African American, Native American, Latinxs, and Asian Americans. I throw in Middle Eastern families as well. In the late 60s San Francisco State University (my 1st college) and then UC Berkeley were the first schools in the US to create college departments that housed teachers and courses dedicated to some of this knowledge. And to be frank, it is not just about a diverse we are the world photo. It's a bout understanding systems, power, challenging that, and changing the narrative. And that is why some are terrified of it.

Did you like this? Check out the previous "Ethnic Studies In Every School" painting I did (2019). Oh, and have you ever heard of Dolores Huerta? The Contract Buyers League? What about Marie Butchie Tom?

photo credit: My Momma!

2 Sticker Packs Revisited

 

These stickers took over a year to complete and when I did I made them into sticker packs which are fun! My. lovely wife helped me redesign these recently for fun. Check em out eh? They make great gifts for interns, college students, or your team at work.

Affirmations Pack: This pack is all about reminders to take care of your self. It's about affirming needs with 6 phrases: Pause, Breathe, Rest, Focus, Step Forward, and Grow. Get a pack here.

Multicultural Pack: This pack is filled with phrases and words to identify. Black folks and people of color. In it are the following phrases: Black Is Beautiful, Raza, Blasian, Mixed Kid, Blaxican, and Poc Pov. Get a pack here.

Dig this? Check out this sticker sheet for self care

Keep Abortion Legal 2022

 

Been wanting to redraw this logo! I remember seeing it at abortion rights protests in the 80s with my mom. I can't find who designed it but it's tied to the National Organization for Women or NOW. For those who don't go to protests I wanted to let you know if you're following my work I believe in safe, legal and widely available access to abortion for all women and humans with wombs (inc gender non conforming folks). 

1.  I believe whoever's body has the ability to carry a child should have the right to decide if they want to carry that child to term whether they become a parent or give a child up for adoption. To me, this is a basic human right. Non negotiable. It's no longer the dark ages, it's 2022.

2. I believe this is a form of medical healthcare. Like universal healthcare, I believe it should be accessible to all. I believe it should be free. If not free today, it should be at least affordable.

3. If you don't want to get one, it goes against your religion, or you don't subscribe to it-cool. I wouldn't force you to get one. Whether you support this form of healthcare or not should be your choice. But you don't have the right to decide what. my family does. For real, stop fucking w/ folks right to obtain this form of healthcare 

4. The majority of the world does not teach about safe sex, contraceptives, or protection. Access to birth control and education on how to use it for women, men, or people with penises or vaginas is still not as widely available as it should be. This is fucking backward stone age bullshit.

5. All that talk about pro life is BULLSHIT to me! The same folks talking that noise do nothing to make healthcare universal instead of a $ making business. They do not stop the death penalty, their governments from starting wars, men from carrying out mass shootings, or men from raping. In fact what I see when I hear their arguments is thinly veiled control of women and people with wombs. 

6. When we start to talk about race and class the picture becomes even more real. Not having access to abortion disproportionately affects Black and Brown people. The rich will always have more access to abortion and procedure's like it if they choose. They speak one belief while practicing another. Black women, women of color, poor or working class women and gender non conforming folks have less resources, access, and having the ability to have an abortion increases their quality of life and gives them power to decide when, how, and if they will have children.

You disagree? Cool. But just know I stand in solidarity with women, gender non conforming folks, trans folks, and anyone who wants access to abortion. Now and forever. We can negotiate what I want for dinner or what kind of clothes I like, but healthcare is a human right. We moving forward not back. Never again.

ACTION STEP UPDATE June 24, 2022: Make art about issues like this. Support the artists who make it whether that be in film, dance, music, architecture, sculpture, animation, kids books, illustration, etc. Art changes culture and awareness. If you don't make art, support artists! Their work helps organizers and activists working to change actual tangible laws and policy. Why? They just overturned Roe V Wade in the supreme court. 

If I made a print of this to donate funds to Abortion funds would you buy it? Lemme know via comment or email.

Dig this? Peep "Stop Asian Hate"

Check out this platform laid out by the Movement for Black Lives about reproductive justice!

Step Forward Gold Sticker

 

Man many moons ago I did this painting and a whole series of pieces I called "positive wall affirmations". It was a great creative exercise for me since I do a ton of figurative/ portrait work. It's fun to play with lettering since thats how I got my start. But for folks who couldn't buy an original painting, I decided to approach some of those same positive sentiments as stickers. And so far so good.

Cop one here

The last one in the series was "Pause"

Video: National Sticker Day 2022

 

Here are some of the stickers I've made over the past year or two. They focus on affirmations, taking care of ourselves, and affirming cultural pride. If you haven't looked at my shop recently check it out here.

POC POV Sticker

Here's a clear vinyl sticker of an old favorite. First I made it as a small doodle for my sticker sheet. Then I blew it up as a larger painting. And now I've shrunk it down to a sticker again with a clear backing that you can put on just about anything. "POC" means people of color, and "POV" means "point of view". Hopefully that is self explanatory.

If you want one cop it HERE.

Raza Sticker

Yo, just made a sticker with this image I illustrated back in 2016. You can cop the sticker and read a bit about it

HERE

Here's the original post (editied) that I wrote with this image which was created for Inktober in 2016.

Mixed Kid Sticker

New Sticker!

What is a "mixed kid"? To me, it is a person who comes from a background with mixed heritage. They can be Black and White, Latin@ and Asian, Indigenous and American, Caribbean and Australian, so many combinations of people are in the world and we all have an interesting story to tell about who we are and where are families come from. There are mixtures of heritage within one ethnicity or skin color, and there are people whose family are from various racial backgrounds. This is for all of you. Me personally I am African American, Korean, Mexican, and Apache and this phrase means something to me.

Cop a sticker HERE

If you missed it, here is the Blasian sticker and this is the original "Mixed Kid" painting this one is based off.

Black is Beautiful 2020 - Black Love

This piece is to celebrate Black Love in all its forms. I just imagine two flowers and the words because I wanted it to be a statement that both heterosexual and queer couples could get into. Also, it could be used for family too. Either way, I want to celebrate the Black love that I've seen and continue to see. I am a mixed kid (Black, Korean, Mexican, Apache), I am in a mixed relationship, and my kids are mixed. But I can still celebrate Black Love.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am trying something new for Black History Month. Each year for the past four or five years I have been working on portraits and designs of Black folks from many different walks of life to celebrate Black folks during Black History Month. But, I didn't want to shine more light on folks who are already famous or folks we all know the story of. I wanted to work on artwork about people that not everyone is familiar with. Recognition and money wise that is not the most rewarding in terms of praise or dollars. But, I feel that the breadth of who we are as Black folks is extremely vast and folks need to know more stories. We need to hear about Black futures, young people who are alive and just starting to make history. We need to hear about Gay, Lesbian, Queer, Trans, and or gender non conforming Black folks too, which I feel even Black folks shy away from. And we need to hear about radical Black people.

BUY A PRINT HERE.

Check out some close ups here.

Did you see the previous post? See Black is Beautiful type art

POC POV

This is an typographic painting I made awhile ago as a sticker first and now as a full fledged painting. POC stands for "people or person of color" and POV stands for "point of view". So it means people of color point of view. I painted this on cold press watercolor paper with gouache paint. This is all painted and drawn by by hand. 

Why? In popular media and history the POV of people of color has often been left out, ignored , forgotten, misquoted, misrepresented, or overshadowed. This initially was created to help librarians label books by authors of color but I believe it can apply in academic, professional, or home environments. Not only that, but I believe it can lead to some tough conversations about race, identity, and white supremacy.

COP IT HERE

Trust Your Struggle - 15 years

Wow, can't believe 15 years has gone by since we started building and discussing what TYS would be. The Trust Your Struggle Collective was founded in the Bay Area (Pittsburg, SF, and Oakland) 15 years ago and still lives from LA to NYC. We are a group of artists, activists, educators, parents, workers, etc who created a crew on the principles of making dope art that speaks about some of the injustices we see.

That was the point and I believe we have done our very best to bring that energy for 15 years. We have painted canvases, paper, walls, black books, classrooms, cultural centers, schools, streets, galleries, banners, garages, restaurants, and our own hearts. We have traveled all over the United States and many places throughout the world and one thing that comes to mind no matter what we do are the people we've met along the way.

It is the grandmothers, aunties, and the homies from around the way who don't have a holiday in their name, a chapter in a book, or a street named after them. It is the folks who gave a dime when they barely had a nickel. It is the folks who stopped to tell us their story, or give encouragement and sometimes criticism. It is the countless friends and family who helped us with their time, money, resources, food, and shelter that make the art and the struggle meaningful. I think we all knew we were not reinventing the wheel with our work or subject matter. We were inspired by so many different artists and movements of the past.

But through all the great times, the bullshit, and the times when we just got by; it means something to bear witness to what everyday people are going through. It means something to be able to help share their narrative. We believe in basic human rights for all, peoples control over the wealth they create, thinking critically about what our oppressors feed us mentally, and being creative when you break it down.

Salute to all the artists out there fighting back with your poetry, movement, words, organizing, brushes, and hearts. Know that you are loved. None of us are perfect. I know you get tired. Keep fighting, we have to keep going so the next generation takes the torch. The oppressors know how powerful the people are collectively.

A new world is coming.....

-Rob / Tres (TYS Collective Est. 2003)

Hand styles 8-Stic Man

From the song "Window to my Soul" . Photo from Huff Post photographer Pascal Kerouche.

What is this? Handstyles! For as long as I've been drawing I've been practicing lettering. First i. the form of Graffiti, then calligraphy, graphic design, kerning, type setting, sign painting, and so many other forms. I'm not a designer or a lettering specialist, but I can hand write a few different styles and enjoy hand lettering when it's done right.

Dig this? Check out these lyrics by Tupac

Or these letters for Hyphen or Colorlines magazine

Check out this Zach de La Rocha quote 

Handstyles 7- Amel Larrieux

 

Amel Larrieux-Magic One of my favorite pick me up songs from the 2006 "Morning" album which Amel and her husband put out independently. Can't remember the photographer because I no longer have the CD but the cd was designed by Mark Coston.

What is this? Handstyles! For as long as I've been drawing I've been practicing lettering. First i. the form of Graffiti, then calligraphy, graphic design, kerning, type setting, sign painting, and so many other forms. I'm not a designer or a lettering specialist, but I can hand write a few different styles and enjoy hand lettering when it's done right.

Dig this? 

Check out the letters I did for Nigerian American filmmaker O.M. Ajayi 

or this Zach de La Rocha quote 

Handstyles 6- Zack dela Rocha/ One day as a lion

Me and my son both love this song called "Wild International" by One day as a lion (Zack and Jon Theodore) . I believe the original photo of him was taken by Ros O'Gormon, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

What is this? Handstyles! For as long as I've been drawing I've been practicing lettering. First i. the form of Graffiti, then calligraphy, graphic design, kerning, type setting, sign painting, and so many other forms. I'm not a designer or a lettering specialist, but I can hand write a few different styles and enjoy hand lettering when it's done right.

Dig this? Check out these lyrics by Tupac

Or these letters for Hyphen or Colorlines magazine

Quotes 2- Stic Man (Endurance)

 

In case you never heard this track here it is "Runner's High". Revamping an old idea, just quotes. No rhyme or reason, with photo or without, just practicing hand styles. Meaning that these are written by hand, not font. Photo credit: I was unable to find the photographer who shot this, so if this is your photo please contact me so I can credit you.

What is this? Handstyles! For as long as I've been drawing I've been practicing lettering. First i. the form of Graffiti, then calligraphy, graphic design, kerning, type setting, sign painting, and so many other forms. I'm not a designer or a lettering specialist, but I can hand write a few different styles and enjoy hand lettering when it's done right.

Dig this? Check out these lyrics by Tupac

Or these letters for Hyphen or Colorlines magazine

Check out this Zach de La Rocha quote 

Handstyles 2- Teach your Sons

This was brought on by a sickness perpetuated in not only the US, but worldwide. That sickeness goes by many names, but i wont get into that. More action. Women are doing hella work to speak out, lets fathers teach our sons and any young boys we come across how to be men, not maniacs and assholes. This piece is under Creative Commons, feel free to use this for any "Non Commerical" purposes. You corporations and Bitin' ass tshirt companies..dont touch (waving my finger). Any activists out there ralying campaigns around the issue, feel free to use it! Rape is unacceptable anywhere, anytime, anyday.

Dig this? Check out these letters for Hyphen or Colorlines magazine

Check out this Zach de La Rocha quote