Character collage (4) 2014-2015

Here is a collection of character designs from this past year. Although the year is not yet finished, it has been one year since last years collage, and the year before that. I started to practice character design to improve my ability four years ago and it is now an integral part of my practice when attempting to tell a story. To date my work has benefited my skills and has lead to work in children's books, game design, animation, and more.

One thing I focus on greatly is freedom of expression and diversity. The representation of children who are mixed like me or come from some of the various backgrounds in my family is getting better, but we still have along way to go. That is why the characters you see are diverse in their race, size, and gender. I attempted to create a character that is transgender, do you see him/her?

If you would like to purchase this collage as a poster, please visit my store: LINK

Here is Character collage 2013-2014

Inktober 7- Lucy (Book of Mojo)

Here is a quick one of "Mojo" and "Lucy" from Everett Downing's story "The Book of Mojo". I contributed to this campaign via Indiegogo and can't wait to see what the animated story finally looks like. Please check out the team behind the story too!

Want this original drawing? $60 or Print? $20 (includes shipping)  
 Email me info@robdontstop.com

Inktober 6-Gina Prince Bythewood

One of the most incredible things about this series is that I get to share art and other peoples art with you. I'm having fun drawing Inktober drawings and I wanted to draw Gina who is a phenomenal filmmaker. She has been working in the industry for well over two decades as a writer on TV shows such as "A Different World" and as a writer/director. One of the ongoing themes of her films has been perseverance and love. In her films the characters go through trials and tribulations but come out stronger on the other side. Some of my favorite films by her are Love and Basketball, Disappearing Acts, and now Beyond the Lights. If you have seen her work, please go check her work out. Listen to her interview w/ Array on "The Call In"

Want this Print? $20 (includes shipping)  
Got an idea for an org to donate 30% cost to? Email me info@robdontstop.com

Inktober 5- Ava DuVernay

This is an Inktober drawing of film maker Ava DuVernay using brush, ink, a little bit of water color, and some white pastel. The reason I'm drawing Ava is because she has been a tremendous creative influence on me. Both her work in creating and promoting films has been humble, tough, creative, and incredible. And although I only became aware of her once she did the Hip Hop documentary "This is the Life" about The Good Life Cafe in Leimert Park, I feel like I've watched watched her grow so much. I'm not going to give you her whole story, you can google that for yourself, but I will say her contributions to the medium of storytelling through film have been amazing. If you are not familiar with her film work, google her. If you are not familiar with Array/ Affirm distribution model for independent Black films, look that up too. I promise you will be inspired. Middle of Nowhere, The Door, , Vermont is for Lovers too, Venus Vs, and Selma are my favorite pieces of hers so far. Can't wait to see what she does next whether it is quiet or loud.

Dig this? Check out this portrait of Kasi Lemmons

Inktober 4-Mira Nair

"My sort of mantra in life and in films is if we don't tell our own stories, no one else will tell them"
-Mira Nair

Mira Nair is one of my biggest inspirations for storytelling. She has been working as a film director since the late 80s and has made countless narrative films from the perspective of a person of color. Why is that important? Because very often when films about people of color are made they are often made by white directors who either leave things out of the story, misinterpret, or completely ignore the poc story and put themselves at the heart of the narrative. Ever heard of "Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai, The story of Steve Biko, even hip hop films like Electric Boogaloo? These films are often set in a community inhabited by Black and Brown folks but their story is not told.

Films like Mississippi Masala, The Namesake, Salaam Bombay, and The Reluctant Fundamentalist made by Mira tell stories from inside the lives of people of color that we as movie lovers rarely see, by a person of color.

One of the other reasons I am inspired by her is her work to share knowledge, her refusal to compromise her art, and her ability to move within and outside of Hollywood. Not only has she worked on films that focus on POC but she's also worked with Hollywood to tell stories like Amelia Earnhart, which to me shows an openness to try all angles. And since the time of Salaam Bombay she has dedicated time, expertise, and money to teaching the craft of film making to people of color or helping to fund their education in someway. A good example is her film company Maisha Film Labs based in Uganda. If you havent seen her work, go check her out!

Want this Print? $20 (includes shipping)  
Got an idea for an org to donate 30% cost to? Email me info@robdontstop.com

Sausal Creek 5- Process of illustration

Peace, if this is your first time hearing or seeing "I Am Sausal Creek" let me present you the cover and some process shots from the creation of the book. Here is a link to purchase.

So me and author Melissa Reyes began work together on this book last year , but she has been working on the words for much longer which are beautiful, to the point, and poetic. And I would say they are equally matched by Cinthya Muñoz who translated the book. 

Basically I start off every project (whether is on a book, for an organization, game company, whatever) with thumbnails. 1. Thumbnails: these are like quick jotted down ideas of what I see when I read text from the project or look at my notes. 2. Rough Sketches: Basically I ask my client or art director on the project to choose half or less of the thumbnails they liked, then I do a slightly larger sketch of those thumbnails. 3. Refined Sketches: Here, we decide on one image to express the idea/ story. This one image may need elements from the other sketches or revisions to refine it. Illustration tells a huge amount of the story with image. 

Whether it is used in storytelling or character design, you see images that communicate the story/idea beyond the words, or you see that there are things missing that the project is trying to say. Sometimes, both. This is truly collaboration because the art must serve the story. And sometimes the story must change to fit the art. In this case, the text evolved very slightly, while the images went through changes until they were just right. 4. Color: Depending on the project, i include very rough color sketches to show where i will place color. The watercolor comes out quite different that my digital color though.

5. Final painting: This is what it looks like once its all done. All elements have been painted or drawn in. Take a look at some more sketches with the final paintings.

The final has a few edits as you can see.

If you are a student or first time working on a picture book, feel free to email me questions. I'll try to answer them best I can. To get a copy of the book, please go to 

http://www.nomadicpress.org/store/iamsausalcreek

Inktober 3-Sad girl & Mousie

You know these two

Want this original drawing? $60 or Print? $20 (includes shipping)  
 Email me info@robdontstop.com

Inktober 2- Double K and Lee (Beat Street)

Although I never had a little brother, I love this scene from the movie because it shows how much the little brother looks up to his big brother. They both rock in their individual skills in the movie. If you have a little one show them the film!

Want this original drawing? $60 or Print? $20 (includes shipping)  
 Email me info@robdontstop.com

Inktober 1- Richie & Bob (La Bamba)

I'm not sure if you are aware of Inktober. It was started by a dude named Jake Parker, who I found via the Flight Anthology by Kazu Kibuishi. I started participating in Inktober in 2013 and its a great way to improve my skills as an artist. You could easily just use paint, spray paint, whatever. It is basically committing to practice like folks who meditate daily. Now, these characters "Richie and Bob" are my versions of two actors from the film La Bamba played by Esai Morales and Lou Diamond Phillips in the 80's. The film is still one of my favorites and I hope you watch it if you haven't seen it. It is about the life of Rock and Roll musician Ricardo Valenzuela or Ricky Valens (name change is a whole other story)

Want this original drawing? $60 or Print? $20 (includes shipping)  
 Email me info@robdontstop.com

A Bean and Cheese Taco Birthday-Illustrated by Robert Trujillo

Wow, it was more than ten years ago that I started on the path of becoming an illustrator of picture books for children and adults. I was reading a story to my son and thought, I could do a story that he would like. I had been sending postcards, emails, and artwork to publishers like Arte Publico for years before I got a message returned. I would say that it is important not to wait for publishers now because I am also self publishing Furqan's First Flat Top, but it was nice to know that persistence with Arte Publico paid off.

I want to give a huge thank you and shout out to Adelaida over at Arte Publico/ Piñata Books for trusting me with this task of illustrating such a beautiful story by writer Diane Gonzalez Bertrand. Please look out for the book in your local store or library and request it if they do not have it. This is my second children's book in print! So blessed. Check out some of the photos of me opening the box and some original sketches/paintings from the book. This is the first children's book I ever illustrated , before Furqan's First and I am Sausal Creek, so it is very special to me. It symbolizes my entry into the field as an official children's book illustrator.

About the story: The story is about two brothers Dario (big brother) and Ariel (little brother). It's Ariel's birthday and he wants a simple birthday party. But his big brother wants to convince Ariel to ask for more, but all Ariel really wants is to play, hang out, and eat bean and cheese tacos at the park. The birthday gets better as the day progresses and Dario finds out that a taco and bean cheese birthday is not so bad after all.

Purchase the book through Arte Publico or Amazon

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