Number 10 of 150

I love his freckles! And his hair!

A light-skinned black boy aged 10-12 standing with his hand on his hip.  He has freckles and an afro.  He's wearing a white T-shirt with 3 green and orange stripes across the chest.  He has green cargo shorts and sneakers.

Number 9 of 150

This is the first of three age 9-12 in this batch. I like the pleated skirt on her dress. I had a little trouble getting the angle right on her glasses.

Black girl aged 10-12 stands with one hand raised, palm up, as if gesturing.  She is wearing glasses, a blue jumper with a pleated skirt, white blouse, and sneakers.  Her hair is in long twist braids.

Number 8 of 150

Here’s the last 7-9 year old for this batch. They’re in a gender-neutral outfit and posed in a side view. The original version of this one had them turned away from the viewer, 3/4 view from the back, but the client wanted to see more of their face.

A black child aged 7-9 stands with their arms clutching their belly, laughing.  They are viewed from the side.  They're wearing a purple sweatshirt with a black star pattern, jeans, and red sneakers.  Their hair is in an afro.

Number 7 of 150

The project also includes diverse body types. So, this boy has a larger body type than the others so far.

Black boy aged 7-9 standing with his hand raised, palm up, as if holding something.  He's wearing a salmon and black plaid button up shirt, black jeans, and sneakers.

Number 6 of 150

A pretty color plaid overshirt and bantu knots. I hadn’t drawn that hairstyle before. I think she’s cute.

A black girl age 7-9 stands with a hand up as if waving.  She's wearing a purple and pink plaid overshirt, white t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.  Her hair is in bantu knots.

Number 5 of 150

I was proud of how the tie-dye pattern and cornrows turned out. This one is intentionally ambiguous on gender because we wanted to be fully inclusive.

A child aged 7-9 stands with one finger to their cheek in a thoughtful expression.  They are wearing a pastel tie-dye t-shirt over a white long-sleeved t-shirt, a patched pair of sweatpants, and sneakers.  Their hair is in short cornrows.  Their gender expression is ambiguous.

Fourth One…

Number four of 150.

This project was divided into 10 batches of 15 images each. Most batches had two little kids aged 4-6, 6 kids ages 7-9, 3 aged 10-13, and four adults. Most of the batches focused on a specific racial/ethnic group in order to ensure that we included a full range of ages and gender expressions for each racial/ethnic group, especially for the kids. We didn’t want to risk leaving anyone out.

As you can see, this guy is supposed to be black, age 7-9, thin body type, with a male gender expression, wearing glasses.

A black boy aged 7-9 stands with one hand raised as if waving.  He's wearing plaid shorts, a turquoise hoodie, and sneakers.  He's also wearing glasses.

Customer Service Cartoons

I just finished a series of 12 illustrations for Positive Promotions. These were not children’s illustrations, as is my typical genre, but very corporate-targeted cartoons for a customer service department. I think they may go with an established training program or something, but I didn’t get any details on their exact purpose.

If you’ve followed me at all, you’ll notice that these pieces are not anything close to my typical art style. Instead, these were meant to match some previous artwork that the company had been using for years. I can typically match other art styles, as long as they’re cartoonish rather than realistic.

I didn’t even draw these in my trusty Adobe Photoshop, but instead used Adobe Illustrator. The project wasn’t very technical. Just simple shapes and paths with fixed-width lines. Still, it was a good opportunity to brush up on my Illustrator skills which I haven’t had much call to use lately.

I’m sharing these samples to show that I can match other cartoon art styles, and that I can work in Adobe Illustrator. Just in case that’s something you’re looking for. As always, I am accepting commissions. Contact me for more information.

3 Voodoo Dolls

Here’s a commission I finished this week. It was drawn for Isaiah Vest with the group Stileto. It’s a cover for a song titled Coffee and Drugs. The album will drop on April 22nd.

Because of the song title, the image contains drug themes. Nothing egregious, just some pills spilled on a table. But since I’m primarily a children’s illustrator, I’ll hide it behind a link. Click here to view final image.

Here’s a safe version:

An illustration of three voodoo dolls slumped together in front of a spilled, cracked coffee cup.  Copyright © 2022 Isaiah Vest.

Boy Leaning on Windowsill

Here’s a recent commission for rap artist, David Smith, who goes by the stage name Dave 3X3. This image is to be used for an upcoming album cover. He was wonderful to work with.

Good luck to you, Dave!

A cartoon illustration of a lovesick boy leaning on a windowsill.

This image (above) was based on an earlier image (below) from 2013 with the same character. You’ll notice these aren’t drawn in my typical style. The first was one of my experiments, playing with different ideas. Then I matched the style (and refined it just a little) for the new commission. I like playing with different ideas, and sometimes they even lead to new opportunities.

An illustration of a boy leaning back against a wall with arms crossed.

And always, I am accepting commissions!