I recently completed a commission for an illustration of a little indigenous boy performing as a grass dancer. The client advised me on what details to include to make him look authentic, since she is indigenous and I am not. She wanted it to match that illustration I made a few years ago of a girl in a jingle dress.
Here’s former US President Barack Obama in a tan suit. I drew this as part of a larger project for Learning A-Z.
You might remember that there was a brief, silly controversy about President Obama wearing this tan suit because on a slow news day some people thought it did not look presidential. Originally, this illustration had him in a black suit, but the client was concerned that the project had too many historic figures in dark suits already. They wanted a little more variety, which was somewhat challenging since men’s formalwear is not really particularly varied. But then I remembered the silliness about the tan suit and I thought this would be the perfect solution. More about President Obama can be found here.
A deaf child signing, “Friend.” I think space buns are my new favorite hairstyle to draw on little girls.
I was proud of several things on this one. The wheelchair, the leaves, her face at that upward angle. I think she’s enjoying herself.
A skateboarder with a prosthetic arm. One of those 3D printed ones in the fun colors. The client chose the colors.
I particularly like how the kid’s t-shirt print came out. This was changed in the final phase with the client instructing me to create a geometric print for their shirt.
The long hair was included both to help show a little more movement and to make the character’s gender a little more ambiguous.
This one was fun. He’s cute, throwing that snowball. And drawing winterwear feels so warm and cozy. I enjoyed drawing the little detail on the hat and gloves so much that I went on to decorate several more characters’ winter wear the same way later in the project.
Here’s a girl at a birthday party who uses a wheelchair. I broke out my perspective ruler tools for this one.
This boy is walking with forearm crutches. I was to draw him as if he were walking to school wearing a backpack. I actually kind of like drawing backpacks, for some reason.
The last child for this batch, with groovy tie-dye.
A boy with longer, shaggy hair. The hair reference the client gave me for this one was a picture of D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Bear Smallhill in Reservation dogs.
I’m not really sure why, but some of the characters in this project were supposed to be drawn with them holding up their hand(s) as if holding something. This was a collaborative project, with different artists handing different parts, so that’s not too weird. But I was never told what they were to be holding. Any guesses?
Karen B. Jones - Illustrator 