In the beginning was the beat. Then the beat became the rhythm. The rhythm then became life. After the Spirit world chose the correct time, I was brought into this world two and a half months before my mother's due date. She gave birth to me after the result of a car accident. So you can say I was a fighter since birth. I fought to be in this world through attacks from Asthma and the unexpected. But what was expected of me was to be an artist.
I have to say that Michael Jackson played a role in me become a creative spirit. As a sickly child enjoying Michael longer than I even I can remember, the magic he displayed on television gave me strength to rise above Asthma. One way I displayed my strength was through drawing.
Since the age of four I was drawing. I always found myself drawing pictures of favorite cartoons during the time. Of course, I was an eighties baby so ThunderCats, He-Man, The Real Ghostbusters, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are what turned me on to art. But what turned on my creativity was Michael Jackson. Seeing his videos and wathcing his magical style made me feel like I could do anything.
In the fourth grade, my teacher saw me drawing a picture of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze movie adaptation book and asked me to draw a rose for her. I admit, it was hard for me, but after I finished it, color and all, that changed my life completely. From that point on, I knew I wanted to be an artist.
Throughout middle school and high school at Jackson School Complex I was known as "dat boy who can draw." So when not getting teased and bullied I was the one who would draw pictures for people. The main things that I would draw would be my own comics. I was highly influenced by Japanese Animation. The first one I ever saw was 3 x 3 Eyes and that took my art to a different level. At this time, I would also began to draw real people. Yeah, you guessed it, I was one of those guys who would draw their girlfriend! But that's alright though. You'd do it to if you had the talent (wink).
After graduating high school, I enrolled at the Art Institute of Houston. I was a Computer Animation major for the first quarter, but then switched to Graphic Design. To an extent, I regret switching my major. During the portfolio show I saw all the cool things that the animation majors were doing. What made me change is that I didn't want to animate, rather I wanted to just do concept work, like character and area designs. And I saw just that! On the other hand, being a Graphic Design major gave me the ability to handle my own promotional work. So it wasn't a losing situation.
I graduated from the Art Institute of Houston in 2001 with an Associates Degree in Graphic Design. Months later, I enrolled at Southern University of Baton Rouge, majoring in Fine Arts. That was the best decision I could have made academically, and artistically, because I learned so much about my African heritage by studying historical Black artists, as well as ancient art of the ancestors. When I learned how much my African ancestors contributed to the world, whether by choice or by force, I knew what direction I wanted my art to take.
I would draw more figurative drawings and implement my love for African and African American culture, mainly by different compositions of Black Women. While at Southern University, I would organize Profile of a Black Woman, which was a visual and performing art show dedicated to the beauty of Black Women. Learning about my culture also made me more African-centered in spirit. That gave me the ability to embrace other cultures with my own African as the platform. I now try to do this with my character concept design work. I want the voices of the ancestors to speak through my graphite, my paint, and my computer graphics. I want people to hear the voices of artistic ancestors such as Imhotep, Henry 0. Tanner, Romare Bearden, and Charles White. Moreover, I want to take my love for all cutlures of the world and fuze them to create something unifying that will touch the hearts, minds, and souls of everyone.
One love and Solidarity