Category: Muse
African 3D Art: Fertility Doll Rigged for Blender
Well I guess she’s getting down! This is the fun part. Experimenting and learning new stuff. My character Nia needs a prop. Like Ujima has his tool belt and Kuji has her books. What better for a young child than a doll. Not just any doll but this Ashanti Akua’maa. It’s purpose is to help teach young girls how care for a newborn and to ensure healthy children Read More …
Black History Flash Cards: Review
I wanted to make a brief note on a product you’ve probably seen advertised on social media. Black History Flash Cards: Vol 1 from Urban Intellectuals. I received my pack a few weeks ago. I must say I’m impressed with the whole operation. The cards and outer pack are well designed with sturdy materials. The selection of people and events is well thought out, and they delivered Read More …
… If You Want to Go Far, Go Together
If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.–African proverb While putting together a new art piece I realized that I didn’t have many group shots of Kinara’s Children. Even the one I’ve been using is a mashup of single pics collaged together. At the end of the day, the group dynamic of the Children is Read More …
The Prince of Egypt? He Wish!
Imani is amused: “Ujima got a bit carried away in his pharaoh’s costume. ‘Come on to the party he said. It’ll be fun.’ Now he’s trying to lord it over folks like some third rate King Tut.”
Ujima is not amused: “Just to be clear, I’m not trying to be King Tut. I’m Ramses II, the Great. He was a great builder who created more monuments than any pharaoh in history, and a personal hero of mine”
A bit of holiday fun with Ujima as Ramses II and Imani as Nefertiti. Read More …
Kinara’s Children Mini Posters
These just came in… and they’re looking sweeeeet! 8″ x 10″, full color, high quality, printed mini posters of all 7 Kinara’s Children characters. Yeah, they may look familiar but this is the first time they’ve been available at this size. Plus we now have the two characters, Ujima and Ujamaa, that I’ve been updating this year. Seven characters, seven Mini Posters. Please note: frames and mattes Read More …
Weapons of Mass Distraction
Because I work with digital art it’s easy for me to get distracted. There’s always some new software, some new capabilities added, or some aspect of a program as yet unexplored. Worse yet is my interest in so many artistic styles and concepts. I do a lot of experimentation and preliminary work for images I’m working on or some bright idea I’d like to do in the future. Rather than let these images (I call them sketches) sit, I’ll be adding them to the site from now on so you all can see some of the process. The distractions have now been weaponized! Read More …
Zarafa: Animated Film Review
I’m not sure how I stumbled upon the animated film Zarafa but I’m glad that I did. Zarafa is a historical tale of a young African boy named Maki and his friend girl Soula. Maki escapes from slave traders and ends up befriending a giraffe (zarafa) and his family. This begins his adventure from Africa, through Western Asia, into Europe and back. He is helped along the way by an Arab adventurer named Hassan, a rather reluctant guardian but a man of principle. This is a French film. The version I saw is in French with English subtitles. There’s a version with English overdubs as well but I can’t attest to its quality as I haven’t seen it.