The best way to get your style as an artist is when you’re on a deadline that’s very short and you don’t have time to overthink and get all of your influence in it. You just fully present yourself.”
Akeem S. Roberts, Ep. 369
Akeem S. Roberts (@akeemteam) is a brilliant cartoonist and wouldn’t you know that he and I are now cosmically connected:
Oh, by the way did I tell you I won The New Yorker caption contest?
Anyway … it was a good excuse to reach out to Akeem and find out what makes him tick, how he works through ideas, his time as a shift leader at Starbucks, the old ladies who told him to keep going, working through bad ideas, and how he killed his version of Bing Bong. Great stuff.
A little more about Akeem from his website:
He is an illustrator, animator, and cartoonist based in Brooklyn, New York. Versed in many styles, Akeem is passionate about breathing life into stories through art.
His comic debut was in the Regular show special with BOOM Studios, and, more recently, he worked with Hasbro on issue 98 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Akeem sold his first New Yorker cartoon in 2019. In 2021, Akeem participated in Cartooning While Black, a Chelsea art gallery show that discussed race relations in a playful and charming way, along with other Black New Yorker cartoonists. Also in 2021, Akeem illustrated three middle-grade books with author John Dillard and the Kokila team. The JD book series has won multiple awards, including the School Library Journal Best Books of 2021, the New York Public Library Best Books of 2021, the Chicago Public Library Best Books of 2021, a 2022 NCTE Charlotte Huck Award Honor Book, was shortlisted for the Iris Award 2022 and was a recipient of the Texas Bluebonnet Masterlist 2022-2023.
The show’s Instagram handle, @creativenonfictionpodcast, and you can always keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod.
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