Jan. 7 CityBeat cover artist
Wardell Brown is mostly busy with cartoons and his comic-book art, but every so often he paints something like “Queenie,” the piece featured on our cover this week.
“I was inspired to create ‘Queenie’ when I was writing an African-American Fairytale set in New Orleans,” said Brown in an e-mail. “I was thinking what would an African queen in my fairytale look like? So I created the painting to help me set the background for the story.”
A short bio on Wardell is below the break. To see more of his work, hit up www.wardellbrown.com.
Wardell Brown: I’ve been creating art and stories since I was 12 years old. In high school I discovered a love of art history, which led to a love of painting. After graduating with a BFA in illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology, I moved to San Diego to begin my career as an artist/illustrator. Currently I am working as a freelance artist working on magazines art, t-shirt and skateboard designs, and character designs for TV shows. I have published 5 books and working on my 6th.
From time to time I get a chance to do art for art’s sake like “Queenie”. I usually participate in art shows locally with fellow artists Rod Mojica, Mark Richmond, and Matthew Lorentz.
