Erykah Badu mural by Andre Woolery

Perhaps it’s early to pick the week’s most interesting creative pick, but we’ve sat on this long enough! Painted by NYC-based artist Andre Woolery, this phenomenal Erykah Badu mural is a part of his Paint The Town series. About the piece, the artist says:

“I quickly knew this would be one of my favorites. Understandably Ms. Badu is beautiful and I had become very comfortable with a paintbrush, but the experiment with graphical elements took it up another notch.

The design within the hair has very precise measurements to create illusion of wavering lines but the lines are perfectly parallel. Visually there is a battle between the luster of her striking, natural beauty and the mathematical matrix of her afro…just as long as you keep looking I’m happy.”

Erykah Badu by Andre Woolery in living room

Available as photo print or canvas print, the mural ranges between 34.99 and 349.99, and can be purchased at andrewooleryart.com. Watch how the painting was made in the video footage below!

Watch Andre Woolery paint Erykah Badu from ‘Paint the Town’ series

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"At the Expense of Others..." by Travis Theus

“At the Expense of Others…” is the latest work by Atlanta-based artist Travis Theus, now available as a print. Depicting a working man carrying a market bull–a symbolic beast of finance, and a wealthy man on his shoulders, the piece “was inspired by the recession and people who were affected by it,” says Travis.

The class war-inspired illustration was completed in Prismacolor on Somerset Enhanced Velvet Fine Art Paper, with Gloss Fixative to preserve the artwork over time. The 13″ x 19″ print is signed and numbered by the artist and available for purchase through Travis‘ Etsy store.

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Gerrel Sanders aka GAKS has released the first set of his Skull Girls series. The multi-disciplined Trinidad and Tobago-based digital artist has left fans in anticipation of his new skull-faced vector beauties for weeks. Their hair alone must have taken a signficant amount of patience.

Check out the full set below and see more of GAKS‘ work at gaksdesigns.com.

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Katniss Everdeen - The Girl on Fire by Isaiah Stephens

Entitled Katniss Everdeen: The Girl on Fire, Isaiah Stephens‘ gorgeous traditional portrait captures a softer side of the Hunger Games character who is the story’s “face of rebellion.”

The young artist, hailing from Lowell, Massachusetts, has been creating his hand-drawn tributes to the ladies of Hunger Games’ Panem nation using mechanical pencils, woodless graphite pencils, and graphite pencils 2B – 9B on 11×14 smooth Bristol paper. He’ currently freelancing as an illustrator while in school for animation.

Katniss is the protagonist and narrorator of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy. She’s played by actress Jennifer Lawrence in the Gary Ross-directed film adaptation, which is expected to dominate the box office for the second weekend in a row, taking in $152.5 million during its premiere.

See more of Isaiah‘s work andd keep up with him on Twitter at @IzzyKSter.

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My own apocalypse by Alexandra Semushina

My own apocalypse is a surrealist digital art piece by Russian artist Alexandra Semushina. Started 6 years prior to completion, Alexandra was determined to finally finish the artwork which would become a very intimate “image of destruction of personal space” for the artist.

See more of her beautiful fantasy and concept art at sedeptra.daportfolio.com.

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Trayvon Martin Digital Illustration by Lanaé at theComplex Media & Design

The murder of Trayvon Martin and lack of arrest of George Zimmerman has left us heavy-hearted and angry. As I’ve spent several days trying to express this heartbreak, I decided to work my own piece, Justice For Trayvon, which led me on a quest to find other Trayvon-inspired artwork.

As it turns out, creatives from all over—and from various ethnic backgrounds, ages and artistic mediums, have been expressing their pain and frustration through art, photography and illustration. We’re proud to display these works and will continue to take and feature new submissions in his honor.

BluDog

BluSmith&Wesson by BluDog

A New York City-based artist, who goes by the alias BluDog, created this piece as a sticker that’s been spread throughout midtown. He combines the weapon used to kill Trayvon with an image of open Skittles, which symbolize the candy Trayvon had purchased before encountering George Zimmerman.

Autumn Hayes

Justice for Trayvon by Autumn Hayes

20-year-old Autumn Hayes, a budding digital artist attending the University Of Illinois for Industrial Design, drew a Trayvon as an angel.

Christina Terrano

In His Name - Trayvon Martin by Christina Terrano

Lexington, Kentucky-based Christina Terrano, mother and children’s portrait photographer, captured her daughter Cordelia in a hoodie for this Trayvon-inspired photograph. She included the following poem:

No parent should have to feel the pain of losing a child, least of all at the hands of someone who could not look past the color of a childs skin, or clothing.

There is no outfit that says, “Criminal.”
There is no color that says, “Crook.”
I should not live in fear of what my child wears.

Trayvon Martin’s parents should not have to be told that it was what he was wearing that caused a deranged man to chase, and tragically kill, their son.

It should not happen.
There is no reason for it.
A black hoodie does not represent what’s wrong in our country.
The need to victimize a killer does.

No one should have to feel the pain of losing a child, and this is captured in his name ….

Lily Luo

Skittles and Iced Tea by Lily Luo

19-year-old Lily Luo, depicts Trayvon resting in piece with all the Skittles he could want. The artist, who is also a biochemistry student at Arizona State University, received a bit of backlash for the artwork and the following statement which partially explains the word “Reponsible” in her piece:

…be aware that this kind of treatment only happens to people of color and especially Black people; if it was a Black man shooting a white boy, you can bet that he’d get the death penalty.

Whiteness is responsible; it’s responsible for constructing Black children as “suspicious” just for walking down the street, it’s responsible for the highly disproportionate profiling, arrests, and high conviction rates of Black people, and it’s responsible for the terror Black people have for their safety. This is NOT post racial America. This is AmeriKKKa.

Our justice system, this country which was built on the backs of slaves and thrives on racism, is as much of a murderer as Zimmerman is.

Rest in peace Trayvon. My heart is with his family, who have shown tremendous courage, and may justice be served.

Scott Hughes

Hoodie Sketch by Scott Hughes

Scott Hughes, an art teacher and designer in Orlando Florida showed his #MillionHoodies support with this quick sketch.

Andrea Montano

Trayvon Martin by Andrea Montano

Baltimore artist Andrea Moore created this digital airbrush portait of Trayvon in a store, purchasing the infamous iced tea and skittles before his death. Like most of us, Andrea is sorting through endless, sleep-depriving thoughts–some she’s expressed as a former Florida resident:

What happened to you, Sanford Police? Do you still think he was a Second-Class Citizen? What does Zimmerman knows or has in order for you to protect his behind so much? Please, allow me to THINK he has something. I ask you this to not allow me to consider that he was covered because of something as shallow as Trayvon being black. Or maybe Trayvon having the wrong Arizona Iced Tea flavor or snack you happen to not like instead of a gun, since he was unarmed and that’s what he had on his pockets that day.

Adam Baron

Trayvon RIP by Adam Baron

Photographer and digital artist Adam Baron captured this image of two little girls, one holding a Trayvon R.I.P. sign, at a Miami, Florida march last week.

Hunter Langston

Still Waiting for Justice by Hunter Langston

Hunter Langston, a 31-year-old graphic designer based in Detroit, Michigan, has applied his clean, minimalistic design style to this Trayvon-inspired poster.

Edward M.

Is This What You See by Edward M.

Detroit photographer Edward M. took his #MillionHoodies contribution to a whole other level, incorporating the exact stereotype of Black men and hoodies that seems to linger in certain people’s psyches. Do you automatically see a violent, gun-carrying criminal the very second you see a hoodie on Black skin?

Jeff aka Stray

Trayvon Martin by Jeff aka Stray

Los Angeles, California-based digital artist Jeff aka Stray was compelled to created Trayvon‘s likeness in this greyscale digital painting.

Kris Oneal

Million Hoodies by Kris Oneal

Hampton, Virginia-based child and family photographer Kris Oneal captured herself as a contribution to #MillionHoodies.

Camille Bellecoeur

Hoodie up for Trayvon by Camille Bellecoeur

NYC-based Camille Bellecoeur, owner of a SecondLife boutique called Urbana, composed this Trayvon-inspired portrait of a girl in a hoodie, crying. Additionally, she had this to say:

It is a disgrace that in 2012 that we still have racial profiling, that we have laws that make it okay to “shoot first, ask questions later”, that the media and the Martin family have done more investigating than the actual police, and so much more. It just hurts me so deeply that this is even a conversation in this day and age.

Bettie Banshee

Justice for Trayvon by Bettie Banshee

Canadian line art illustrator Bettie Banshee says “I can’t get these details out of my head: Skittles, iced tea, and a black hoodie. Had he been white, this would’ve been just trip to the corner store.”

Melissa Frantz

Hoodies for Trayvon by Melissa Frantz

Melissa Frantz, a Portland, Oregon mother of a new baby girl and 3 boys—two of which are Black, captured her adorable little ones on their front porch for this Trayvon-inspired photograph.

“When you look at my beautiful, brown skinned boys, and remark on their long eyelashes or gorgeous smiles– look at them as future black men. Look at them as hoodie wearing teenage boys. Think about Trayvon and young, black boys like him who find themselves in positions where their innocence rather than their guilt has to be proved.”

James McKissic

Blue Song for a Brown Boy by James McKissic

Tennessee artist James McKissic painted this abstract Blues Song for a Brown Boy: for Trayvon.

Terrence Moline

Trayvon Martin - Taste The Rainbow by Terrence Moline

Austin, Texas-based illustrator and designer Terrence Moline submitted a rather chilling piece, with a pool of blood below the Skittles tagline, “Taste The Rainbow.”

Nether

Justin Nether's Trayvon Street Art in Baltimore at Lafayette and Calvert

Baltimore street artist Justin Nether took to the city’s abandoned buildings to showcase his Trayvon-inspired artwork. The pieces gained enough popularity that they were featured in a story by the Baltimore Sun.

Using wheat paste— mix of flour, water and wood glue that is less permanent than the paints used for graffiti, Nether paints his images on top of a heavy graphic paper.

We’ll add more work as it comes in, in the meantime, if you haven’t already signed the petition for Trayvon, do so here.

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