Kadir Nelson

Kadir Nelson is an award winning author and illustrator. Born in Washington, D.C. on May 15, 1974, he began drawing at age of 3. No art courses were offered at his school, so then his uncle, who was an artist and art teacher, took him as his apprentice. His uncle began to teach him multiple mediums, but his preference would always be painting with acrylic. During his senior year in high school Nelson submitted his paintings to several art competitions in the search of a scholarship. He later won a competition and attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, seeking an architecture degree. Art or illustration was not something he wanted to pursue, this was due to his belief that in art school “professors will try to impose their styles on their students and make the students clones of themselves”. It wasn’t until he saw his friends artwork that he felt inspired to switch his major, seeing his friends artwork, “inspired me to really follow my heart and do the art that I wanted to do. Because at heart, I wasn't an architect — I was a painter. So I decided, even if I had to starve I would become an artist and do what I really love to do. And the next day I changed my major to illustration and didn't look back”. After graduating, he was an intern for the Society of Illustrators and started to take commissions. His work caught the attention of an upcoming company called DreamWorks that was producing a film called, La Amistad. His success in the film allowed his career to prosper. It wasn’t until an editor asked him to illustrate Big Jabe, by Jerdine Nolen, when his career as an illustrator and author of Children’s books began. His popularity as an illustrator and success collaborating with major companies such as: Coca-cola, Sports Illustrated, among others, allowed his art to become collectible. Popular artist such as Michael Jackson and Drake commissioned artworks from Nelson, including Drake’s album cover, Nothing Was the Same.

Nelson holds a unique talent of creating illustrations that impact the viewer at first glance. Although his success began at an early age, he still continues to demonstrate his passion of telling stories using illustrations. The last couple of years he has focused on publishing his own books. We expect to see more of his work in the future.

Theme/Motifs
Although Nelson doesn’t follow a specific theme, his projects mostly relate to African American History. At the age of 15, Nelson’s mother took him to see Nelson Mandela speak at the Coliseum in Los Angeles. This event created a huge impression on him, which guided him to create paintings of people who inspired him. This mentality led him to illustrate and then write children’s books, Nelson stated, “My focus is to create images of people who demonstrate a sense of hope and nobility. I want to show the strength and integrity of the human being and the human spirit. I think it is important for us to see positive images of ourselves. And if you look at contemporary images of African-Americans, particularly African-American males, it's not always positive. But it's important to have heroes. I hope a kid can look in my books and see him - or herself in a positive way."

Style
Nelson’s artistic style comes from a young age. It was as a teenager when he realized he could express history using his illustrations. His uncle used to tell him that if his work didn’t mean anything to him, it wouldn’t mean anything to anybody else. This was the moment Nelson began to observe artwork done by artist Ernie Barnes. Barnes’s artwork was well known for the elongation of body parts and expressive line work. Those qualities became representative of Nelson’s artwork. Most of his artworks allow the main figure to occupy most of the space, while the background is filled with minor details to create emotion. This technique allows the viewer to focus in the larger figure and observe the details Nelson wants the viewer to focus on.

Criticism
Although several artists consider Nelson to copy Barnes style and techniques, Nelson still offers a unique point of view on his artwork. His personality and thoughts are clearly expressed throughout his paintings and illustrations. As for his writing, according to goodreads.com in his book Heart and Soul, several people believe his book misses a large concept of history due to the limitation of pages to cover the story. Overall, most reviewers seem to understand that it is complicated to express a story, specially if its historical, in a limited amount of illustrations.