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Freshawn (@thewoodwitches) joins us on the Black Superheroes Matter Podcast. Freshawn is an artist based in Little Rock, Arkansas. His passions are art, music, and visiting the worlds within his mind. He takes objects far apart in space and crafts them into tangible worlds for those to see. His goal is to create comics that empower and showcase various kinds of people that exist under the sky He is doing that with his series The Wood Witches.
Q&A with Freshawn
What do you do?
Illustration and I’m a musician.
How did you get started?
I’ve always liked drawing. As a kid, I would attempt characters I saw in cartoons. I eventually started drawing characters I made up and writing stories for them.
How has COVID-19 affected you?
Well. I’ve had less distractions. I usually go out with friends on weekends, but that’s some prime time to work on my comic.
Has it been difficult trying to find success as a Black creator in the industry?
Well I think the real challenge will be once I finish my first graphic novel and try to promote to various places. I think success for me would be that people are reading my work. Right now, I’d say I’ve been successful because friends are reading. I really hope that being black won’t hinder more people from reading my comic.
How would you describe your creative style? What/who was your biggest inspiration?
Um that’s tough to say. I like using lots of colors. None of it is hyper real and I tend to use flat colors on characters and do more textures on background things and scenes. I feel like my work is somewhat rough yet flowy at times. I like keeping some mistakes so people can see my growth and that growth is possible. I never thought I could do a legit comic. I fell in love with Scott Pilgrim vs the World in high school. I watched it every day for a while there. But then I found the comics written by Bryan Lee O’Malley and got deeper into it. I loved the art style and the non-typical story. The characters felt like real people you would know. I started writing comics after that. They were badly made comics about me and my friends, but I wanted to make cool comics like Scott Pilgrim.
What was your favorite superhero growing up?
I’d say Link from legend of Zelda. He just went around solving puzzles and fighting monsters. I kind of look at most things as a puzzle to be solved because of that. It’s also why I like swords.
What projects are you currently working on?
The Wood Witches!
Why do Black Superheroes Matter?
We’ve heard of white men saving the world too many times. Like we get it. You conquered the real world, now you want to conquer imaginations. I legit didn’t know black people could be heroes like that. That we could have cool stories of prophecy, pioneering, challenging the current world. And maybe that made me think I couldn’t have stories like that. That really affects children across the board, kids of various skin color. It tells them the same story and that the only capable people are white. So I think it’s my job as an artist to challenge that. Black people can be seen as heroes. Heroes with various personalities, faults, and capabilities. We are human and powerful!
Follow Freshawn’s Work at: https://thewoodwitches.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewoodwitches
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewoodwitches/
Webtoon: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/the-wood-witches/list?title_no=430796
Hey, this is Steve. I played football at Oregon State University and University of Hawaii. Now I doodle cartoons and blow stuff up on camera. I also make web comics too. Hopefully I can make this whole thing a full time gig so I can make the big bucks to pay for Medical School! (Fingers Crossed) If you would like more thought-provoking content or a quick laugh consider supporting me on Patreon, checking out my webseries Eyelnd Feevr, or checking out links to my other projects below:
Eyelnd Feevr Webseries | PDX Black Rose Podcast | Stuck E Podcast | Black Superheroes Matter | Artist Portfolio | DIY Arts Tutorials & Blog |