Drawing Inspiration from the Black Lives Matter Movement

In honor of Juneteenth and the Black Lives Matter Movement, we wanted to share a very inspirational project Emily Streit*, one of our past, talented interns, has been busy working on. Her story is proof that each one of us can use our strengths to share knowledge and affect positive change in the world.

Her efforts began following Blackout Tuesday. This was the day, where individuals and businesses across the world, refrained from posting everyday content on their social media pages (except for black screens) to give black lives the ability to share important information about the Black Lives Matter Movement.

However, after learning that these posts, and the hashtags used, were actually clogging up the news and information streams, Emily quickly deleted her post.

From there, she knew that she wanted to use her creative outlet for something bigger.

To advance the Black Lives Matter Movement using her own skills, Emily decided to create a series of portraits, one a day for 15 days to celebrate black lives. She recently had been exploring the Adobe Fresco application and couldn’t wait to apply it to her initiative.

Emily first began by researching black activists and other influential black Americans. After compiling a long list, she was in disbelief at how many names were listed that she never was taught about in school. From there, she selected the 15 individuals she wanted to learn more about.

Her art process started with a reference photo of the individual, that she would set aside and lightly sketch to finely capture a clean contour drawing. She would then use the mixer brush tool to color her sketch in. Since many of the photos were in black and white, she did her best to choose an appropriate color palette that would ultimately tie all of the 15 portraits together.

After the portraits were completed, she would write a short bio about the individual and showcase the portraits, and the portrait’s time-lapse process, on her Instagram account. Emily hoped that people would take the time to view each post and perhaps even do more research about the individual on their own. Overall, she was extremely pleased with the outcome of the project and the feedback she has received.

Emily is proof that we all have unique ways in which we can help educate and make our world a better place for all. The question is, how will you take action?

Want to check out all 15 portraits and learn more about these amazing individuals? Follow Emily Streit on Instagram @emilystreit_designs.

*Emily Streit is a recent 2020 graduate from North Central College in Naperville, IL who earned her BA in Graphic Design and Minor in Marketing and Studio Art. She has provided freelance design services to Anda Creative since 2017 and was our graphic design intern during the summer of 2018.