Hey. Heres a sketch! I know I missed my late Feb early march posting. I've put all my updates and other work on hold till I finish this last issue of captain kacela. Forgive the file sizes these are very impromptu.

book cover illustration final

kacela

Fighters universe idea

Harriet Johnson of kacela series

Fighters Universe idea 

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sketch for  a business project that hasn't gone as expected. color version on deviant art ishmiel14

Some ol...

Some older art. If you visit my Deviant art page (ishmiel14.deviantart.com) then you'll  see these in there amongst other things. I'll try not to get into the habit of just posting old stuff. but since I'm pretty underexposed here ya go.If you like them tell a friend. check out the other blogs as well should have updates to all of them by next week end. Just changed the format of the Keisha blog. I'll probably change fighters universe similarly.
enjoy.

Trying to keep up with posting art and thought. Here an older sketch of a friend of mine. also a talented artist.

Hey all things are going well decided to drop this here first. Working on a online comic project should hit over the supper months. Mentioned it a few post prior to know it's for Malayaisa Carter. It will be posted on Http://MalayaisaCarter.com bi-weekly. Provided i can get everything together in time. Here is a pre-view. It's also the first time I've experimented with digital painting.

Hey updates to both Captain Kacela and Roach blogs. more to come check em out links below and above

Hey quick update,

I'm changing format just a little. This is still my personal art blog. Meaning I will post sketches personal projects as well as miscellaneous art work. But I've started 3 more blogs.  This should allow me to post more work and make it easier to keep up with web comics.

the first blog http://captainkacela.blogspot.com/
current news on Captain Kacela Universal Ranger as well as deleted scenes and ketches

the second blog http://kieshau.blogspot.com/
For the ongoing web series Kiesha Underground. This will mean I won't be posting it on this blog page. I will post if I've made an update. Again this page will have the series and sketches/ pin ups and additional info.

the third blog http://harleysbailbonds.blogspot.com/
Blog for the upcoming roach comic should be done by the end of 2014

the fourth http://fuknockout.blogspot.com/
Fighers Universe is an old personal project. Not sure how often I will update it. I do have a lot of back logged work I can add in the mean time.

Will try to update all pages sunday evenings  twice a month. My main(http://rangerk.com) blog maybe more often since I post thoughts as well as images. I'll also start back logging images that maybe on deviant or may have not been scene.
Thanks again for visiting. make sure to check out captain Kacelas fan page on facebook

Hey just wanted to add some links to that last blog of some other ideas and examples of black women and image type
early comic book pioneer
http://geekout.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/28/african-american-women-take-on-the-comic-book-industry/

black females in comics really good list of characters. not all of them but alot of modern ones.
http://urbanhorror.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/2012-the-year-black-females-ruled-in-comics/

found this intesresting. some artist ranking the size of body types had a general consensus on white males. and alot of confusion about white females. black females aren't mentioned. in a conversation about olympians and body types no one talks about black women.
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/08/09/olympians-superhero-bodies-and-what-real-athletes-look-like/

some general info on black comic
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrayal_of_black_people_in_comics

interesting paper about young people and body image. still reading this.
http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR9-1/howling.pdf

list of black female comics mostly mainstream, there are several volumes..
http://www.comicvine.com/myvine/beccababy87/black-female-superheroes-volume-1/87-39183/

good discussion for people like me who don't really have time to read.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4696065

i'll post more as i come across it feel free to email me any info you have or leave a comment. ilyght@gmail.com Kamau.mshale@gmail.com

Black Women!

Hey just wanted to talk about one of my favorite subjects and spread my unwanted opinion. I have a comic book called Captain Kacela. It's a sci-fi action adventure book that stars a black female as the lead, supported by a black female and has few males at all. I created her because of a love for African american women and women in general. I felt there was a lot of talk about shape that was misleading and misguided. While I don't think that all black women are in perfect health and  I know Americans in general (African Americans specifically  have terrible eating habits, surely they are not all obese. By BMI standards in america most people are over weight. I wouldn't have a problem with this if not for the understanding that many black women are viewed as over weight because they are shaped and proportioned different. I do mean the idea that many black women have large thighs and booties. This can be stereotyped but the truth is many,if not most, have more backside the other people in america. The world over it happens a lot but because it has not been the taste of the people who dominated american culture for the last 500 years or so main stream media and science always vilifies our body types.

that's why I made the book and because of the book I've taken an added interest in matters related to black women and their image in the media. I know as a man I too am guilty of objectifying  women, specifically black women. Lead by main stream media I do like good pin up shot and occasionally get caught looking at pictures on facebook featuring nameless women in clothes so tight I can see a heart beat. It may be a while before that leaves our culture if it ever does, because that's based in large part on evolution and my desire as a man for the fairer sex. But what can be done away with is the intentional hate that flows world wide and pools in places like America for everything that is wonderful about black women.

In conclusion I think that there is an idealistic view of black women that I have and a degraded image of black women often portrayed and there needs to be some consensus. I'm at work though. talk more about it later.

and one

 here is an illustration i'm working on for a book cover should be an awesome book.

Hahm Jambo


Whats new. I now know where my people are from in Africa! This is pretty awesome for me because until now I've just been proud of allllll of Africa as my own. Theres nothing wrong with that, it's just that really African americans only do that because they don't really know where they are from. Now I know. My bloodline is from the Tuareg people. Desert nomads, specifically those of Mali. Been reading up on them alot. Its great to know I can tell my son where he is from. Thanks to African Ancestry. com and my employers Harambee Institute charter school. Good looking Baba Masai.

Any way figured it was about time for this upload. Not sure what day I should use yet but I know the updates should be early in the month, or the end of the month.

as promised here is three more pages of keisha underground.

Habari Gani!

Kuumba, that is the correct response. last day of the year, one more day of Kwanzaa left. As one my new years resolutions to do more art and show more of that i do and i'm capable of, I'm going to post a few free series here. Keisha underground, Ishmiel Lyght: The way and the F.U. Fighters Universe, as well as a link to the new series for the model whose site I'll be posting comic work on. There will still be the books I'm currently working on(captain Kacela Universal Ranger) and planning in the near future(the roach, name may change). With those books in mind I can't commit to a serious schedule for the online works but I will try to find something consistent. every 50 pages I will try to compile for print with the exception of the F.U. since it will use copyrighted characters it likely won't print, in fact i'll be lucky if that doesn't get shut down ^_^ In the mean time enjoy the first few pages of Keisha Underground.

Keisha Underground is the story of Keisha and underground fighter born off grid raised off grid and living off grid. She relies on her wits and fight skills to eat. She has long since abandoned the dogmatic thinking that raised her and gave her the skills when it suddenly comes back  in the form of a small child claiming to have been sent to be her charge. there are only about 10 pages of this series so far I plan on releasing 3 a month till I catch up and then ongoing as they are finished. Please excuse any typos, the first  few pages are a few years old my sense of detail as grown much since then. Enjoy the first three.
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Keisha Underground

hey all so it appears the model really loved the character. So hopefully within a few weeks or months we should have some lovely pictures of Elisha Jade as Roach. She hails from England so it's unlikely she'll be at any conventions. Then again you never know, buy roach books when they go on sale and maybe we'll be able to get Elisha to the states.

In other news been working with some other models namely Malayasia Carter. Shes been doing her thing for a min. Hopefully I should be able to do a small comic strip on her site to raise viewership help her create more buzz and make a little money. here are some development sketches hoping to have a poster available by the 19th when she does a signing at black and nobel Phillys major black book store. Check out more of her at her site http://malayasiacarter.com/  and see whats going on at the bookstore here http://www.blackandnobel.blogspot.com/

So as promised some art.
This is s sketch done for a model i'd asked to cosplay as Roach. Should be creating the new Roach book next year for release in late 2013 to early 2014. Be really great if i can get his model to do more work.

first the art

now the model

See her on model mayhem hereElisha Jade

Whats good?

So I'm going to post some back dated art. I realized I have a ton of stuff on Deviant art. I like that people check it out there, but I think that it would be nice to continually update this blog and show some things I've worked on. You might see something you missed first time I posted.

To start my trip down memory lane off I'm gonna post some of my previous workstations.
This is the oldest work station I could find. It's from my college days. I was still at my moms house. I was actually working on two independent comics at the time. Earth Guard and Roach.

At the same time I had a job. I brought my equipment with me in backpack everyday cause of the two books I was doing.

skipping one place, this was at my first place. shared this work area with my wife.

and there you have it folks. I'll post some art work in a couple of days.