Nyasia’s Art Tutorial Book I: Detail & Texture with Embedded Memoir is a tutorial book on digital painting and includes an embedded memoir and a 2023 - 2021 gallery of Nyasia’s artwork. It is written, illustrated, and designed by Black artist Tionna Nyasia Watson. Created for the artist's Bachelor of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition. This project consists of a website, postcards, promotion stickers, a poster, one complete and published book, and four following volumes designed, illustrated, and illustrated by the artist in the course of five months using Procreate and Adobe InDesign.
Closer Look
Blackness is a series of art and art tutorial books designed, illustrated, and written by graphic designer and illustrator, Tionna Nyasia Watson. For her BFA thesis, she designs a book ad, promotion stickers, a promotion website, a published book called Nyasia’s Art Tutorial Book I: Detail & Texture with Embedded Memoir, and four book sleeves representing the series. This is an opportunity for Watson to experience what it is like to be the educator while being the designer, and the artist. She takes on all the roles involved in creating this series –- book designer, artist, teacher, explorer -– showing she is just as diverse in her technical ability as she is in her artistry.
As an artist and educator, Nyasia’s Art Tutorial Book I highlights the importance of using detail and texture in her artwork. Watson created Blackness to teach and share what she has learned about herself as a Black Woman and as an artist. There are tips and tutorials on how she takes full advantage of Procreate, an Apple drawing application. Nyasia’s Art Tutorial Book I dives into techniques she discovered that help her create portraits of black women, and offers explanations on why she approaches art the way she does. The tutorials are on drawing BLACK HAIR, rendering textured skin, and creating skin tones. She also includes sections on clothing texture, paper texture, and backgrounds as a bonus.
In the same way, she intersects blackness and womanhood in her artwork, she hopes to find a career combining graphic design and illustration. Hence the book, book covers, and website, are solely designed using her illustrations.
Even though this book is written now, this exploration began when she was a child. Her love for art is heavily influenced by her family, who, she mentions in the embedded memoir, has inspired her to use detail as a weapon of affirmation for women and artistic identity, and not just as an element of creativity. This is a glimpse into her future and past; she wants you to create beautiful artwork and discover who you are the same way she has.
Design Programs
These are the applications and design platforms the designer used to create this project.
