the national aquarium at baltimore pride 2024

June 2024 marks the National Aquarium’s first year participating in Baltimore City’s annual Pride parade. I developed all design and copy collateral for this project, which required a large banner for the parade, branded t-shirts for volunteers and staff, and giveaway stickers. I presented multiple options for each asset to stakeholders, then assembled a presentation deck to showcase final designs to the CEO.

I also conducted vendor research and managed all production communications throughout the design process, making sure to prioritize local LGBT-owned small businesses. shirts were screenprinted and hand-embellished by straythreads.

shades of fear

Shades of Fear is a 150-page collection of subtle, psychological horror comics with a focus on emotional and evocative color, published by balustrade press. It won the 2023 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Anthology. I created the title lettering and overall book design of this anthology, and prepared final files for production.

kaleidoscopic night

layout design for a 17-page essay about narrative color and its role in horror. created as a counterpart to shades of fear by balustrade press; in collaboration with ashanti fortson, lillie j. harris, and rosemary valero-o’connell.

darlin’ and her other names

Darlin’ is a werewolf-western-horror-romance comic by award-winning author-illustrator Olivia Stephens. The story follows two strangers who meet in a moment of mutual desperation and forge a vengeful partnership. The first installment, Part 1: Marta, was self-published online in March 2023, and received the 2023 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Artist.

Olivia commissioned me to create title design and some other hand-lettered assets for this project. The initial brief she gave me was “murderous love letter”. We worked closely to settle on an aesthetic that suited this story’s unique needs.

the broken heart at the center of comics

layout design for an essay about burnout within the comics industry by ashanti fortson, with additional words by sunmi, shannon wright, and lillie j. harris.

this essay was originally published in gladiolus magazine by black josei press and edited by jamila rowser.

watermarks

“Watermarks is the National Aquarium’s full-color member magazine, filled with features on our blue planet, behind-the-scenes information, and the latest on our conservation efforts.”

I worked on the last few print issues of Watermarks before the Aquarium pivoted the magazine to digital-only in 2020. tasks included layout design, photo selection, typesetting, communications with the printer, reviewing proofs, and packaging files for final production.

I also created supplemental illustrations to accompany certain feature stories.