Octavia's Brood Illustrations

Octavia's Brood is a collection of social justice science fiction stories inspired by the work of Octavia Butler. 

I used Adobe Illustrator to create illustrations for the stories Black Angel by Walidah Imarisha and the river by adrienne maree brown. 

Black Angel by Walidah Imarisha

Black Angel is set in a dystopian future and about an angel who has been banished from Heaven and lives on Earth. She has one wing and smokes cigarettes, and wears boots. 

I was originally inspired by the Nike of Samothrace, but decided to move in a more modern direction, and ended up changing the perspective to avoid a head-on image. 

The final image uses Illustrator's patterns to create textures. The wings were inspired by Archangel in the X-Men Apocalypse movie. 

the river by adrienne maree brown

the river is set in in a future Detroit and is about a "boat woman" who watches as a green wave appears and swallows people who have moved to Detroit from other places. 

I wanted to focus on the wave, but also include the protagonist. I decided to base her appearance on Octavia Butler, the inspiration for the Octavia's Brood compilation. 

For the final image, I layered Detroit in the background, the "boat woman" in the middleground and the wave in the foreground.