alleannaharris - Tumblr blog

[alleannaharris]

Hey everyone!

I don’t know if I mentioned this, but along with being a picture book illustrator, I also sell my original art prints online!

You can purchase prints like this (and more) here on my Etsy store and here on my portfolio website store. ☺️✨

[alleannaharris]

Also, I haven’t been here in a little while, so HELLO NEW FOLLOWERSSSS! I appreciate y’all. 🥹 *muffled sobbing*

[alleannaharris]

OMGGGGGGGGGGGG what an honor to be included in this list!!! Thank you, @staff 🥹❤️

Tumblr Tuesday: Black Femmes in Art

Hello, please enjoy these extremely exquisite artistic renderings by your local Black artists on Tumblr. For more heady brilliance, click through to #Black artists on Tumblr, and marvel at the sheer abundance of talent.

Are you a Black artist or creative on Tumblr? Join in by tagging your work #Black artists on Tumblr for a chance to be featured in the Radar, on @blackexcellence, and in our global promotional unit. 

@zolwia:

@prinnay:

@lostbluejayart:

@kenmaiii:

@lucidly-melanated-art:

@okubunny:

@cupoyo:

@n3oncyan:

@alleannaharris:

@thecitybee:

@terrichienyiart:

@frogwhomp:

[alleannaharris]

Happy New Year everyone! 🥳 I struggled to come up with something to say because I’ve been away working furiously, but for the sake of healthy work-life balance, showing up is most important. So hello and thank you for being here with me on Tumblr! I appreciate each and every one of you. ❤️ So! 2024 is gonna be fun. I have a lot of great things to share, starting with this little piece of personal art today. ☺️🎧🎵

[alleannaharris]

Super excited and grateful to see that the gift cards I illustrated for Target a few years ago are still in-store!! It’s perfect for a last minute gift! Just letting y’all know. 😉❤️🎄

[alleannaharris]

Just wanted to share an illustration of Simone Biles for World Mental Health Day (yesterday) and International Day of the Girl. I did this about four years ago as a sample piece. She’s such a powerhouse and a great example of how important it is to put your mental health first. 🙌🏾❤️

[alleannaharris]

Just sharing one of my most favorite illustrations from Good Things! 🍁 My favorite part of illustrating this scene was adding the cozy glow to the windows of the brownstones and adding the dappled light and the fall leaves too.

(Also, I have a knack for remembering which song/playlist I was listening to while working on picture book spreads. Pretty sure I was listening to With You by Tony Terry. Not that y’all asked or anything. 😂)

Good Things, written by Maryah Greene and illustrated by me is available wherever books are sold! ☺️🪴

[alleannaharris]

Resharing one of my favorites because of the start of the fall season! They’re on their way to the farmers market. 🥰

[alleannaharris]

You know what? I’m gonna share the rest of the Living Single series too. Give me a sec.

[alleannaharris]

🎵in a 90’s kinda world, I’m glad I got my girls🎵

I haven’t shared this Living Single illustration in a while, so I wanted to share it again. I think I posted it in on my old art Tumblr, but I deleted that account, so here it is on my ✨new official art Tumblr✨

I illustrated this in 2016. Seven years ago. (SEVENNNN *gasp*) It was one of the first prints I put in my Etsy store.

Forever a favorite.

(It’s available as a print here, btw.)

[alleannaharris]

Reblogging because it’s MERMAYYYY

Oh, it’s Mermaid Day? Here’s a mom braiding her daughter’s hair from last year. 🧜🏾‍♀️

[alleannaharris]

Happy Easter/Resurrection Sunday, y’all!

[alleannaharris]

Oh, it’s Mermaid Day? Here’s a mom braiding her daughter’s hair from last year. 🧜🏾‍♀️

[alleannaharris]

Obligatory Tinkerbell fan art. 🧚🏾‍♀️☺️

[alleannaharris]

Hey everyone! I sent out my February email newsletter this morning. It has art, updates, and as always, a music playlist.

To read past newsletters and subscribe, you can go to alleannaharris.substack.com! 💌

[alleannaharris]

Hey everyone! I just wanted to say thank you so much for keeping me company this Black History Month. I really appreciate all of your likes and comments. It’s funny, I really love learning new things… illustrating them… and then sharing said things, but I had no idea you all liked it too! 😂

Some people on Instagram and on Twitter mentioned the idea of starting a Patreon and continuing to have illustrations of Black History figures and associating write ups year round. I like that idea. So that Patreon is coming soon. I’ll announce it here, but I’ll also announce it through my monthly email newsletter on Substack here. Stay tuned!

Until then, if you’re interested in buying any of my BHM illustrations as art prints, they’re available on my Etsy Shop here. By the end of this week, they’ll all be on my InPRNT shop too (framed and canvas) here.

Also, I reached 7,000 followers on my Instagram page, so tomorrow I’ll be announcing a giveaway on Instagram (@alleannaharris), so follow me there as well if you can. That’s all for now! Kaythanksbyeee

[alleannaharris]

Today's Black History Month illustration is of James Baldwin, one of the 20th century’s greatest writers. Baldwin broke new literary ground by exploring racial, social, sexual, and class distinctions in his works, and he was known for his essays on the Black experience in America.

James Baldwin was born in Harlem in 1924. He was the oldest of nine children. His mother, Emma Jones, married a Baptist minister, David Baldwin, when he was three years old.

Despite their strained relationship, Baldwin followed in his stepfather’s footsteps and became a youth minister in a small Harlem Pentecostal church from ages 14-16. Also during his early teens, Baldwin was spending a lot of his time in libraries and found a passion for writing.

At 18, he worked with the NJ railroad, and then moved to Greenwich Village where he worked for a few years as a freelance writer writing mostly book reviews. Baldwin caught the attention of the well-known writer Richard Wright who helped him secure a grant so he could support himself as a writer.

In 1948, at the age of 24, Baldwin left the US to live in Paris because he couldn’t tolerate the discrimination he experienced. He often was a target of beatings by local youth and the police due to homophobia and racism. Baldwin hoped to find enough distance from the society he grew up in to write about it. Here's a clip of Baldwin and Maya Angelou in conversation:

In 1953, Baldwin wrote his first novel “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” an autobiographical work about growing up in Harlem. This is often seen as his finest work because of the way he described the struggles of Black Americans.

Over the next ten years, Baldwin moved between Paris, New York and Istanbul. He wrote two books of essays, “Notes of a Native Son” and “Nobody Knows My Name,” and two novels “Giovanni’s Room” and “Another Country.” The essays explored racial tension and the novels dealt with then taboo themes (homosexuality and interracial relationships). Nobody Knows My Name and Another Country were immediately bestsellers.

Baldwin’s travels also brought him closer to social concerns of his home, US. In the early 60s, he returned to the US to participate in the Civil Rights Movement. He attended the March on Washington in 1963 and the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965. His essays “Notes of a Native Son”, “Nobody Knows My Name” and “The Fire Next Time” became essential works during this time because of their call for human equality.

After the assassination of his three friends: Medgar Evers (1963), Malcolm X (1965), and MLK (1968), he returned to France and worked on a book about the disillusionment of the times, “If Beale Street Could Talk” (1974).

During the last few years of his life, he continued to produce important works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. He also started teaching. Baldwin passed away in 1987 after a short battle with stomach cancer.

This is my last BHM illustration for this series, but I’ll be back tomorrow with a wrap up!