As far back as I can recall I had an appetite to create.”Dawud Anyabwile, formerly known as David Sims has been drawing his own characters since childhood. This Philadelphia native says that his earliest creative inspirations came from his older brothers, his comic book collection, his father’s extensive book collection on Black history and listening to music. Upon entering high school, Dawud abandoned his interest in mainstream comic books to focus his creative energies into the upcoming sub-culture of hip hop and fine arts. The fascination of graffiti, DJ’ing and fine tuning his basic drawing skills as an art major only further refined Anyabwile’s focus on becoming an artist for a living.
“I always knew that I wanted to run my own business but I did not know what kind of artist I wanted to be. There were so many directions that I could go into. I never thought of doing comic books full time nor animation. They seemed like hobbies to me not career goals. Illustration always seemed like the logical route for me.” Dawud went on to build a city wide reputation as an airbrush artist which eventually led to the creation of one of the most popular independent comic books of the 90’s and beyond.
The release of “Brotherman: Dictator of Discipline” was a rewarding experience for Anyabwile’s but it also was extremely arduous. “We faced many challenges from racial ignorance and resistance within the comic book industry to the stresses of traveling around the country to distribute and promote our books on our own . . . all the while I was the only artist doing the work of a full production crew.” These challenges were overcome by tremendous leaps and bounds and paved the way for a new generation of young black artist-entrepreneurs who were inspired to follow the blueprint that was laid down by Anyabwile’s and his brothers.
The success of Brotherman was cut short with the sudden death of Anyabwile’s parents in 1994 and 1996. This experience affected me deeply and I could not continue on the path that I was on . . . I needed a breather.” Anyabwile began a new career doing fulltime and freelance projects for very high profile properties such as designing characters for the television series, “The Wild Thornberry’s” and “The Rugrats.” These experiences gave Anyabwile insight into how productions are done. “It was like getting paid to go to school. To receive the type of training that I never received in the past.”
During this time Dawud has always known that Brotherman would return but only when the time was right within the universe not within himself. That time is now as the preparation for the all new series is underway. Be sure to keep an eye out for more great projects from the man who has never been afraid to use his talents to bring about change. |
Writing is such a powerful medium. It not
only brings voice to ideas, it also has the ability
to misshape them. Born from solitude, it
delivers expressions to the world, to the few
and to the one.- GAS
Guy has authored two of the earliest publication
on the subject of Kwanzaa. The
first was “The Kwanzaa Handbook” (1981)
and the second, “The Kwanzaa Kids Learn
the Seven Principles” (1984). An avid
poet and writer of short fiction, Guy has
completed a collection of new American
Tall Tales, Rife Powers and Other Too Tall
Tales, has a screenplay currently under
solicitation, and will complete his first novel,
Livin’ Just A Little this fall.
Like most creative spirits, it is hard to pinpoint when he wanted to add writing to his life
experiences but his earliest inspiration was the audio version of Richard Wright’s Black
Boy, shared with him by his father. “After hearing that record, I thought I wanted to tell
stories like that. I immediately read as much of Wright’s work as possible.” With time
came more writers and genres to explore: Shakespeare, Baldwin, Benet, McKay, Vonnegut,
and Walker (to name a very few). Some of his contemporary influences and motivators
are the late Bebe Moore Campbell, E. Lynn Harris, and Walter Moseley. “When
I think about what influenced me with the Brotherman series, I am drawn to the works
of the two Chesters…Chester Himes and Chester Gould. Their stylizing of characterizations,
settings, and tight stories continue to impress |
