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Robyn Smith (cartoonist)

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American cartoonist
Robyn Smith
NationalityJamaican
Notable workNubia: Real One, Wash Day Diaries
AwardsLos Angeles Times Book Prize for Graphic Novel/Comics

Robyn Brooke Smith is a Jamaican writer and cartoonist based in the United States. She is the author of The Saddest, Angriest, Black Girl in Town and the illustrator of Wash Day, Nubia: Real One, and Wash Day Diaries, for which she received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Graphic Novel/Comics.

Early life and education

Smith was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. She aspired to become a cartoonist from childhood, inspired in part by her father, a portrait artist and her mother, a makeup artist. She also enjoyed reading Archie Digest, which she considers a key influence on her work. Smith's family immigrated to the Bronx when she was 16, after she graduated high school.

Smith received her bachelor's degree from Hampshire College and received her master of fine arts degree from the Center for Cartoon Studies.

Career

During her graduate program at the Center for Cartoon Studies she developed her debut comic book The Saddest Angriest Black Girl In Town (2016) as a mini-thesis project, a memoir about "her experience being one of the only Black people in a rural Vermont town and how that time affected her mental health and her grasp of how Blackness is viewed in the world." The book was named to the 2016 Best Short Form Comics list by The Comics Journal. After going out of print, it was reprinted in 2021 by Black Josei Press. Smith also published comics on CollegeHumor.

Jamila Rowser approached Smith to illustrate Wash Day, a comic about a hair care ritual for Black women, published in 2018 after a successful Kickstarter campaign. It won a 2019 DiNKy Award for Best Floppy Comic. She also illustrated the follow-up graphic novel Wash Day Diaries, for which she and writer Jamila Rowser received the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Graphic Novel/Comics.

Smith illustrated Nubia: Real One (2021), a DC comic written by L.L. McKinney.

Works

Illustration

Accolades

References

  1. ^ "Indie Comics Spotlight: With Wash Day, Nubia, and more, artist Robyn Smith is making Black Girl Magic real". SYFY. 2021-03-12. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  2. "WASH DAY DIARIES' Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith on Their Heartfelt Graphic Novel". Nerdist. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
  3. ^ "Alum and Graphic Novel Artist Robyn Smith's "Nubia" Featured in New York Times Article on "When Blackness Is a Superpower"". Hampshire College. 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  4. ^ McClain, Carrie (2021-08-05). "Navigating The World While Black: The Saddest Angriest Black Girl in Town". SOLRAD. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  5. "Wash Day - Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith's Comics "Tribute to the Beauty and Endurance of Black Women and Their Hair"". Broken Frontier. 2018-08-15. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  6. "Black TV Shows, Films, Comics, and Novels to Support in 2022". Nerdist. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  7. ^ St. Martin, Emily. "Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Winners Announced". MSN. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
  8. Studies, The Center for Cartoon (2022-01-01). "Robyn Smith '17 Emerging Talent Award from CXC". The Center for Cartoon Studies. Retrieved 2022-02-21.

External links

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