Project Title: Editorial Portraits of Nicki Minaj
Year: 2015
Client: Class project
Materials Used: Ink, Photoshop
This was a project for an illustration class. We were asked to illustrate two portraits of a famous person. One of the portraits had to depict the person in a positive way, and the other in a negative way.
I chose rapper Nicki Minaj as the subject of my portraits. For the negative portrait, I wanted to critique the meaningless rivalries that pervade the sphere of female rappers, which Minaj actively participates in. To show this I depicted her sitting on a throne decorated with the skulls of the women she’s pitted herself against.
For the positive portrait, I wanted to highlight the clever wordplay Minaj features in her lyrics. I did this by dressing her up as a modern-day incarnation of William Shakespeare, another writer who often employed wit and raunchy humor in his work.
This project was a challenge for me because I don’t usually draw such realistic depictions of people. I still loved it though, because it gave me a chance to delve into the psyche of a complicated and fascinating woman. Also, I got to watch music videos for research, which was pretty great.
