I go by many names.
I'm Shaun, a 26 year-old illustrator and aspiring mangaka based outside of Greensboro, North Carolina. I'm also known as "Sheezy," which is the name the main character in my first comic. I've been drawing most of my life and reached new heights in 2023. I released the first chapter of Endeviant, my first-ever web comic, started my own business sharing my art in various ways, joined an indie manga studio called SlingShot, and amassed a following of almost 14 thousand people across instagram and TikTok. Check me out!
Where it all started
In my youth, I was your typical young black kid who just loved to draw. A few family members and a crowd of other passionate artistic kids on DeviantArt saw the talent in me, but that's about how far it went. Around 12 years old I remember seeing a postcard amongst the pile of bills and other mail brought in from the mailbox. It was an ad of a local college art program looking to attract new students. I could go to college for this? I thought.
It was the first time I was able to imagine the single-most beloved part of myself as anything more than an after school obsession. When I asked my parents about it, they saw it as junk mail. So I did too. What a pipe dream.
It never crossed my mind again.
As I got older and older, I drew less...and less. I abandoned the thousands of followers on DeviantArt who loved my work in efforts to be an adult. I spent the first few years of my newfound adulthood in healthcare, bouncing between medical centers. Did I have a passion for healthcare? Not at all. Was I good at communicating with patients, dealing with paperwork, and setting appointments? I sure as hell was.
Despite how good I was with people, I knew healthcare wasn't my forever. It couldn't be. By 2022, I was starting to feel lost. The job was harder to tolerate, the cost of living was harder to manage, and my personal relationships were crumbling. I was crumbling. Art was an occasional fling and I was on the fast track to burnout.
By 2023, I met a girl. An artist girl. She made a living as a graphic designer and flipped her lid when she saw my work. Why the heck aren't you an illustrator? She asked. I shrugged. Without hesitation, she laid out a myriad of possibilities that my talents could touch. They sounded amazing, but I was already starting to let that part of me go. That was until she showed me procreate on her iPad. Seeing my curiousity, she let me borrow it.
The minute I passed my first stroke across the iPad to draw her as practice, I knew I had to keep going. So I did.
Connect with me
I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities. Let's connect.