Samurai Johnson | SUNY Oswego

Samurai Johnson
Baldwinsville, NY
[email protected]

BFA Studio Art, Illustration

Biography

Samurai Johnson is a BFA Illustration major who has dabbled in both traditional and digital mediums. While she has always been passionate about making art, being serious about creating and pushing herself to be better did not begin until she was 16 during her senior year of high school. Between the faculty of Onondaga Community College and SUNY Oswego, Samurai has learned so much and has experimented with different mediums and ways of creating. Going forward, she plans to continue the trend of being experimental with trying new ways to create.

Artist Statement

As much as my biggest excitement is graduation, I am also excited to have pieces to come from my school experience that even surprised me that I was able to create them. My biggest motivator has always been to get a good grade, which my work from school is a byproduct of. However, my love to create and generate drawings is what began my interest in pursuing my degree. It will continue to be my motivator to create, explore, and hopefully work within the illustration field. The pieces that are displayed show the amount of growth I have had in my ability to draw and think as an artist within the last four years. This includes digital, which I had no experience with until college. My tradition has grown from using pencil and charcoal to a variety of mediums and experimenting with combinations. Just from looking at what I was able to do under the instruction of school makes me very excited to be able to see how I will be able to grow and explore under my own advice.

An eyeball in the center of the page is using tendon-like arms coming out of a cup. The floor is wooden planks, and surrounding the eyeball is dark fog with lightning streaks running to the edge of the page. There are strange chunk pages along the floor as well.

Eyeball Monster
Graphite
14in x 17in
09/2020
ART 312- Traditional Illustration
An eyeball in the center of the page is using tendon-like arms coming out of a cup. The floor is wooden planks, and surrounding the eyeball is dark fog with lightning streaks running to the edge of the page. There are strange chunk pages along the floor as well.

Bird Study 2
Adobe Photoshop
8.5in x 11in
09/2020
ART 413
Image of a female bald eagle perched on branch among a purple and white background.

Image of a male bald eagle flying showing the large wing span among a blue and white background.

Bird Study 1
Adobe Photoshop
8.5in x 11in
09/2020
ART 413
Image of a male bald eagle flying showing the large wing span among a blue and white background.

This is a book cover showing a set of blue eyes between a set of blue rectangles on the front cover with the title in yellow above the eyes. The name of the author is underneath the blue eyes, also in yellow. Then the spine is black with a title in white with the author's name in yellow. Then the back shows a pair of hazel eyes between two blue rectangles. Above the eyes in the blue rectangles is yellow type with comments of the book, and underneath the eyes is the synopsis of the book, also in yellow.

My Sunshine Cover
Adobe Photoshop, Arteza Colored Pencils and Alcohol Markers on Bristol Paper
13in x 9in
12/2020
ART 499
This is a book cover showing a set of blue eyes between a set of blue rectangles on the front cover with the title in yellow above the eyes. The name of the author is underneath the blue eyes, also in yellow. Then the spine is black with a title in white with the author's name in yellow. Then the back shows a pair of hazel eyes between two blue rectangles. Above the eyes in the blue rectangles is yellow type with comments of the book, and underneath the eyes is the synopsis of the book, also in yellow.

A book cover showing a brown hair woman sitting in the bottom right on some grass on the front cover. In the background, a foal is playing beneath a tree. There’s a tree line behind that with a sunset above, with the stars in the dark blue at the top, the north star emphasized. The title is white with the author’s name right below it in a smaller font. Then the spine is black, the title in white and the author’s name in a pale blue. The back cover mirrors the front cover’s landscape with the exception of th

Starbright Cover
Adobe Photoshop, Arteza Colored Pencils and Alcohol Markers on Bristol Paper
13in x 9in
12/2020
ART 499
A book cover showing a brown hair woman sitting in the bottom right on some grass on the front cover. In the background, a foal is playing beneath a tree. There’s a tree line behind that with a sunset above, with the stars in the dark blue at the top, the north star emphasized. The title is white with the author’s name right below it in a smaller font. Then the spine is black, the title in white and the author’s name in a pale blue. The back cover mirrors the front cover’s landscape with the exception of the main tree. Above the horizon, there are three pale blue shooting stars, with a comment on the dark blue of the sky. Then in the orange-purple of the sky is more comments on the book in white. The synopsis of the book is in white on the grass.

A perched, male, ruby throated humming bird on a branch. Purple and green covers the head until the red/purple color of the neck. The purple is hinted to throughout the body of the bird. The underside of the tail feathers are a muddy grey.

Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird
Ink and Colored Pencil
8.5in x 11in
02/06/2021
ART 412
A perched, male, ruby throated humming bird on a branch. Purple and green covers the head until the red/purple color of the neck. The purple is hinted to throughout the body of the bird. The underside of the tail feathers are a muddy grey.

A female ruby throated hummingbird in black and white perched on a branch.

Title: Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird
Ink
8.5in x 11in
02/06/2021
ART 412
A female ruby throated hummingbird in black and white perched on a branch.

In the foreground, a blue car holds a six year old black girl in a pink dress with the rest of the view into the car blacked out heading towards a brick building. To the left of the car, there is a red haired white woman in a green dress in front of an older white male in a blue button up shirt. To the right of the car, there is a black woman in a red sweater and a black skirt in front of a black man with short hair and a beard in blue overalls and an off-white tee shirt. In the middle ground, you have four

Ruby Bridges
Ink and Adobe Photoshop
20in x 16in
03/06/21
ART 412
In the foreground, a blue car holds a six year old black girl in a pink dress with the rest of the view into the car blacked out heading towards a brick building. To the left of the car, there is a red haired white woman in a green dress in front of an older white male in a blue button up shirt. To the right of the car, there is a black woman in a red sweater and a black skirt in front of a black man with short hair and a beard in blue overalls and an off-white tee shirt. In the middle ground, you have four men in suits with a yellow patch reading U.S. Marshalls standing as a loose wall in the grass. Two of the marshalls are on either side of the solid black pavement. Behind the marshalls, there are four signs with “Jigaboos like you belong in a zoo”, I’ll hang you dead”, “No colored allowed” and “I’ll poison you”. These signs act as a fence of an angry silhouetted crowd that surround either side of the steps of the school building and the single tree that is on either side of the stairs.

Picture done in shades of green and blue of Michelle Obama with the reasons of her depression in her hair.

Obama and Covid
Adobe Fresco and Adobe Photoshop
16in x 20in
9/18/2020
ART 413
Picture done in shades of green and blue of Michelle Obama with the reasons of her depression in her hair.

A vampire sits at a dimly lit table with blood wine in her glass and black roses to the right. In the table, “Looks Can Be Deceiving” is written.

Dreams and Nightmares
Adobe Photoshop
18in x 24in
1/16/21
ART 499
A vampire sits at a dimly lit table with blood wine in her glass and black roses to the right. In the table, “Looks Can Be Deceiving” is written.

Two-sided pamphlet giving an overview of what trade jobs are available and what they have to offer. There are varying images showing products of these trade jobs as well as well people doing these jobs.

Trade Project General Pamphlet
Adobe Indesign and Adobe Photoshop
8.5in x 11in
4/5/21
ART 423
Two-sided pamphlet giving an overview of what trade jobs are available and what they have to offer. There are varying images showing products of these trade jobs as well as well people doing these jobs.

Two-sided pamphlet giving information on what an electrician is and what the job could provide for the reader. The images within the pamphlet show electricians working and what some of the electrical situations one could potentially come across.

Trade Project Electrician Pamphlet
Adobe Indesign and Adobe Photoshop
8.5in x 11in
4/5/21
ART 423
Two-sided pamphlet giving information on what an electrician is and what the job could provide for the reader. The images within the pamphlet show electricians working and what some of the electrical situations one could potentially come across.