February 13, 2007

Roy Boney Jr., Cherokee artist

A Cherokee Sesame Street

On superheroes:While in college, Boney was drawing a lot of mainstream superheroes. That all changed when he got an internship to a New York fine arts printmaking studio. "It was pretty cool," he said. "I was impressed. I learned a lot of technical aspects in those five months at Universal Ltd. Art." He completed the apprenticeship in Bay Shore, NY on Long Island in 2002.

It was while there that he began to realize he could be doing Indian-themed work. He thought about his mainstream superheroes. "I thought, 'that's totally wrong'," Boney said.
On his own comic book:[He co-created] a six issue series of comic books with Canadian author Matthew Shepherd (www.shep.ca). The comic books are called "Dead Eyes Open" being published by Slave Labor Graphics in San Jose, California. Boney is the artist, and Shepherd is the scriptwriter.

The synopsis of the story is as follows. "Dead Eyes Open" is a zombie story with a twist (actually, the term "zombie" isn't used in the story). It follows the life of psychiatrist Dr. John Requin as he deals with Life after Death.
On his current projects:Currently, he works for the American Indian Resource Center, Inc. in Tahlequah, OK where he is an animation instructor, art director, and animator on Native American animated stories.

He worked on an interactive film for the American Indian Resource Center with Creek and Cherokee kids tso make 5-10 minute films on stories they got from their grandparents.
Comment:  To see Roy's artwork, visit his website.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm impressed! Reaching kids where they're at is the best and most effective way to engage them. You should write an article on this guy, Rob. Fits in perfectly with your expertise!

The Local Crank said...

This young man is an INCREDIBLE talent and I blatantly ripped off your post for my own. I am not ashamed to admit that his claymation short on the Removal had me choked up. Rarely have I seen the raw emotion of America's first ethnic cleansing portrayed in such a moving fashion. The white soldiers robotically repeating, "We don't want to hurt you," the little boy who didn't understand what was going on...I can't even describe it without feeling the pain again. I predict great things for Boney.