Tionna Watson
BLACKNESS
“I identify as a versatile artist because of how well I adapt to all forms of creativity. I refuse to limit myself to one outlet. I’ve always enjoyed trying new things and it’s fulfilling to know that if I wanted to…I could.”
~ Sabrina Dessalines
Tionna Nyasia Watson is a black designer and visual artist based in the New Jersey/New York area, and one thing that she stresses about her work is that it does not and never will be minimalized into a single category or style of art because she explores all angles of artistry, design, and creativity; then she takes what she has discovered and tries to create something different and new.
As a visual artist, Watson introduces the viewer to a few different themes in her work, such as displaying the beautiful qualities of women of color through hair, diverse skin, sisterhood, motherhood, empowerment, and the undenied beauty women share. Other themes behind her art are the intersections between blackness and womanhood, and the merging of nature, wildlife, and muliebrity. Her love for art was heavily influenced by her family, who inspired her to use detail as a weapon of affirmation for women and artistic identity, not just as an element of creativity. Watson applies her extensive knowledge of texture and detail to her digital and traditional illustrations, and her lack of referential use results in unique renderings of women of color. Watson’s preferred mediums are the drawing application Procreate, oil paint, acrylic, and gouache. For her abstract illustrations, the artist uses acrylic paint to display the beauty of equality through shades of skin. In these works, she creates a unique perspective of what society has marked as unrepresentative of our civilization, slicing into racial equality, and piecing it back together, displaying the diversity, but selfsameness of our skin.
When it comes to designing, Watson implicates both typography and imagery whether there is more or less of the other. As a graphic designer, she strives for simplicity while trying to still be innovative and different. But simplicity is not the way to go all the time. Sometimes it isn’t enough which is why Watson never sticks to a certain style or way of designing. When it must, her creative abilities can pack a big punch. She feels that creativity has no limit so why should she? The nonexistence of an organized structure, but still visual uniformity is displayed in her works. Her current interests of design are packaging, editorial, and WEB design, in which she uses Adobe Creative Cloud software, Procreate, and WIX to generate work.
After graduating, Watson hopes to be the designer who creates design work strictly with illustrations she created for a company/client because it combines her design and artistry skills. This is portrayed in one of her recent works, BLACKNESS, an art and art tutorial book that Watson wrote, designed, and illustrated. This book combines her skills in editorial design and illustration to display a work that portrays the themes explores in her illustrations alone.