Hello beautiful people. The link for the chat tomorrow is now in my bio. It’s at 3PM CST or 8PM for those in the UK. Hopefully we’ll get to discuss the many failures between 2014 and 2021 which led to growth. Swipe to see a comparison of my work from 2014 to now. I’m still learning and trying to improve, of course. P.S. The characters are not linked in any way, they are completely different characters. However, I did borrow from the 2014 character to create the 2021 character (mostly the bird-like nose and the squarish head) so I thought those similarities might make a good comparison. Join the chat tomorrow if you can. Peace!

‘The Christmas Carrolls’ published today. It’s written by @meltaylorbessent and features 40 illustrations by me. This was the first time I’d done so many illustrations in one book so it was definitely a learning curve. In hindsight I did things in a very silly way and caused myself more stress than necessary, but you live and learn. Anyway, Mel has written such a charming story - you should read it. It can be bought from any major bookshop in the UK and online. The gorgeous cover was designed by @designham #bookpublicationday #illustration #kidlit #kidlitart

A friend asked how I study existing characters in Animation. I thought others might benefit from the answer too. The goal is to try and learn what works and why and then translate it into your own designs. Swipe to see a few of the things I study. There are so many other things that could be studied here eg clothing, motifs, straights vs curves, negative space, line quality/weight, but I tend to prioritise the areas I need to improve on most. If I had chosen an action pose I could have also studied weight, expression squash and stretch… the list goes on. For ‘extra credit’ I could have tried to design a new character that matches the show style just for fun (a friend or an uncle or something). Can you tell I love studying? There are loads of drawings like this that are kindly shared by artists working in Production/ the studios themselves so get Googling if this is the type of thing you want to do. Hopefully this helps someone. Original drawing by Joe Sparrow (@torpordust ) as part of a model sheet for Disney’s Amphibia. Copyright belongs to Disney #study #tips #characterdesign #amphibia #disney

Next Saturday I’m being interviewed on a show called ‘The Colour of Motion’. I’ll be talking to the show’s host, Don Terrell, about my journey, influences, ambitions and more. Feel free to join us and listen in on the chat. It’s live on YouTube at 3PM CST on the 16th October, which will be 8PM in the UK. More details will be shared closer to the time. Peace!

Londoners! Come and join me, @onichum @willkay_oddking @hey.chante @dorcascreates in person at the Cartoon Museum on 26th October from 2.30-3.30PM. We will be signing copies of our book ‘Happy Here’ and taking your questions. This first image is one of my illustrations from the book. There are so many great illustrations and stories in this book so why not come along and grab a copy and chat to us. I’d be happy to tell you about this strange looking octopus 🙃 You can book tickets via the link in my bio, which I’ll leave there for a bit. #happyhere #booksigning #illustrator #blackstories

Happy belated Independence Day to all my Nigerian friends. I wanted to draw something to celebrate you guys - swipe to see the original sketch. Oh, and keep claiming that your jollof rice is better, it keeps me entertained. #nigerianindependence #naija #africa #green #characterdesign #portrait #painting

First decent doodles I’ve done in a while. I’ve really been struggling with drawing this month. If you’d spoken to me yesterday I would have told you I was seriously considering giving it up (partly because I wondered if God wanted me to). At times it feels so tough and unrewarding. If you ever feel like that, take a complete break from drawing (other than contracted work you have to do) even if just for a day and see what happens. I’m my happiest when I’m doodling #doodle #sketch #pencil

I love this woman so much. Marriage is not always easy, but I definitely picked the right person to do life with. Swipe to see a poem I wrote about the journey of marriage called ‘Seven years on’. I hope it helps somebody with their own relationship(s), whether it’s marriage other relationships. Hang in there if you know deep down it’s worth it. #teamsunu #sevenyearson #anniversary #marriage #acrosticpoem

Dinner and a show #jazz #food #chilled #sketch #drawing #observation

Mariachi men. Experimental colouring #doodle #sketch #mariachi #band #mehico #hispanic #markersketch #charcater

Happy birthday to my boxing, wrestling and football-loving maternal Grandma who is 93 today. She’s still involved in local politics back in Ghana, still cooks, bakes and galavants like a teenager. This photo was taken on her 90th birthday just before her big party. I’m fortunate to still have both my grandmas around. They’re so inspirational.

Started my drawing day with some much needed life drawing sketches which included these quick hand studies. It’s been a while. I will hardly ever draw hands with this much detail, but it’s a good exercise. These were 3 minute sketches #sketch #hands #handstudy #figuredrawing #lifedrawing #observation