Afua Richardson | |
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![]() Richardson at BookExpo America in 2018 | |
Born | April 25, 1980 New York City, NY |
Nationality | American |
Area(s) | Writer, Penciller, Inker, Colourist |
Pseudonym(s) | Docta Foo |
Notable works | Genius, World of Wakanda |
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Afua Richardson is an African-Native American artist. She did covers for five issues of Marvel's World of Wakanda and art for a short story backup in the first issue. [1] [2] Her comic, Genius, with writers Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman [3] won Top Cow's 2008 Pilot Season. [4] [5] [6] [7] She illustrated a Langston Hughes poem in 2014 for NPR's Black History Month, [8] and did variant covers for several comic book titles including All Star Batman for DC comics, [9] Attack on Titan for Kodansha, [10] [11] Mad Max for Vertigo, as well as covers/variant covers for X-Men '92, Totally Awesome Hulk, Shuri, and Captain America and the Mighty Avengers at Marvel Comics. She was one of a small group of African American women artists who were employed by the "big two" comic publishers at the time she entered the industry. [12]
Richardson was raised in New York City. [13] From a family of scientists, [14] she studied classical flute from age nine. [13] As a flautist, she performed with ensembles at Carnegie Hall and on Soul Train . [13] She also performed with Sheila E. and Parliament-Funkadelic. [14]
She was a backup singer, a beatboxer, a background dancer on MTV Jams and appeared in an off-Broadway show with Melvin Van Peebles. [13] [15] She is part of the musical collective Future Soul Society, and recorded with Alexa Edmonds Lima under the name 'Afua & Alexa'. [16] [17] [18]
Richardson is a self-trained artist. [13] She was a member of the now defunct Ormes Society, which promoted African-American women in the comics industry. [19] [20]
For the comic book series, Genius (2007), she worked with writers Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman to tell the story through the voice of a black woman, Destiny Ajaye. [21] Richardson's experience of being a minority in the United States influenced her work. [4] In Genius, she draws violent acts in a way that is both "matter-of-fact and highly stylized," according to ComicsAlliance. [22] She portrays Ajaye's thought processes and David Brothers called it "instantly understandable and worthy of poring over." [22]
In 2011, Richardson received the Nina Simone Award for Artistic Achievement as one of the few African-American women comic book artists to work for the leading publishers in the field. [23] [24] [17]