Today we’d like to introduce you to Terrell Villiers.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am 24 years old, and I’m a self-taught Cartoon Illustrator. I started creating art as early as 5five years old. I distinctly remember one of my first attempts at drawing was a tracing of a cartoon of Mariah Carey from inside of her Heartbreaker Single CD booklet. That song came out in 1999, so about 20 years ago. I remember tracing that same cartoon over, and over, and over again until I began to draw it on my own without reference. Being so young, I didn’t realize I had “a gift” until showing my parents, uncles, aunts, and friends of my parents my very amateur work and seeing their elated reactions to these drawings. From that point on, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I began drawing every second of my life. No matter where I was if there was even a scrap of paper, and a dull pencil around, I, sure enough, would use a butter knife and sharpen that pencil and draw until there was nothing left to work with. Drawing was like my superpower, it was the only thing that put me apart from other kids, and it was the only thing that made me feel full.
Growing up, I never really fit in with boys my age. I listened to artists like Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans and Mariah Carey, was very expressive and feminine from a very young age, I never played or watched sports, and never once had the desire to play video games, I only ever wanted to draw. So, because of that, I often isolated myself inside my room, creating many female cartoon characters and depicting a world where ONLY women ruled the world. This transcended throughout my childhood and my teenage years when I became more drawn to female-companionship than male-companionship. Those women I befriended throughout my life, became my muses to create. Their stories, struggles, humor, bodies, and beauty are what gave me the motivation to be who I am today and to create a catalog of work inspired only by women.
Has it been a smooth road?
At the age of 12, I moved from Pembroke Pines, Florida to Lakeland, Florida. That transition in my life changed me in more ways than I could have imagined. For those who haven’t lived in any other part of Florida aside from South Florida, you will be very surprised to find out how backward the remainder of the state really is… most parts of Florida are still extremely segregated through systematic oppression and conventional passive racism. I’ve come to find that the mental construct of black people in the south is extremely homophobic, closed off and deep-rooted in negative, exclusive southern traditions. Throughout my early teens, I was often called an “Oreo”, labeled a “faggot”, “The Black Hipster”, told I wasn’t black enough, and very often asked why “I spoke and acted so white” by mostly black people. These negative projections people put on me pushed me to stray away from the POC community in Lakeland and to find a sense of community in what felt like the only place I was accepted, with white allies. Through my late adolescent hood, I struggled with substance abuse, was diagnosed with clinical depression, being kicked out of both of my parents’ houses before I turned 18 and was forced to figure out the ways of life on my own.
Through those years, I stopped creating art and developed a love for partying, photography, and social media. I then created an exterior persona by the name of Frostgawd and began focusing on creating more of an online presence for myself to help boost my self-confidence. After years of constant partying, drinking, drug-use and isolation being the only black person in an ocean of white allies, I began to feel a void within myself. This self-realization came around the time of the heavily publicized Police Brutalities, the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement leading into the 2017 Presidential Election. I felt angry, confused, upset, lost, and very empty inside. So, for the first time in years, I took it back to the drawing board and began working on my first character in years, Ramona. Ramona is a Transgender black woman who’s very bougie, materialistic, expressive through her clothing and loves to be seen, but also felt the need to keep her transition a secret. My first ever full-scale scenic piece depicted Ramona as the center of attention, in a room full of Trump supporters.
I’m not entirely sure but, I believe that was this piece that got the attention of (none other than) The Akia Dorsainvil who became one of the first people to commission me to create work including only black/brown people for black/brown people. Our first series of collaborations was for his ‘Shenanigans’ parties he would throw every month in West Palm Beach. Up until that point of my art career, I only created character designs, I hadn’t yet created scenery or a story with my work. I didn’t realize it initially but, Akia began pushing me to create more full-scenic pieces that would intentionally and specifically depict brown and black bodies living freely in different club settings. I always say that those concepts Akia envisioned me to create became the blueprint for what my art is today, Unapologetically Queer and Black. Since then, Akia and I have started working on a comic about Miami’s climate and gentrification problem. I’ve also been collaborating with Fempower on the artwork for a monthly diasporic party named ‘Masisi’. Last summer, I started working on a semi-autobiographical comic that I do plan on releasing the first volume soon. There are a few more exciting collaborations I have under wraps right now that I will be debuting to the world very soon… stay tuned!
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I describe my work as (un)apologetically Black and Queer. I often pull inspiration for my cartoon-work from different creative, alternative, stylish, queer, black friends, social-media influencers, artists and creatives. The core inspiration for my art has to come from my childhood. Being a cartoon illustrator, cartoons meant the world to me growing up, more specifically, black cartoons. Shows like Little Bill, Proud Family, Static Shock (just to name a few…) really set the blueprint for artists like me to showcase their heritage through their work.”
The impact I want my art to create is really just creating more of a space for people like me. In today’s cartoon television community, I feel like there’s a huge lack of representation for the queer alternative black kids on TV, and I want to change that. I specialize in Digital illustration and am in the process of learning how to animate my work. I think what sets me apart from different illustrators is my ability to make my cartoons look so lively. I try to make my cartoons look like they’re having so much fun because that’s the representation black kids need to see! Also, my attention to detail. Those are usually what I get complimented the most about my work. I’m most proud of my growth as a creative, I feel like for so many years my work didn’t really have much of a purpose. Now, I feel like my art’s purpose shows itself in the work because it’s unfamiliar and necessary.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I feel like ‘luckiness’ is very subjective. I feel like anything positive or negative can happen and someone can blame it on luck. I, on the other hand, will definitely say I’ve been extremely blessed to be given the space to create freely, I’ve been blessed with a platform that allows me to share my work and have people I look up to artistically, commend my work. I feel privileged and blessed to have been raised in a safe home environment, with parents who kept me safe and off the streets. and lastly, I feel blessed to be a black man in America whos still standing tall and living life on this earth. Many black men fear their lives will be taken from them on a daily basis. Whether by police or by other brothers and sisters in their own community. I’ve been privileged enough to not have experienced first hand, any form of police brutality in my life.
So, I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m lucky, just blessed.
Contact Info:
- Website: terrellvilliers-creations.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @frostgawd / @ertgawd
Image Credit:
The photo taken of me is credited to: Seba – @seba.jpeg / @_thisisseba
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