Creating Color with Cody!

By: Dimitri Burnworth

Hello Wanderers!

I've been working on a comic strip in collaboration with the incredibly creative Cody! This guy crafted an amazing collective of cute characters based on the three original neighborhoods on the WanderRoots map: Downtown, OTR, and Walnut Hills. I jumped in to help add color to the community mascots and bring their whole world to life.

We kept one major setting in mind while working together: the fabulous Five Points Alley! This community spot became a massive source of inspiration for us. From the artistry to the greenery, we felt motivated to create something as vibrant as Five Points Alley. Cody and I spent time in the alley taking reference photos and soaking in the environment. During this process, we posed in place of where the characters would be later in our comic strip segments. Posing ourselves helped give the comic strip illustrations some real, lived-in energy.

The most interesting part of the process was the fact that Cody happens to be colorblind. For that reason, our collaborative sessions involved a lot of intentional discussion breaking down what colors made us feel. By understanding the feelings behind our color choices, we were able to determine which tones and shades were the best fit for Cody’s characters. Combining creativity and community has such a way of bringing folks together!

Working on this project reminded me why I love collaborating with others who push you to look at art

(and the world) from a totally different perspective. Let us know what you guys think of our comic strip, and stay tuned for more awesome artistic adventures!