A.M. Darke

s/he

A.M. Darke is an artist playing with multiple media forms including games, software, performance, writing, and social practice. She’s a professor of Performance, Play, and Design, and Digital Arts and New Media at UC Santa Cruz. A.M. started the Open Source Afro Hair Library as an intervention in digital media, a celebration of the Black artists and Black communities that continue to shape culture around the world. A.M.'s work integrates his identities as a neurodivergent, genderchaotic, Blackity-Black American with her lifelong fascination with games, hair, beauty, fashion, pop culture, and urgent social issues.

Email: am@afrohairlibrary.org

Portfolio: prettydarke.cool Features: Killscreen Profile | The Beauty of...Playing Games

Estevan Carlos Benson

he/him

Estevan Carlos Benson is a first-generation artist, creative technologist, and composer based in Los Angeles, California. His work addresses culture and creative exploration through custom built tools. He has toured as a VJ, has developed many websites, teaches design in Southern California, and co-founded a virtual music instrument company, Gesture Audio. Estevan has been with the Afro Hair Library since 2020, spearheading the entire Web Development and Design process, currently on our 3rd iteration. In addition to his meticulous design skills, and the ability to translate them into a functional site, Estevan is himself an artist and educator who brings these invaluable skills to the Afro Hair Library community. A partner from inception, Estevan has continued to support the library with insight and generosity.

Find Estevan on Instagram

Jet Appling

he/him

Jet Appling has been known to refer to himself as a Black of all trades and a master of fun. Others have referred to him as the man with fitty-leven jobs. The reality is that Jet spent years without a diagnosis for what turned out to be ADHD. Without medication or understanding why he never thought like anyone else in the room, he found creative ways to navigate the world around him and to consume knowledge through experiences (read: jobs). One truth remained constant through all of his work endeavors, he always wanted to help people. After grassroots fundraising efforts for AIDS Walk (Atlanta, San Diego) and the Pink Party for breast cancer research, Jet decided to officially lean into fundraising work when he joined the Matthew Hill Foundation as their Director of Fundraising Initiatives in 2018. After helping them raise over $1 million during their No-Shave November campaign, he then moved on to the development department at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he currently works as their Development Operations Manager. Jet joined the Afro Hair Library at a critical moment, helping to bring in several grants and partnerships, support our team of contributing artists with project management, and grow the core operations team. Jet's experience building safe and inclusive spaces for creative Black and Brown folks to thrive has enabled us to fulfill a core mission of The Library, ensuring we not only create 3D assets, but a cherished and enriching community for historically underserved artists.

Annabel Maokhamphiou

she/her

Annabel is a 3D Artist currently residing in California. She became fascinated with gaming and the digital world at a young age as it allowed her to express herself creatively. She is Co-Art Director and Environment artist for a small indie game called Magic Trick. When she’s not behind a computer screen you can find her out in nature tending to her carnivorous plants. Annabel started with the Afro Hair Library in 2019 as an undergraduate researcher in the Art + Design: Games and Playable Media program at UC Santa Cruz. Working with Professor A.M. Darke through residencies at The Other Lab and The Open Source Afro Hair Library, Annabel has in-depth knowledge of the intricacies of rendering afro-textured hair in contemporary 3D graphics platforms. Currently, Annabel leads quality control and management of 3D assets and writes technical documentation to support the Afro Hair Library. Featured Work: Art Station | Magic Trick Socials: Twitter | Instagram

H.D. Harris

they/them

H. D. Harris is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist who grew up in Detroit, Michigan. Inspired by midwestern life and an insatiable drive to create, H. D. crafts intricate worlds full of color, soul, and life-affirming energy through writing, character design, comics, 3D art, and illustration. H. D. has been honing their skills for over a decade and is known for their speed, adaptability, and generous mentorship of other artists. H. D. has been with the Afro Hair Library since the very beginning. What started as a simple commission for a proof of concept, blossomed into an incredible partnership. H. D.’s artistry has been the foundation upon which The Library has grown into a global initiative working with artists from around the world. Portfolio: hdharris.com Socials: Instagram | Twitter

Malika Mutombo

she/her

Malika is a 25 year old character designer and illustrator from Belgium. She’s worked for independent games for a few years, most recently on The Wagadu Chronicle where she focused on character art. Inspired by editorial fashion and beauty, Malika’s work often combines extravagant beauty with the fantastically monstrous, creating images that are as striking as they are ominous. Malika has been an Afro Hair Library fellow since 2020. Her sophisticated sense of design, meticulous attention to detail, and technical expertise in creating game-ready assets has allowed us to develop the kind of complex Black hair styles that we’ve always dreamed of. Portfolio: Art Station Socials: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Adéṣayọ Adéoyé

he/him

Adé is a 22 year Yoruba artist living and working in London. Being self-taught in 3D, Adé recently earned his degree in Games Art and Design. Adé joined the Afro Hair Library in 2020, as one of our inaugural Fellows. We’ve love watching Adé’s work evolve through the years and we’re proud that he was a key contributor to a recent (and still super secret) global partnership campaign for social impact. Adé’s a fierce advocate for portraying Black children with joy and the playfully mischievous spirit every kid should get to embrace. Website: Clumpentity.carrd.co

Chrissy Powell

she/her/they/them

Chrissy is a 2D/3D artist located in Atlanta, GA. Their passion is highlighting softness within the black community through her love of all things cute. Specialties: vector illustration, character design, hard surface modeling for 3D printing and stylized 3D characters/props. They are truly honored to be featured alongside so many talented black artists. Although they are relatively new to 3D, they have been an artist their whole life and 3D has reignited their creativity! There’s so much that’s yet to be explored in black hair and they hope you think that’s as exciting as they do! Portfolio: Art Station Socials: Instagram

Keneisha Perry

she/her

Keneisha is an artist who grew up around the Bay Area mainly. In order to escape a difficult and  stressful home life she turned to art as a form of expression. She is driven by vivid colors and the  physical form and enjoys creating characters that evoke strong emotion. She enjoys sipping hot tea with her cat Momo by her side, as well as reading fantasy novels. Portfolio: Art Station Socials: Instagram | Twitter

Jovan Wilson

she/her

Jovan is a 3d artist based in Ohio. She is a lover of video games, coffee, and animals. She likes to keep her work personal in some way or another and often draws from experiences or emotions when creating, a lot of times using her artwork as a reflection of her more abstract thoughts and feelings. Portfolio: Art Station Socials: Twitter

Elijah S. Richmond

he/him/bug

My name is Elijah Richmond, I’m a Game Design Professor and multi-faceted digital artist with a focus on characters. I graduated from Hostos Community College with an Associates Degree in Digital Design and Animation and later from New York University with a Bachelors in Game Design and Development. Outside of teaching how to make games, I love using my skills to bring various character concepts to life in 3D and fully implemented into real-time engines. Portfolio: Art Station | Itch.io Socials: Twitch

Jaylyn Quinn

she/they

Jaylyn, is a multidisciplinary artist who weaves meticulous research into her work. Drawing inspiration from the realms of futurism and imagining utopia, Jaylyn's creations illuminate the profound connection between the digital and physical worlds. Her primary mediums are film and 3D illustration. Website: jaylynquinn.com/ Socials: Instagram

Saj Dunn

they/them

My name is Sajhmori or Saj for short. I am a 28 year old character artist from the US. I am a self taught 3D character artist and I mostly make fan art. Beforehand I was working as an Aerospace Engineer. My original focus was on creating characters for film and VFX but I now am tailoring my work to the video game industry. Portfolio: Art Station Website: sajington.carrd.co/ Socials: Instagram | Twitter 

Diandra Rose

she/her

Through her art she shares her journey as a self-taught 3D artist, drawing inspiration from the iconic aesthetics of 90s and 00s video vixens to the tastemakers of today to reshape the narrative of Black women in art. Hours of meticulous research and archival work form the foundation of my creative process. Combining her background in photography and digital art with a passion for fashion and beauty, she crafts her own fantasy that celebrates the many facets of Black femininity beyond the ever-present bald, thin, ambiguous woman. Website: diandrarose.myportfolio.com/ Socials: Instagram | Twitter