RESOURCES
Looking at Chris Robinson’s work now, it’s hard to believe the Houston-based illustrator ever had a fear of using color.
“When I was younger, like 10, and just beginning to focus on art, my mom — who is my inspiration — was always like, ‘I love your work, I just wish you would put it in color,’” said Robinson. “My fear of color lasted all the way until I got to college and was introduced to my Color Theory professor.”
Today, Chris Robinson is sharing his deeply personal and very colorful vision in a commissioned illustration project for the Adobe Stock Artist Development Fund, a $500,000 creative commission program from Adobe Stock. As an expression of Adobe’s commitment to inclusion, we’ve selected artists who identify with and expertly depict diverse communities within their work.
Click above to watch a video about the artist.
While studying at University of Houston, Robinson not only got exposure to the color theory that unlocked his potential as a graphic artist, but access to the tech tools that enable him to parlay his high-contrast black and white illustrations into eye-popping and unexpectedly balanced permutations.
“Using tech tools, I can quickly take my composition as an illustration form, copy it multiple times, and then say, okay, when I’m using warm colors, this is the feel that it gives me,” says Robinson of his experimental process. “When I’m using dark, cool colors, you know, it’ll change it. It becomes a completely different thing.”
Robinson’s evident enjoyment of contrast extends beyond the chromatic and into the thematic, as with a paired series of illustrations titled “The Beauty” and “The Reality.” Both series take Black Americans as their subjects, but the former series presents images of folks at ease in daily activities — hair braiding, watching basketball, or simply taking some time to look at the sky — while the latter presents Black Americans made notorious via their (sometimes involuntary) association with social justice movements — from Breonna Taylor, to Colin Kaepernick, to Malcom X. As the paired series seem to suggest, life in Black America is as fraught with love and joy as with violence and systemic injustice.
Graphic design and leaps of faith.
Robinson had a particularly unique vantage point on this layering of experience, while working full time as the in-house graphic designer for Fountain of Praise church — which, with 21,000 congregants, is the largest Black church in Texas — at the time that they hosted the funeral of George Floyd.
“[The funeral] brought a lot of different opportunities for me to bear witness to something that was an event on a worldwide stage, and to see how it was truly affecting people, physically, mentally, and emotionally,” said Robinson. “So that was pivotal to see, and if I was anywhere else, I don’t think I would have been as grounded or able to help my community.”
Following the same faith that helped him find his professional start at Fountain of Praise, Robinson recently made a further leap, pursuing his passion for hand-drawn illustrations that capture life for Black Americans with as much nuance and specificity as possible.
“I want to show what it is to be a Black person in America, in an illustrated way,” said Robinson. “Because one of the problems that I’ve seen on the stock image sites is that there is a lack of that, you know? A lot of the time I would download really cool illustrations, and I’d have to go in and use my color palette technique — add skin tones to them, accentuate the lips, broaden noses. And I was like, man, maybe it’s an opportunity for that to just be there already.”
Purpose and posse-bility.
Robinson’s commissioned project with Adobe Stock is called My Adobe Black: Family is Extended Past the DNA. It is, in many ways, rooted in his previous six years of work with a faith community, as well as his own personal connections.
“I have my DNA family, my blood family, that I love, that I’m close-knit with,” said Robinson. “And I have my group that have been my best friends since pre-K. I have my newer best friends from college, and people that have been my friends since then. And all of those people are a part of my family. For me, the people that are my front line and that I communicate with on the daily, we don’t have the same blood, we’re not in the same DNA. But I’m already a godfather, I’m Uncle Chris to a lot of my friend’s children. So I want to articulate that with this project. I want to show off the Black community — without it being cheesy, corny, or not authentic.”
In addition to his prodigious natural talent, his acquired tech skill set, and a positive mental attitude that radiates calm humility rather than self-centered grind, Robinson has already picked up a few crucial life lessons.
“My biggest thing that I try and live by is that while you’re in it, if you see everyone around you ascending, just cheer them on, whether they see it or not,” Robinson says. This sentiment punctures the zero-sum game mentality that sometimes grips professionals of all kinds — but especially creative class workers. “Because I felt like, if they’re making it, my time will eventually come.”
“You only have one life, you only have one opportunity,” he said. “Go forth and do the things that are going to be appeasing to you, and do them with a purpose. That’s just how I’ve been living lately.”
Explore more work by Chris Robinson on Adobe Stock.
Discover more Adobe Stock Artist Spotlights.
Marquee image: Adobe Stock / Chris Robinson (left); Adobe Stock / Chris Robinson (right)
