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" WELCOME TO MY PERSONAL SPACE WHERE I CREATE TO CELEBRATE TRU INCLUSIVITY . I AM A SELF TAUGHT ILLUSTRATOR THAT LOVES TO CREATE CHARACTERS THAT LOOK LIKE ME. "
- KELSEY TOOLE
THE BEGINNING
Growing up, I struggled with getting into reading because I could never find myself in the characters I read about. Growing up in an all white school was a very rough time for me. It was there I realized that I was in fact physically different from my peers and something about it made it not ok. It took years for me to brush aside the micro aggressions and negative thoughts I had about myself. Thankfully art saved me from what the world was telling me I was based off of how I looked…
In first grade I turned to art to blockout all the comments and negative thoughts that picked at me. In that space I set out a goal to create a cartoon that resembled me. Initially I started learning how to draw things I liked, looney tunes, Disney characters, and etc. just to get the basics down. Everyday I would come home, do my homework, and then sit on my bean bag to draw for hours.
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It wasn’t until 2nd grade that I start attempting to draw my characters. I became frustrated and feeling hopeless because the image I had in my head was not showing up on paper. It wasn’t until I spoke to my cousin and another artist that I realized that I needed to be patient with my progress. During that time I had very little resources to help guide my journey… until one day my grandmother brought home a comic book she picked up from the hair store.
THE BEGINNING
I remembered feeling myself tear up when I saw the images. It was exactly what I was looking for. A Beautiful black girl was on the cover of this comic book.. I had my grandmother read me the comic over and over again until she refused that summer. Unfortunately I did very little drawing and left the comic at her house, where it remained for several years. It was all but a memory when I got home. However, I instantly started drawing. The features that I had struggled drawing started to come out more and more like what was envisioned in my head.
THE BREAKTHROUGH
I eventually started drawing my own cartoon series called “Kelsey and Friend.” As the years went by my art changed. My characters became more of what I wanted. I made them with sass, love, and spice. From there on I continued to challenge myself in different art fields and make improvements.
THE GOAL
For as long as I can remember my goal has always been to not just create something that looked like me but also create something that others can relate. My next steps to this journey is to learn animation, improve color composition in my pieces and build a team for my ultimate goal of starting an animation series.