HBCU Student Showcase: Milan Smith
Theme: HBCUs and Sports
The theme of this piece is HBCUs and Sports. The inspiration behind it was “HBCU student by day, HBCU athlete by night.” I use ProCreate on my iPad accompanied with my apple pencil to create my artwork. My creative process was learning to not overthink the piece, as this was the third and final draft of the piece. It took about three days to complete. Once I stopped overthinking, played some good music, stayed true to my artistic style and let my hand just draw, I came up with a dope original piece.
Milan SmithYear/School: Sophomore/Howard University Hometown: Kansas City, Missouri Instagram: @milan.jac Link to portfolio: https://themilanjacob.myportfolio.com/artwork |
Bio:
I’m from Kansas City, Missouri. I’m in an organization called Howard Players but I mostly do a lot of freelance photoshoots and graphic design for students on campus.
I chose my HBCU because I wanted to go to an art school but I wanted to be around all Black people and I wanted that HBCU college experience. Howard is the perfect mix of an art school and regular university.
Seeing the diversity of Black people, different talents, different fashion senses, backgrounds and being around people and professors who truly care.
If I don’t have a job or any big creative projects lined up, I plan to go to USC for grad school furthering my education in film studies. The ultimate goal is to direct classic Black films, I also wouldn’t mind acting. My three biggest inspirations in the film industry are John Singleton, Spike Lee and Ryan Coogler.
On the HBCU Student Showcase:
As part of NBA All-Star 2021, seven students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) created artwork depicting their experiences as HBCU students. The students selected themes representing HBCU student athletes, dance lines, bands and school legacies as inspiration for their creations. They also drew a connection to the impact of COVID-19 on HBCUs through their work.
