Behind the Mask: A Comic About Loïs Mailou Jones

Tiffany is illustrated against a bright red background with golden circles designed behind her. The circles overlap each other and include golden specs and a green center. Tiffany is shown from the chest up; she is wearing a white coat with a small turtleneck. She is gazing to the right, but we see her whole face. Her hair is dark brown and cut very short, with a short strand grazed over her forehead. Above Tiffany is white text that reads: “Drawing on History”. Underneath, there is a subtitle that reads “Tiffany Chung.”

Sonya is pictured in a three-quarter front view, gazing toward the text to her right that reads: “If You Stitch With Me, I’ll Tell You a Story, The Work of Sonya Clark.” Her skin tone is a warm brown, complemented by her red headwrap and dangling earrings. Sonya’s eyes are behind her iconic large round glasses. Draped around her body is a fabric reminiscent of the Confederate Truce Flag: it is a warm cream color with red stitched lines across the horizontal. The background is etched with a light cerulean blue, leaving a colored-pencil-like texture. A red thread flows up and behind Sonya’s head, weaving in and out of the background. Towards the bottom of the image, the illustrator’s name is written in dark red: “Abigail Rajunov.” 

A lavender- blue border surrounds the cover. Each corner contains a miniature portrait of Sarah Goodridge, one as a child and one as an adult. Inside the decorative frame is an illustration of Sarah’s elderly hands holding a palm-sized portrait of her younger self. The painting depicts her with a brown, curly updo, brown eyes, a gentle smile, and a pillowy, green coat. There are two text boxes; the text at the top reads “Sarah Goodridge,” while the text at the bottom says “A life in Miniatures.”  
 

Artist Nellie Mae Rowe stands at the doorway of her house. She’s a Black woman with curly dark brown hair, medium dark skin, and a genuine smile. She is wearing a long, green dress with short sleeves, a silver necklace, and flat black shoes. Above Nellie is white text against a red background with the title of the comic, “Playhouse.”  
Nellie stands at her doorstep and gestures with her right hand to invite the viewer into her artistic house. Just below her feet is more text, reading: “The Story of Nellie Mae Rowe.” Several items decorate her home and its lawn; dangling glass bottles and ornaments are strung together to frame the building. The front of her white house has small, lush green bushes adorned with ornaments. Dolls and mannequin heads also decorate the yard. On the left, one rests on the ground. It is brown with a tuft of yellow hair at the top and a smile on its face. Another mannequin stands tall, held up by a metal pole. It is brown with curly black hair and several colorful ornaments on its cone-shaped body. Sitting against the base of the rod is a doll that the artist made. The doll has brown skin, brown curly hair, and a beautiful pink and yellow dress. Scattered around the lawn are colorful glass bottles and potted plants.  

A woman stands facing us in the center of the page, wearing a brown suit on top of a blue shirt with a maroon scarf. She has light skin, brown shoulder-length hair, and is looking at us with a full-blown smile. In her left hand, she holds three paintbrushes and right hand is tucked in the pocket of her brown trousers. She stands with one leg in front of the other, as if she is walking toward us. The background displays two separate landscapes behind her. On her left side are rising mountains and canyons, and on her right side are colors in abstract forms including purple, green, orange and some blue on top, both of which remind us of Kay Walkingstick’s artworks. The image is framed in black background decorated by two strings of diamond-shaped cosmic design with colors changing gradually from black to orange on the left and right sides of the cover. The top of the page reads: “Kay Walkingstick,” while the bottom reads: “Closer To The Cosmos.” 
 

Judy Baca stands in the foreground with her arms crossed confidently and a wide smile. She has a warm glow on her medium brown skin, as well as dark brown hair that flows just behind her shoulders. She is wearing a dusty blue, short-sleeved shirt with paint-stained white overalls. Behind her is a long wall with children and adults painting a colorful mural outdoors; while three of the people stand while they work, one young person in a white tank top and shorts sits on the scaffolding that has been constructed as part of the mural creation process. Behind the wall are lush green trees and a blue sky. Above Judy, the title of the comic reads: “Judy Baca” with a subtitle, “The Big Picture.” 
 

Ester Hernandez stands proudly in the center, holding a large basket of green grapes that spill to the bottom of the page. Ester has light brown skin and is wearing a black shirt with a red floral print, shiny silver earrings, and a turquoise necklace. She smiles slightly and seems content, with her eyes looking sideways under her black square glasses. Her hair is a stark black color with a few strands of gray that frame her forehead. The background is a parody of the Sun-Maid raisin box, a reference to her screen prints Sun Raid and Sun Mad. Behind Ester are protest signs, which read: Chicana Power, Don’t Buy California Grapes, LGBT Rights, We Will Not Be Intimidated, and a symbol of a fist.  

Text at the top of the page reads: “Ester Hernandez A Better World.”  

A shoulder-up black-and-white sculpture of a woman who faces us sideways. She has an assertive look on her face: dark skin, long eyelashes, full lips, high arched eyebrows and wears a high bun on her head. The black background has an uneven texture, as if smeared with clay. The top of the page reads “Augusta Savage” and “My monument will be in their work.” This comic is illustrated in black and white.  

The cover image for this comic is illustrated with rough, choppy pencil markings and strokes in a style of pencil sketches. The cover is predominantly in greyscale. At the center of the page is a framed portrait of an individual wearing a long black coat, a black top hat, and a downcast expression. In the bottom right corner, a young girl with striking short, straight, bright orange hair looks up at the portrait with curiosity. Text reads, “Do you think I’m Hiding?” across the top of the cover, and “Story of Romaine Brooks” is at the bottom of the cover.

A young woman, Maria Oakey Dewing, stands in a colorful garden. The sky behind her is bright blue, and she wears a long blue dress with full length sleeves, buttons down the front, and a bustle in the back. Her straw hat has a blue ribbon. She smiles slightly and looks out, making eye contact with the reader. Around her, a riot of blooms, including yellow Black-eyed Susans, pink and yellow lupines, blue hydrangeas, peach tulips, and pink roses. In her right hand, she holds a paintbrush up to a canvas on an easel.

Long Text: A vividly colored cover with a patchwork of purple, yellow, pink, tan, and blue geometric and floral designs. Artist Mickalene Thomas, a black woman wearing glasses with her hair in micro locs--thin individual pieces--pulled away from her face, is seated in a wheeled desk chair. The artist has her left arm resting on her forehead as she leans backward in a relaxed position. The background is full of many different patchwork patterns in a variety of colors with various floral patterns and textures represented. Text reads, “Mickalene Thomas: Portrait”  

Comic book cover shows a colorful illustration of an old woman from the torso up. The elderly woman’s hair is short and white in a pixie cut and she is wearing glasses and a red scarf around her neck. She is wearing an orange sweater and a smile on her face. Her cheeks are rosy. On each side of her head are three woven rectangles in progress, alternating in orange and a sunshine yellow with threads of fabric crisscrossing each other. Across her chest, there is a singular strand of fabric that loops into a heart over the place where her human heart is. It glows in bright white on the otherwise orange sweater. On the left side of this strand, there are two red paper origami cranes, one below the strand and one above the strand. At the bottom of the page is the title. Text reads, “Weaver’s Weaver: Kay Sekimachi.”

An illustration of a girl with curly brown hair, brown eyes, brown skin, and rosy cheeks standing in 3/4 profile facing out of the page. She is wearing a blue jacket with fringe along the shoulders, a cream-colored shirt with a pointed collar, a pink tie around her neck, a small red sculptor’s cap--a close-fitting brimless hat--on her head, and a cream-colored skirt that flows out of the frame of the image. In her hand she holds a mallet, her other hand cradles the head of the hammer. She stares straight out of the page with an expression of fierce determination on her face. Behind her, is a purple background in a washed, watercolor effect. Text reads, “Edmonia Lewis: Breaking the Marble Ceiling.”

Comic book cover is a colorful illustration of a young girl, woman, and old woman standing together under the words, “Corita Kent: A Life in Color.” The young girl is entirely depicted in yellow. Her hair is in a bob, and a barrette holds it away from her face, and her dress is edged in lace at the collar and cuffs of the long sleeves. She is holding paintbrushes in her left hand. Next to her, a woman wearing a nun’s habit is depicted in blue in purple. The older woman stands next to her, and is all in red. Her hair is pulled away from her face. They are all smiling and looking into the distance. Around the three figures, yellow, orange, and pink flowers are illustrated. They represent the three stages of Corita Kent’s life. 

Comic book cover depicts an illustration of a woman, Carmen Herrera, who is drawn only in thick black outlines against white background. She is wearing glasses, a blue dress with black flowers, and a green sweater against a yellow background. She sits with a square canvas in her lap. The canvas is half covered in white and half in green, the same color as her sweater. She is peeling back orange painter’s tape on her artwork that is running diagonally from corner to corner to show a straight line down the center and to reveal that the white half of the canvas is red underneath. At the top of the page is the artist’s name, Carmen Herrera. On the artwork in her lap is the comic title. Text reads, “In Awe of the Straight Line.”

 A gray-and-white illustration depicts a bustling cityscape. We stand on a street filled with people all going in different directions. Businessmen in light fedora hats and dark trench coats and other people with their heads and eyes down, hurrying forward. Above them are tall buildings with dark windows in stark rows. The facades of the buildings recede away from us down the street. Facing us is a young woman with short dark hair with a heavy sweep of bangs above one eyebrow. She has big eyes and a bright smile and wears a long scarf, loose flowing jacket, and skirt. She stands behind a large camera on a tripod. Her hands cradle the bottom and side of the lens of the camera, which is pointed straight at us as if she is about to take our photo. Above her at the top of the page, text reads, “Berenice Abbott: Picturing a City."

A woman with short, chin-length hair stands in profile. She is drawn with short, sketchy strokes as if drawn with a graphite pencil. Only her head and shoulders are within the frame. Behind her is a maze of thick red lines. Text reads, “Anni Albers: Threads of History.” 

At the top of the page, a woman with brown hair in a bun and scoop necked blue dress is standing with her back to us, looking at a painting with pink and red dashes of paint in bands of bright color. Other colorful paintings sit propped on the floor beside her. On the lower part of the page, in front of the woman and facing us, is a young girl, about eight, in a white, long sleeve dress with a ruffle collar. The girl is running out of the frame, her face is towards us, looking back over her shoulder. She has curly chin length hair, brown eyes and brown skin. She has a bright, happy face, and is smiling, holding a paintbrush aloft with a swirl of bright red paint coming off the brush, framing both figures and the words "The Story of Alma Thomas: beneath the Holly Tree."