Art direction for the new visual identity for @millvalleyfilmfest
Me + midjourney + designer + @davehomerdraws = this poster design
Slide 2: Left, midjourney. Right, final illustration.
Slide 3: a few of the couple hundred experiments
Feels like the whole creative industry is talking about the impact of AI. All I know is ai lets me get these ideas in my head off faster and easier. Just another tool.
Midjourney prompt:
/imagine: Detailed colorful illustration of female head, top of head lifting up to reveal a new world inside, surreal
Chicago to Cannes. My pitch for the @maisonfoundation Cohort.
Where I’ve been
Chicago raised me. I’ve spent 10+ years in advertising, marketing, and PR — cutting my teeth as an art director at BSSP, 160over90, and Zeno Group. I was part of the first One School cohort, which shaped how I think about craft, ideas and Black creative authorship. Also participated in the Bridge to Basel cohort and Ann Lowe Fashion Fellowship by The Fashion For All Foundation. Outside the agency, I make things. Mini documentaries. Short films. Two solo painting shows, a handful of group exhibitions, and curatorial work in between.
Where I am now
I’m an Associate Creative Director (Art) at Golin Chicago, leading AI creative projects and research — figuring out how craft, taste, and culture, evolve as new tools are introduced to the workflows.
Where I want to be in the next 3–5 years
Directing films and commercials. Exhibiting my art worldwide. Running AI creative direction for brands and small businesses through Studio Thurman — building the infrastructure I want to see in the industry.
A piece of my own creative work
The Mill Valley Film Festival poster is one of my favorites. It was collaboration between me, Midjourney, and a human illustrator — a small proof that AI expands what is possible for creatives.
A piece of creative work I admire
Most of my inspiration lives outside the ad industry, so I have to go with Sinners. Ryan Coogler is one of my favorite creatives working right now. The craft in every layer of that film floored me. The surreal music montage in particular is the most innovative scene I’ve witnessed on screen — past, present, and ancestral future collapsing into one frame. That’s the bar.
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Ai images created with Nano Banana 2, video created with Seedance 2 in @higgsfield.ai
Jacket design by @all.thingsgood
Congregating Creativity
A short documentary film
Film screening — followed by discussion with artists & filmmakers — 3pm
Mini art exhibition — with West African food from Dozzy’s Grill — 3-5pm
Congregating Creativity profiles four multidisciplinary Chicago artists — Dozzy Ibekwe, Max Li, Ameera Pernebsati Lys, and Messejah Washington — currently in residence at Woodlawn’s First Presbyterian Church, as well as the program that is transforming the church and its community by providing free studio space to South Side artists.
The film was collectively created in fall 2024 by eight students in HPAC and Pentimenti Productions’ course Making The Short Documentary.
Flyer design: @_thurman_
In These Times by Cedric Alexander Thurman packed up today. I asked a couple of questions! Thank you, everyone, for your support, and good luck to @_thurman_ with his future endeavors 😎! #chicagofineart #chicagogallery #fineartgallery #chicagofineartgallery #investinart #invest #supportlocal #loveart
Dune made me wonder what a Blacker version would look and feel like. So I did some world building in #midjourney
“Descendants of The Black Panther Party in clothing inspired by Afrofuturism and Funkadelic”
ISSUE No.01 @veriteprint | CEDRIC A. THURMAN
We begin October 2023 in conversation with Cedric A. Thurman: painter, filmmaker, and curator. With his upcoming show in New York, Thurman gives intimate details on his process both on and off the canvas, and reflects on his budding success in the fine art world.
Photography by @chandlerbcrump
Published now on véritéprint.com
