anthony royal bennett

happy new moon! the fool card represents new beginnings, so i had to share this during the beginning of this moon cycle (yes that’s a baby photo of me wearing a beret 🥺). the cat’s outta the bag! i’m excited to announce that i’m currently working on designing a tarot deck! the working title is the “Black Angels Tarot” although that’s subject to change. it’s very much still in the beginning stages but i’m mostly done with the major arcana (the first 22 cards)! the intention of this deck is to help people of African descent process what’s happening in their personal lives as well as in society, learn some of our lesser-known histories, connect with ancestors on a deeper level (or whoever you wish), and to carve out space for BIPOC diviners and spiritualists within the spiritual community. representation is so necessary. for far too long the spiritual community has been whitewashed. little do people know that the illustrator of the popular Rider-Waite tarot deck was a woman of color by the name of Pamela Colman Smith a.k.a. “Pixie”. she was only paid a measly $250 for this work and wasn’t paid royalties. she was almost completely erased until recently! the characters in the illustrations originally had darker skin tones but gradually became lighter and lighter as the years went on. her artistic process was so complex. she had sound-color synesthesia so when she would paint, she would hear music. she was also a suffragist! people tried to diminish her but she was the epitome of “unbothered”. she just made art and focused on her happiness. a true icon. i highly suggest reading more about her! i dedicate this deck to Pixie, my godmother, my ancestors, my future descendants, and most importantly to everybody Black. 🖤 the images were gathered from the Library of Congress, the Louisiana Digital Library, and other sources. the photographs after the card designs are as follows: Two of Cups, King of Wands, Four of Pentacles, and the Queen of Swords. i’m excited to show y’all more as i make progress! i’ve got other projects in the works as well that i shall share soon! 👼🏽👼🏾👼🏿🔮🧿🌙✨

of course i had to post my new profile pic! what can i say, a b*tch love a good gradient, m’kay?! when i got a haircut every facet of my life has changed for the better. very grateful for this surge of fresh, new energy. i’ll give y’all a lil taste of what i’ve been cookin’ up on the new moon next wednesday!🤴🏽🦜🍋🍊🍯

typeface used: Format_1452 by @fadebiaye of @velvetyne_type_foundry ✨ heeeelllloooo everyone! it’s been a long minute since i posted on here. fortunately, it’s been for a very good reason. apart from working on my own personal healing i’ve taken on a few large projects that i can’t wait to share! i’m keeping everything under wraps til the time feels right. that being said, i have a special request. as many of y’all know (and if you don’t, yikes!) the design field is lacking in terms of diversity. and when you narrow it down to Black typography designers, their work is very hard to come by. i know it’s out there, though! the projects i’m working on are centered around Black healing, so naturally it would make sense to use typography designed by us. i’d feel so much better putting my coins in the pockets of other Black designers and uplift their work. please allow this post to become a bulletin board of account tags, links, and other info regarding this topic. i look forward to sharing all the thangs i been workin’ on with y’all! 🖤🪴☀️ [image text reads: calling all black type designers! if you’re a Black type designer, i’d love to connect with you! if you know of any BIPOC typography designers, drop them in the comments! any resources pertaining to this topic would be greatly appreciated. thanks!]

a project from back in december in collaboration with @kctenants ! i was given the awesome opportunity to design a tote bag for their holiday merch drop! it seems right to post this now during Black History Month because of the message behind it. we BIPOC need to be lovin’ on each other and building each other up. let’s show up for our Black women and femmes, lgbtqia+ folks, and youth. let’s make our ancestors proud. allies, invest in our futures. one way you can do that is by paying us directly. another way is to support orgs like KC Tenants that are fighting for accessible and affordable housing! you can buy this tote and other items designed by local Black and Brown artists at kctenants.org/merch. happy Black History Month y’all! 🖤👼🏾✨

collage work for @royalintuitiontarot . i incorporated imagery that relates to the theme of each of these major arcana cards. this is preliminary to designing an actual deck which is a goal i have for this year! the last is something i made just for kicks and to spice up the page a lil bit. making these collages is a highly intuitive and meditative process, kinda like tarot itself! 🧚🏾‍♂️🌞

happy holidays y’all! i’m back finally after a tumultuous period of bad luck. i was without my adobe for months but i have it again! back to regularly scheduled programming. here’s a lil bit of black & brown holiday joy for ya 🎁 [i’ve been going through changes, so now it’s time to change things up ‘round here! i’m no longer posting in series of threes. it’s not conducive to producing consistently and puts too much pressure on me to post things. woohoo for personal growth!]

me if i still had black hair! DM or comment to purchase prints! 🖤✨

made a lil bantu buddy 🥺 if only i could part my hair this well 🤦🏽‍♂️ also selling prints of this!

i feel like i didn’t really get to celebrate pride as much as i wanted to with everything that’s going on. but who says pride ends after june?! selling prints of these lil black cuties to raise money for BLM and organizations that support black trans folx! DM me or leave a comment if you’re interested in purchasing a print! 🖤🚩⚠️🌀

to the people who don’t have curly and/or coily BLACK hair, don’t tell us to tame our hair or use “tame” as a compliment. it’s not some wild beast. the goal is optimal health, not to “tame”!

it makes me so sad when my friends with type 4 hair say they want my curl pattern or something different from what they have. a lot of that is probably due to the lack of representation. which is crazy to me! they’re so crazy beautiful, it’s not fair. when i think of iconic hair moments of history, i think angela davis, chaka khan, grace jones, the jacksons, diana ross, i could go on. going through dramatic hair growth and transitions and discovering i have 3b/3c hair, i can’t help but miss the volume i used to have 😭. i have hair envy too. and honestly none of us should. we should all love what grows out of our damn scalps! and i’m tired of seeing other biracial type 3-haired people at the center of attention in the natural hair community. TIRED. we should see all patterns represented. i have what’s considered “that good hair” in the community. i’ve heard otherwise, believe me. back before i knew how to care for my hair and even after, i was called “nappy”, “bird nest”, “kitchen”, “velcro head”, “wild”, “unkempt”, “microphone”, “cheetos”, “chia pet”, and so many other things. loving what you’re given is a journey in itself but it’s a journey worth undertaking for everyone. i couldn’t even imagine what people with type 4 hair go through and it makes me sad that people have to experience that. ALL HAIR IS GOOD HAIR.

DOES MY HAIR INCONVENIENCE YOU? so i went on a deep internet dive and came across some really dope typefaces and ended up doing some fun lil type studies. i’ve been wanting to get weird with my work. i’m bringing the topic of hair back up because i guess i have to. this series is a response to insensitive comments/complaints about my hair made by white family members and peers and being denied employment because of it. i’m very glad to see states adopting anti-hair discrimination laws! i’m also now considering making my own natural hair products and selling them! a great opportunity to do some branding/packaging design. more details on that later ;).