Ashanti Fortson
@ashantifortson.com
5.8K followers 290 following 560 posts
Cartoonist, illustrator, embroiderer, color designer. They/them. 🇲🇽 ENG/ESP OK NO AI. Get outta here https://ashantifortson.com/
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ashantifortson.com
Hi! I'm Ashanti Fortson, a queer Afrolatine multidisciplinary artist working as a graphic novelist & illustrator. I also embroider and needle-felt. I'm interested in color, texture, evocation, and emotion.

Available for freelance!
Check out my shop! 💜

🎨 ashantifortson.com
🛍️ seatoad.bigcartel.com
Illustration of an albatross pressing its weight down on a curled-up person, its huge wings closing in on them. The person has long dark hair that curls around them, around the albatross' feet, and tangles around the albatross' body. The person is surrounded by corals, seashells, and forget-me-not flowers. Comic page from my short horror comic, The Hue of Heaven. Cassandra, a disabled Black teenager housed in the Cardinal's supposedly-altruistic home for sick and disabled youth, anxiously wonders where her friend Antonio has been taken after the surgery that would cure him. She encounters the Cardinal on a walk and asks him if Antonio is walking. The page is tense and chilly, emphasizing the distrust Cassandra has for the Cardinal. Illustration in limited color showing various vignettes of people engaging in fun summer activities, like going to a concert, but they are all unmasked. A figure in the center is isolated in a dark void, ignored by the other figures. The central figure is the only one masking Photo of three needle felted little mushroom creatures in a line. The first has a square green cap and a surprised face. The second has a golden round cap and a smiling face. The third has a pink gilled cap and a blushing face. What you don't see in the photo is that all three have big booty cheeks.
ashantifortson.com
Almost done with pencils… almost…!
Image of a sketch in light blue and black. A girl in a large coat twirls with her arms outstretched, sparkles around her.
ashantifortson.com
Have fun at SPX, folks! Also vote for BALLAD FOR BLACK CASSANDRA in the ingatzes please
Reposted by Ashanti Fortson
anuanew.bsky.social
I LOVE FLATTING COMICS!! if u need or know of someone who needs their pages flatted, hmu........i am flexible w/ rates : o )

here is my resume, a love letter (intro) to flatting via google slides

full version of this presentation over at tinyurl.com/Vronflat !!
Reposted by Ashanti Fortson
ashantifortson.com
I crocheted a cute tote for myself this summer! Adapted from a pattern in Crochet Crush, by Molla Mills, with acrylic chain handles added. My new favorite bag! ☀️
Photo of Ashanti holding up a crocheted tote bag with acrylic chain handles and a white-and-yellow geometric colorwork design. The pattern is by Molla Mills, adapted slightly by Ashanti for this bag. Photo of Ashanti wearing the same crocheted bag over their shoulder. Overhead photo of the same crocheted tote bag lying flat on a table. Detail photo of the stitching and the acrylic chain handles. One handle is yellow and the other is white, to match the colors of the bag.
ashantifortson.com
it shall be done 😤 I can’t wait to catch up, it’s been TOO many years lmao

(also!!! btw. all of your pages look gorgeous, really can’t wait to read your book)
ashantifortson.com
Sam, I can’t wait to talk to you about this stuff at Madi’s bday party because I have the feeling we have had a very similar experience haha
ashantifortson.com
I crocheted a cute tote for myself this summer! Adapted from a pattern in Crochet Crush, by Molla Mills, with acrylic chain handles added. My new favorite bag! ☀️
Photo of Ashanti holding up a crocheted tote bag with acrylic chain handles and a white-and-yellow geometric colorwork design. The pattern is by Molla Mills, adapted slightly by Ashanti for this bag. Photo of Ashanti wearing the same crocheted bag over their shoulder. Overhead photo of the same crocheted tote bag lying flat on a table. Detail photo of the stitching and the acrylic chain handles. One handle is yellow and the other is white, to match the colors of the bag.
ashantifortson.com
miss cheese has this happen to her constantly
Reposted by Ashanti Fortson
valkwise.bsky.social
reading black flame had me shaking and crying only a quarter of the way in. i was being given something i couldn’t even begin to articulate my need for until it was in front of me. i can’t recommend it enough.
erikapriceart.bsky.social
Given the people who run this place are transphobic crypto fascists who kick trans women. Let’s promote Gretchen’s work on here for her. She has a new book out. It looks really cool, you should grab a copy and help her out, and also you’ll get to read a cool book bookshop.org/p/books/blac...
Black Flame
Check out Black Flame - <p><b>An instant <i>USA Today</i> bestseller!</b><br><br><b>One woman's deadly obsession with a haunted archival film precipitates her undoing in </b><b><i>Black Flame</i></b><...
bookshop.org
Reposted by Ashanti Fortson
prisonculture.bsky.social
It's simple. They see themselves in him. They do not see themselves in his targets.
Reposted by Ashanti Fortson
riteshwriter.bsky.social
Being informed that DC has cancelled Gretchen Felker-Martin's work to appease the whiners of the world.

Should be a reminder for folks as to what Corporate IP comics actually are, because ppl forget and act like these enterprises are progressive to justify their consumption.
ashantifortson.com
Yep, it was crocheted! But no, not too difficult. I used loose raffia strands, rather than raffia tape/ribbon, so that was a bit unwieldy— I might try out raffia ribbon next time. I didn’t use a pattern for this, but you could easily pick any crochet basket pattern and make it in raffia if you like!
ashantifortson.com
Breaking news: local bug Ashanti enjoying Silksong greatly
ashantifortson.com
Aw thank you Fanfi, I really appreciate that ;o; 💖
ashantifortson.com
Finished my mom's birthday basket, complete with a mother-of-pearl button to secure the hinged lid. Love how it came out and so does she 🥰
Photo of a handmade basket with a hinged lid and button loop. The basket is crocheted from undyed raffia and a soft gray linen cord, around a raffia core. The button on the front is flower-shaped and made of mother-of-pearl.
Reposted by Ashanti Fortson
minniesmum.bsky.social
Ok folks I am raising $US500 (AU$750) for our beloved Maha and her family, so they have some money when they ultimately get displaced. So far we have $US$34/500 ($AU50/750). My aim is to meet this target by Tuesday 9 September. Can you help?
Saving lives on the frontline in Palestine - help Maha
My name is Louisa and I'm raising money for my dear friend Maha and her family in Gaza. Here is her story:
chuffed.org
Reposted by Ashanti Fortson
odera.bsky.social
Studio flash sale! Lots of sketches and small paintings collecting dust and looking for a new home.

This one is an acrylic plein air painting on watercolor paper of Queenie Park
$50-$100 sliding scale. Reply or message me if you are interested ⭐️
acrylic painting of queenie park as golden light peaks through the sky
the painting is surrounded by taped off and gestural yellow ochre brush marks
ashantifortson.com
Just relaunched my newsletter! Here's the first installment of Letters from a Gnome. You, too, can subscribe and receive letters, in your email inbox, from a gnome (me)

letters-from-a-gnome.beehiiv.com/p/letters-fr...
Letters from a Gnome #1
Relaunching my newsletter!
letters-from-a-gnome.beehiiv.com