Hi, my name is ... what ? ... who?

Allow me to re-introduce myself… My name is Solomon Shalom Suleiman Selom.

96% of mankind mispronounce my name (the emphasis is on the ‘Se’ not on the ‘lom’) or give me a new name altogether! Hopefully the struggle to say my name right makes me more memorable than if my name was David (that was almost my name). There’s nothing wrong with David, but Selom means ‘God loves me’ and I’ve really felt the love.

I am currently a Character Designer and Illustrator and I’ve had some unexpected successes in the last two years with the likes of Disney, Google, Mercury Filmworks and John Boyega all seeking out my services. I’m very grateful to be in that position, but you may be surprised to know that those last two years also represent the entire time I’ve been a full-time artist (est’d May 2021). You may also be surprised to hear that I hadn’t properly considered drawing for a living until 10 years ago, while I was studying to become an accountant! I know, I know, very different haha. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always enjoyed drawing, but somehow I just didn’t connect the dots that there were careers beyond exhibiting in galleries. And I was convinced that only paid off after death so what was I going to live on (see what I did there)? I won’t go into the full journey and backstory on this occasion as it needs its own post, but for now let’s just say that it hasn’t been easy by any stretch of the imagination and I fully believe this path has been laid out for me by God and He gives me the strength to persevere.

The reason I’m starting a blog again is because I am frequently asked for advice and I also spend a lot of time studying my craft and trying to improve so why not share my learning in a way that will benefit more people? I’m not an expert by any means (in fact, I’m pretty much unknown) but I have something to offer even at this early stage of my career. I’ve also now got a mentor in Character Designer extraordinaire David Perez so I’m sure I’ll have even more to share in future. Followers of this blog should expect content pertaining to Character Design and Illustration including my thoughts on specific topics, techniques, studies of other people’s work for the purposes of learning, praise for some of my favourite artists and more.

I’m excited about the upcoming content and I hope you’ll come along for the ride. This image contains a selection of my work to give you an idea of the kind of thing I’ve been drawing so far.

Oh yeah, and if you’re not sure what I look like here is a recent headshot.

God bless,
Selom