Naomi Samarasekera is a Sri Lankan-American illustrator and comic artist based in Cleveland, Ohio. She is involved with local Cleveland businesses and art institutions, having done art for American Greetings and Wade Oval, and worked with the Morgan Papermaking Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Art. She is also a member of the marketing team of the Illustration Gallery Show Committee and the Senior Show Committee at the Cleveland Institute of Art.
Naomi’s complex illustrations are inspired by adventures from all corners of the world. From cultural stories of her family back in Sri Lanka, to the legends of the Monkey King, to the tales of medieval monsters and mermaids. She is influenced by European comics and Japanese manga. Her current favorites include Tintin, Witch Hat Atelier, and A Bride’s Story. She also dabbles in her own original narratives, as she deconstructs the isekai genre in her comic Beast Brigade and crafts whimsical and heart-felt stories in her picture book Sewing Sarees. She thinks that anything can look better with a sword!
Naomi believes that even when crafting a fictional or fantastical world there should be a diverse range of characters with a range of cultural backgrounds and life experiences. She wants to create character designs and concept art that feel real and alive and is willing to do the research to achieve this. She wants her whimsical worlds to become places where all types of people can escape into.
Her style has been inspired by Chinese ink paintings and illuminated manuscripts. She works traditionally and digitally, using calligraphy pen and brushwork to create intricately detailed landscapes and action packed scenes for her comics. She finishes her pages by layering traditionally painted watercolor textures and colorful digital flats. For her children’s book work she plays with a variety of mediums, using watercolor, gouache, colored pencils, even mixed media if she sees the opportunity to experiment! Her pieces are controlled chaos, as she wishes to create pieces that keep the viewer searching for the little secrets and story moments tucked within. Her color palettes bounce all over the spectrum, but she has a fondness for vibrant colors. And she always aims to keep her characters in motion and break the borders of her pieces, making it feel like her characters are leaping out of the page.
Naomi aspires to work on projects that allow her to continue to experiment and grow. She hopes to bring diversity by publishing her own graphic novels and picture books with magical worlds, plucky heroines, and very large beasts. She would also love to dip her toes into concept art and game development for stories with similar themes. Her process can be seen @nelum_flower on Instagram and her portfolio can be found at https://nsamarasekera0fd7.myportfolio.com/. She is open to work and can be contacted at naomisamarasekera@gmail.com.
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