Blog

1. Dandy in The Bronx

   September 5, 2018
   This is my fourth time illustrating Diego Leon aka Dandy in The Bronx. He’s multifaceted, inspiring and the life of the party. I have enjoyed watching him grow more successful since I met him at The Tie Bar’s Pop Up shop in Nolita. I went with a painterly style to…

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2. Childish Gambino

   August 24, 2018
   My friend, Chris Ortiz put me onto a rapper by the name of Childish Gambino aka Donald Glover. Glover acted, performed standup, created music and also wrote for 30 Rock among other things. I thought his music was cool but lacked polish. This was before his first album, “Camp.” As…

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3. Rihanna

   August 22, 2018
   It feels good to be getting back to portrait art. It’s one of the cornerstones of the paintings I create. With that in mind I created this series inspired by Rihanna’s cover features on Vogue and New York Magazine. I experimented with different brush and blending settings to challenge myself…

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4. Ironheart

   August 6, 2018
   One morning my girlfriend, Rahisha wore a red top with black pants to go to work. She sported a large Afro and it sparked an idea. I would illustrate her as Marvel’s Riri Williams aka Ironheart. I was fascinated by the character when she debuted in Iron Man before taking…

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5. Manhattan After Dark

   August 2, 2018
   A Manhattan is a classic cocktail that was invented by Dr. Iain Marshall in the early 1870’s at The Manhattan Club in New York City. During a recent visit to the legendary Anchor Spa in New Haven I became inspired. What emerged was this painting of the cocktail. I used…

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6. Rebrand

   July 31, 2018
   iPad Art by Ra is simply “Raheem Nelson”. With a new focus on creating art I overhauled my website. With ease of use in mind I decided to switch to a gallery style format where my viewers can simply slide from left to right to view my art. The catagories…

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7. WTNH 8 Interview

   July 10, 2018
   On Sunday I was featured on WTNH 8 on Good Morning CT. The topic was about my collaboration with Amanda Bakes on the cookbook, Sweetie Bake Your Day. You can view the interview here and the piece of art I illustrated of Amanda’s Lemon Pound Cake can be purchased here…

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8. Paris: The 5th Arrondissment

   June 7, 2018
   I arrived in Paris on the Eurostar Train around 9 or 10. I stayed in a section of town called The Latin Quarter. Having my first impression of Paris be at night was very interesting to me. Everything had a quiet, slightly humid feel to it since I arrived in…

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9. Paris: Place Monge

   June 5, 2018
   While I was visiting Paris, France last year I stayed in The Latin Quarter. Specifically a neighborhood called Rue Monge. It was easily accessible via the Metro. The stop was called Place Monge and was on the same line as the stop for The Louvre which made my first morning…

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10. Kratos: Spartan Rage Variant

    May 17, 2018
    I love that it’s so easy to create copies and alternate versions of my iPad Art. One of my students gave me the idea to revisit my Kratos painting and render him in his powered up “God mode” aka Spartan Rage. First I used the Light pen in Procreate to…

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