Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandy Walker
Hi Brandy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve been an self-taught artist my whole life, always drawing cartoons from my favorite shows, whether it was with pencil on paper or chalk on the sidewalk of my childhood home in Detroit, MI. One day in early 2019, while scrolling through Instagram, I saw a video of an artist drawing on an iPad. Instantly inspired, I wanted one too—but as a high school sophomore with no job, I couldn’t afford it. So, I did what any teen would do: I asked my mom. Her reply? Two emojis—a roll of toilet paper and a pencil—basically telling me to stick to what I had.
But I didn’t give up. After a snowstorm hit Detroit in February 2020, I asked my mom to post on a neighborhood app that I was shoveling snow for money. Two driveways later, I made $200, combined it with my savings, and finally bought my first iPad.
This was just a month before the pandemic, which gave me time to learn digital art, create, and build a following on Instagram. By my senior year at Renaissance High School, the yearbook director, Christina Bell-Bowers, asked me to design the cover. When it was finished, she shared it with Ramonda Hollenquest, our copyrighted, who was so impressed that she connected me with author Teberah Alexander, who needed an illustrator. I’d never illustrated a children’s book before, but I took a leap of faith. Teberah believed in me so much that she encouraged me to start my own business, and the rest was history.
Today, I’ve illustrated four children’s books, designed two high school yearbooks for Renaissance High School and Cass Technical High School, created clothing and tote bags featuring my art, participated in a fashion show as a designer, and completed over 35 freelance projects.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it hasn’t been a smooth road. Ever since I enrolled in Michigan State University (MSU) in Fall 2022, balancing my passion for art with working to pay for college, studying, being the Treasurer then Vice President of Collegiate Midnight Golf Program, and building a career in Human Resources has been challenging. During my freshman year of college, I had financial issues pertaining to my student bill that I didn’t realized until it was too late. At this time, I was also illustrating my first children’s book. If it wasn’t for the Midnight Golf Program and Mr. John Ambrose, Head of Admissions at MSU, I wouldn’t have been able to cover the expenses and I wouldn’t be graduating from MSU in Spring 2025 with a 3.5 gpa. On top of that, I’ve had to invest a lot of time building my network and gaining real-world experience for Human Resources through competitive internships. I’ve successfully qualified and completed internships with Wayne County Government, Rocket Mortgage, Amazon, and Peckham. The constant grind made my schedule overwhelming, and at one point, art started to feel more like a chore than something I loved. It left me questioning whether it was worth it and tempted me to give up altogether.
After leaving a toxic relationship in March 2024, I was finally able to fully embrace my passion and explore new opportunities as an entrepreneur at Michigan State University. I discovered the Launch program, which provides comprehensive support to student entrepreneurs as they build their businesses. Lori Fischer and Paul Jacques made this an amazing experience for me. This allowed me to host my first pop up shop at MSUBA’s Homecoming Tailgate, with the help of Kyle Millender as far as setting up, building orders, and promoting my table to attendees. I also joined the Student Made program, allowing me to sell my “False Hope” hoodies and tote bags on campus in the Sparty stores. Which I wouldn’t have been able to do if it wasn’t for Keyon Morris, another student-entrepreneur with a clothing brand called Counterfeit Smiles. He helped me create my first set of inventory and guided me on how to order DTF Transfers and press my own clothing. These two opportunities combined also led to me gaining experience of hosting two photoshoots to promote my products. Shout out to my friends, Heaven, Kayla, Anthony, Devin, India, Jaida, and Christina for trusting and supporting me. Also, Zari Dixon and Yubin Lee for being my photographers. Additionally, I became a designer for the NCrowd fashion show, a student-led organization on campus. Where I gained experience in designing and constructing 6 different outfits with purely artwork pertaining to the black community. I couldn’t of asked for better models from NCrowd, Devin, Tania, Nyah, Miles, Jasmine, and Adena truly made this learning experience smooth for me. Please see my look book down below, as I haven’t received pictures from the event yet. Last but not least, I’ve gained so much exposure in the last four months that I was noticed by a Voyage Magazine!
Overcoming that major roadblock opened the door to incredible connections and publicity, making my Fall 2024 semester one of significant growth and progress.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am the CEO and Artist of Walker’s Art Studios which is a one-stop shop for all artistic needs including but not limited to children’s book illustrations, business logos/flyers, and video editing. I specialize in children’s book illustrations and business logos since that’s where most of my experience lies. However, I’m open to any project and any form of skillset needed to fulfill a client’s dream. I, also, recently started to sell my personal artwork on tangible items.
I’m most proud of my “False Hope,” piece because it is one my deepest and meaningful pieces that I’ve created. It was created to align with my sister’s, Brenda Walker, short film “Naked,” which brings awareness to body image, colorism, competition, and codependency issues in the black community. I’ve now been able to leverage that drawing to sell tangible items like hoodies and tote bags. Building off of that theme, I created five more drawings, that align with the lesser talked about issues in the black community, for my models in the Fall 2024 Fashion Show.
My creativity and adaptiveness sets me apart from others since I push my clients to think outside the box so I can truly give them the best results. I also work with the client as their desires shift throughout the process without giving them any hardship. This helps them develop a passion for the piece as well since they had a role in the creation of it.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success doesn’t have a single definition, but broadly, I’d say it means becoming a better version of yourself than you were yesterday while making progress toward your goals. That said, growth isn’t always linear—there will be days, weeks, or even months where you may feel like you’re not making progress. However, that doesn’t mean you’re not growing mentally, physically, or emotionally.
Pricing:
- Freelance Projects: $30/hr
- False Hope Hoodies: $45
- False Hope Tote Bags: $30
- Children’s Book Illustrations: $90+ per page
Contact Info:
- Website: https://walkerartstudios.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/walkersartstudios/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/walkersartstudios?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=5b6a52e6-c22f-4d50-896a-eac6e7fd9527
