MONICA AHANONU

In stores October 2022, PRE-ORDER HERE

Black Icons in Herstory features colorfully illustrated portraits and inspiring biographies of 50 of the most admired women in the fields of music, film, literature, politics, human rights, and more.

This second book in our Icons series focuses exclusively on extraordinary Black women and celebrates their remarkable achievements. From Rosa Parks to Angela Davis from Nina Simone to Janet Jackson; from Michelle Obama to Amanda Gorman; this curated list of role models is significant and inspiring.

Each striking portrait illustrated by Monica Ahanonu is accompanied by an original, illuminating biography by Darian Symoné Harvin. Together the art and text featured in this book highlight each legendary woman’s contributions to our culture and her lasting influence on herstory.

Shop Full Collection Here

Monica Ahanonu x Ruggable…

Dare to be different. Featuring vibrant, colorful designs, these washable rugs by illustrator Monica Ahanonu are as unique as you and will make a statement in any space.

I worked with Beats by Dre to design a custom Beats Pill+

I had the honor of illustrating every spread in this incredible book of quotes, Bold Words from Black Women with Simon & Schuster

Now Available for Pre-Order, releasing January 18th, 2021

About The Book

Celebrate the power of Black womanhood in this first-of-its-kind collection of inspirational quotes from fifty activists, artists, and leaders, featuring bold, attention-grabbing illustrations—perfect for readers of Herstory and Little Leaders.

This incredible volume honors fifty modern women, presented with their own words, who have dared to raise their voices and persevere through hardship and injustice to become revolutionaries and dreamers, artists and creators.

Featuring women like musical powerhouse Beyoncé Knowles; tennis star Serena Williams; Meghan, Duchess of Sussex; and activist Angela Davis, this stylish book is perfect for any reader who is seeking grace, courage, strength, and self-love.

Teamed up with Old Navy for Juneteenth 2021 to create a "Project We" tee.

Worked with Target to design a gift card for the holidays. My card design shows a family in mid celebration, dancing and enjoy each others company! You can order the card for yourself online here.

I had the honor to create the Google Doodle for Audre Lorde’s 87th Birthday on February 18th, 2021. Learn more about the creation of the doodle here: Behind the Doodle: Audre Lorde's 87th Birthday

Monica Ahanonu x Peloton: Capsule Collection for Black History Month 2021

Honored to have illustrated this portrait of bell hooks for TIME Magazine's 100 Women of the Year project—a chance to spotlight influential women who have been so often overshadowed by history. ⠀

To recognize these women, TIME embarked on a historic project: selecting a woman or group to represent each year from 1920 to 2019, and then creating a TIME cover for them. Each cover is visually emblematic of the period its subject represents.

Was approached by the Red Table Talk team to create phone wallpapers and illustrations that participants of their Summer Healing Sessions could download weekly.

Truly honored to illustrate “A New Museum” by Kimberly Drew for this special issue of Vanity Fair, guest edited by Ta-Nehisi P. Coates 🤍

“Until changes are made, there is no volume of social media posts or public letters that could undo museums’ willing complicity in white supremacy.” - Kimberly Drew (@museummammy)

Had the incredible opportunity to illustrate my first book of portraits - Icons - with Chronicle Books.

NOW AVAILABLE TO ORDER

Icons features colorful portraits of 50 of the most admired women in the fields of music, politics, human rights, and film.

This diverse and inclusive collection features the world's most inspiring women, including Michelle Obama, Beyonce, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Yayoi Kusama and so many more.

From singers to writers, activists to artists, politicians to filmmakers, Icons is a celebration of the strength of women. Illustrated by Monica Ahanonu, each portrait is accompanied by a short biography about what makes each woman a force to be reckoned with.

• The ultimate gift for women to women: mom-to-daughter, daughter-to-mom, friend-to-friend

• Keep it out on the coffee table to read about the lives and accomplishments of each woman, or simply enjoy the enigmatic portraits.

Ahanonu's illustrated portraits are both easily recognizable and also an artistic take on each featured woman's likeness and identity.

• A smart and empowering collection of female role models

• A great gift for Mother's Day, birthdays, graduations, and Women's History Month

• Perfect for those who loved In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs by Grace Bonney and Bygone Badass Broads: 52 Forgotten Women Who Changed the World by Mackenzi Lee

Illustration and GIF created for Adidas Originals to celebrate their iconic Superstar sneakers. Project was in coordination with Twitter, where most of the promotion and illustrations were used.

I created this funky celebratory piece using #AdobeFresco's livestream feature. I'm already obsessed with the function & program as it allows me to create time-lapse videos of my process. @AdobeDrawing

The livestream tool will soon be available to all - in the meantime, enjoy! #ad #AdobeDrawing_Portraits

Live Drawing and showing my process on Behance with Adobe Live

Had the honor of creating the key art for GIVING VOICE coming to Netflix on December 11th! This documentary is so wonderful and heartwarming, I can’t wait for you all to see it.⠀

“To know who you are and what you should be doing you have to first know what your history is."⠀⠀

From executive producers Viola Davis and John Legend, GIVING VOICE follows students in the annual August Wilson Monologue Competition inspired by the late playwright.

I am so honored to have had the opportunity to be part of the beautiful #itcomesnaturally campaign by Shea Moisture! It was incredible seeing everything come together and working alongside many other talented Black women artists - @bisabutler @reynanoriega_ @ellemawala @alexis.eke @indoorcatgirl

You can see the artwork I created as well as the finished campaign video.

I was asked by the Ferragamo team to interpret the new #Gancini monogram to celebrate the opening of the new Salvatore Ferragamo at South Coast Plaza. For my piece I took the word celebration and went wild with the monogram - put the pattern on every part of the body. 

Was selected by Sprite to create three posters for their Get Vocal campaign for the Women’s March in Los Angeles, 2019

Illustration of Anna Wintour for the New York Times Thursday Styles

(PUBLISHED BOTH ONLINE AND PRINT)

Partnered with Samsung Mobile USA to play and create artwork onwithGalaxy. The new Galaxy Note10 displayed my most vibrant color combinations exactly as envisioned 🙌🏾 Really thrilled that I could continue working from what I had started on the computer with no visual differences in the quality of my work - all around very intuitive to my creative process. 💫 👏🏾

Illustrations created for InStyle Magazine’s Money Talks Column. You can read the Money Talks articles by clicking here.

I created this illustration for Tampax Radiant to help ignite conversation around lack of period education to help Black women live radiant. The art was used on social media as well as featured at HBCU Tailgates across the country.

Cover illustration and interior portraits for Ida B. the Queen by Michelle Duster with Simon & Schuster Publishing.

NOTE: Will add interior book illustrations when book is released in 2021

Partnered with Adobe to create this piece celebrating black women for Adobe’s Women Create Wednesday series. In addition, I did a Q&A video with their team talking about my experiences.

You can watch my Q&A with Adobe here.

Had the honor to create illustrations as well as the cover for She Came To Slay by Erica Armstrong Dunbar. Published by Simon & Schuster and 37 Ink. Mixing pop culture and scholarship, She Came To Slay, is an illustrated and informative biography of the abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman.

Juneteenth artwork for NYX Cosmetics to celebrate the holiday.

Spent a day drawing portraits live for Puma at The Wing in Los Angeles. Puma’s new sneaker celebrates entrepreneurial women pursuing their passions - The Wing Members were given a custom portrait illustrated in front of them in their best power pose. Each portrait took between 20 - 30 minutes. Event was coordinated by Spacey Studios

Monica Ahanonu styled illustrations of four Disney Princesses for my episode of Designing Disney with Disney Style. Click here to watch my episode.

Was invited by Tory Burch and The Daily Front Row to have dinner with a group of inspiring women and celebrate the new Tory Burch Eau De Parfum.

Artwork created after the event. Photos taken during the event.

Had the opportunity to create art for activist Topeka Sam’s presentation & story about criminal justice reform at Pop-Up Magazine. Pop-Up Magazine is a live magazine, created for a stage, a screen, and a live audience.

Various artwork completed for articles on ZORA, Medium’s publication for women of color.

Partnered with Jane Walker by Johnnie Walker to celebrate the 2019 Women’s March in Washington, DC. In preparation of the March, I created my own version of a ‘Sign of Progress’ which champions the spirit of the inspiring women and the #WomensWave. Very proud to #WalkWithJane. 21+ Click here to get the link to download the poster for yourself!

I was asked by McDonalds to create illustrations to help celebrate the engagement of Wells Adams and Sarah Hyland.

These art pieces were printed, framed and sent over as an engagement gift to the couple.

Illustration for New York Times Thursday Styles Article titled ‘Seasonal Color Loss Is Real. Do You Have It? Can You Fix It?’

(PUBLISHED BOTH ONLINE AND PRINT)

I partnered with Adobe Spark to create some illustrations for users of the program to play with and remix. Users were able to add their own messages and go crazy with colors in true Monica fashion.

Was thrilled to illustrate Piccolina Kids latest trailblazer, abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman , created in honor of Womens History Month and last months Black History Month !

Tees are available in kids sizes 2T - 14 and framed prints can be found at Piccolinakids.com

I love Piccolina's mission of empowering today's young girls to become tomorrow's trailblazers and problem solvers - no better role model for young ones than this icon of courage and freedom.

Had the opportunity to illustrated a book about Serena Williams written by Karlin Gray and published by Page Street Kids. Book releasing in May 2019 - click here to pre-order!

Black History Month illustrations for POPSUGAR’s social media accounts highlighting various black figures and their accomplishments.

Illustrations I created for Hello Giggles’s “I Rise” series in which black women writers examine black women’s mental health - from what it takes to access treatment, to the exchange of trauma across generations. Read all of the articles here.

Commissioned by Lionsgate to create two official posters for their film The Spy Who Dumped me. Posters available to purchase online here.

I was fortunate to work as an artist at DreamWorks Animation for a few years. Here is some of the work I completed while working there.

Images created for Hello Giggles Instagram and other social media accounts.

Created design for Amber Rose’s limited Edition Respect My Vote! campaign t-shirt.

Illustrations done for Hello Giggles. More details coming soon.

Illustrated Nylon Magazine’s May 2018 Cover. Click here to read more about each of the faces on the cover.

Illustrations of Los Angeles Architecture for Curbed LA. Article can be found here.

Illustrations of Los Angeles Plants for Curbed LA. Click here to read full article.

Created content for 30 Seconds to Mars for their single release of Walk On Water. Content consisted of Billboards, Social Media Imagery and Snipes - seen in cities throughout the world.

Illustrations created for Shonda Rhimes column on Shondaland: Shonda asked the 2020 candidates 20 Questions: Here’s What They Had to Say

Large 6’ x 6’ print for Miracle Bar hosted by the Kimpton Everly Hotel in Hollywood, CA.

Illustration for Broadly Article about Donyale Luna - click here to read.

Illustration for the California Endowment social media which highlights issues dealing with Mass Incarceration, School To Prison Pipeline, Access to Health Care, Immigration, LGBT rights and Voting.

Illustrations for the cover as well as interior pages of Business of Home’s fall 2018 issue.

Illustrations for Tamu McPherson and All The Pretty Birds of Tamu’s favorite fashion week looks.

Illustrations created for BuzzFeed UK Black History Month kickoff.