Art teacher at Mossville Elementary, Brian Du Pont, invited me to lead on an art project for his art class. Because I worked on a bunch of superhero illustrations recently and Brian publishes his own superhero comic Pecos Bill, I came up with the idea to have his students create their own superhero symbols. The guidelines to create their artwork were:

1. Combine two elements in the symbol: One thing that scares you + One thing that you like or enjoy doing.

2. Illustrate your symbol using watercolor & ink.

The project was inspired by Batman, my favorite superhero. When Bruce Wayne became Batman, he chose a symbol. Bruce Wayne is disturbed by bats because he fell down a well full of bats as a child. He uses the bat as his symbol to conquer his fear in the processes. He projects this fear to become Batman and fight crime.

Brian had his students sketch out their symbols and draw the final art on watercolor paper. And the day I came to visit, I showed them a couple techniques they could use with watercolor and ink to paint their symbols.

It was so awesome seeing in person what the students came up with for their symbols. They worked with their own ideas and caught on to the painting techniques immediately! And I am not surprised, because they are, after all, real superheroes. This was their works in progress:

Brian even took the project a couple steps further by having his students write a statement and frame their art:

Since all these super heroes are revealing their fears, it’s only fair that I reveal my own. It’s kind of embarrassing and makes no sense to me: I get social anxiety sometimes. That literally translates to “being afraid of people,” even though I love people. But just like with Batman, it probably has to do with things I’ve had to deal with in my childhood.

I’ve created different versions of my Razorberries logo over the years, but the elements within it have always been the same. Razor and berries.