Author

I kept wanting to push my image as validity; I wanted to see my portrait on a wall and know it was okay.

I moved around a lot when I was a child; two of the houses I grew up in have totally disappeared. One was burnt in a riot, and the other was pulled down.

From Toyin Odutola

I needed to create something I could take with me wherever I went.

From Toyin Odutola

I don't think about race before I start drawing. I think about how to make that mark to fit whatever purpose I need it to fulfill.

From Toyin Odutola

I'm really interested in independent publishers and memes and mini comics. But even before that, I was interested in Japanese manga and anime.

From Toyin Odutola

The graphic style itself is influenced by a lot of very layered and detailed comics that I read as a kid, like 'Vagabond' by Takehiko Inoue.

From Toyin Odutola

For a while, I was nervous about portraying women because of the objectification that automatically comes with it, whether the artist intends or not.

From Toyin Odutola

The social media bit is really about documenting process. I like the dialogue if it's constructive, but I'm now at a crossroads. I've accumulated a lot of followers, and it's great, but I'm also at that teetering point where people are feeling themselves a little too much, commenting a little too much.

From Toyin Odutola

My identity is not based on performance; it's based on something that's pre-determined by someone else, and I don't even understand what that is because I'm an African who came to America.

From Toyin Odutola

When I was in school, I conceptually didn't want black people to have context, to take it out of all that history. I wanted nothing to indicate where they are or what time it is, to place them anywhere.

From Toyin Odutola

Toyin Odutola

Notable Quotes

Authors with Similar Views

Annie Leibovitz

Ava DuVernay

Chuck Close

Henry Louis Gates

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Authors with Opposing Views

Chiara Ferragni

Erica Jong

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jeff Lemire

Juan Gabriel