Meet Jonquel Norwood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonquel Norwood.

Jonquel, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My name is Jonquel Norwood and I’m a Fashion + pop culture illustrator. I was born and raised in a small city outside of New Orleans, which is where I discovered my love for art. After hurricane Katrina, I moved to Atlanta to finish my college degree. I studied illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design Atl campus. Atlanta forever changed how I viewed art. It was the place that I could see career artists working and thriving in their craft, from animation studios to tattoo giants like Miya and PaperFrank to muralists like Greg Mike. Atl had something for everyone, so I jumped right into the scene right after college. I believe I did over 20 art shows in one year, including a title show at Hodgepodge coffee house. I was known for a more pop surrealist style while in Atl, but I admit to never feeling quite at in-home in that realm. Things happened and the opportunity came where I had the chance to move to New York. That’s when I was introduced to the world of fashion by NY’s plus size fashion influencers.

While looking on social media, I discovered Full Figure Fashion week and my world was changed forever. I noticed women with my body type wearing bold and expressive fashion and I fell in love. I fell in love with the attitudes, the styling, and the movement of loving me. I had to put my new found love on paper and express what I was seeing. I was seeing body-positive women loving themselves and not feeling ashamed and I wanted to illustrate that feeling to the world. I believed so strongly in this that I threw out my portfolio and started over from scratch. I had to study fashion illustration, nail it and then brake those rules to illustrate the plus-size form (fashion illustration much like the fashion world, praises long & lean bodies). As I was creating this body of work, I began dealing with my own issues of self-esteem and challenging the standards of beauty.

Throughout the journey, I starting sharing my work on social media and the response was surprising. I suddenly had art going viral on a regular basis and tons of DMs/emails from women across the world, telling me how they never thought of themselves as beautiful, but my art made them feel that way. Suddenly this was no longer about fashion. I was now a full-blown member of the positive body community. I get love letters from teen girls, cosplayers remake my looks and I even get hate mail from bullies. I now have a voice and platform, which blows my mind, as I’ve always had a toxic relationship with my body. I’ve learned to love myself through my art. In addition, I’ve been able to work with some of the best fashion brands today: Lane Bryant, Ashley Stewart, Dia & Co, Gwynnie Bee and Tommy Hilfiger, to name a few. I’ve also been a feature in Huffington Post, Bustle, Cosmopolitan, BET.com, Comedy Central, The Revelist and Yahoo Style. I’ve worked as a textile designer for one of NY biggest design firms and I’ve even produced my own NYFW show called Curvy AF. Currently, you can find me in my hometown of New Orleans, working as a full-time illustrator.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has not been a smooth road. I actually gave up several times. Being an artist is not for the weak at heart; it will ask everything of you. I remember consistently questioning myself, my talent, and even the audacity to believe that I could make a living doing this. One of the biggest problems I faced was the “business side” of art. In school, they’ll teach you all about materials and techniques, but not much on how to actually be an entrepreneur. I had to learn how to write a proper email, create a press kit, how to market myself, to write a contract, how to prepare for taxes and the big one… how to price my work. Nothing gave me more headaches then trying to figure out pricing, then being able to articulate those prices with confidence. I took jobs that were underpaid, jobs for exposure and jobs where my client would “forget” to pay me. While I’m much better at pricing now, I still get nervous. It’s definitely a lesson in self-worth.

We’d love to hear more about your art.
The name of my company is Jonquel Art and I specialize in fashion illustration and pop culture. I’m most proud of being an advocate for self-esteem and body positivity and having my work recognized by fashion brands. When I decided to become a fashion illustrator, I had the option to fall in line with the millions of amazing artists out there; doing the body types with similar imagery. I just noticed that there was an underserved market that deserved representation.

What were you like growing up?
I was a quiet geeky girl growing up (okay, I’m still that way). I didn’t have a lot of friends, those I did have were as “weird” as me and mostly stuck to myself because of bullying. Anime, Disney, Harry Potter and video games became my safe places, until I discovered I could draw. At that point, I’d spend hours locked up drawing while listening to j-pop, Linkin Park and Beyonce on repeat.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jonquel.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonquelart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JonquelArt/?eid=ARDVKGSupNkaR_Qc1hUvZu3smDBSHRote-l9ZKNawl-cWXtRcZIFt2HQw76E2AyhuKTN7YWQeo-w1EBi

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