Business
Check out Jodi and Shawns new comic books at http://www.divideddistrictstudios.com Jodi Dareal was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1989. Art has always been a major component in her life. From a young age, she began drawing wildlife pictures and as the years progressed her curiosity grew. While attending Urban Academy Lab High School, she focused on her Trinidadian heritage. Her paintings featured bright colors, symbols and traditional folk tales from Trinidad and Tobago. Jodi graduated from high school in 2008 and moved on to Penn State Altoona. While there she developed a new style using various shading techniques. After college, she moved to Staten Island where she continued to experiment with different mediums. Oil Paint, Acrylic Paint, Pencil Sketches and now comic book illustrations. She has also completed a series of murals located in many parts of Staten Island as well as some locations in Brooklyn. Over time the focus of her work also changed. In 2017, she started to focus more on feminist concepts. Staten Island comic book illustrator, and CEO of Divided District Studios, Shawn McArthur started off just like any other child in the 90's. being highly influenced by Anime, comic books, movies and video games, he wanted to be involved with being a part of the magic of storytelling. Since the age of 5, he was always found drawing his favorite heroes and making comics of his own. For someone who sharpens his craft outside of school, Shawn prides himself on collecting most of his knowledge of drawing from technique books and YouTube. From penciling to coloring his own pages, he pushes towards being able to work both traditional and digital mediums of sequential art. Challenging himself to try something new and never backing away from difficult tasks.