The Illustrated Pursuit (Page 2)
Below are examples of comic art created by Stephanie Crowley, Jim Nuttle and Tashif Turner to spontaneously illustrate a couple of my recent speaking engagements. Please visit the first page of this feature for more information on the artists and the context in which the illustrations were created.
This illustration evokes an important milestone in the formation of my identity. As a child, I played the trumpet and dreamed of being Miles Davis. Eventually my mother sat me down for what I call “the talk”, and explained to me that Miles Davis already had that job, and it was up to me to find out who Chris Gardner was.
Since there were three artists who illustrated two of my presentations, they produced multiple illustrations of some of my recollections. Below are three illustrations created to express a story from early in my career, when I could only afford one blue and one gray suit, and folks began joking that “Gardner’s fighting the Civil War, he just can’t decide which side he’s on.”
If you’ve seen The Pursuit of Happyness movie starring Will Smith, you’ll know what scene this illustration corresponds to:
Another image corresponding to a poignant scene from The Pursuit of Happyness:
How I dug myself out of homelessness and acquired a bent index finger, from chapter ten of The Pursuit of Happyness. Learn more in section three of Start Where You Are, “Hitting the Anvil”.
These drawings illustrate the “Roses in the Ghetto” chapter from The Pursuit of Happyness.
Another two illustrations inspired by a story from “Roses in the Ghetto”:
“Baby steps count too …” – a favorite motto I’ve borrowed from Reverend Cecil Williams:
Here are a couple of drawings that express how crazy my life became after my story was publicized on ABC’s 20/20:
You can guess what the in-flight movie was:
This image illustrates Lesson 10 from my second book, Start Where You Are. Learn more about Start Where You Are on our books page.
Breaking the cycle of men who weren’t there for their children was one of the most important achievements of my life. See lesson 39 of Start Where You Are, “Breaking Generational Cycles”.
