A digital drawing by Nilah Magruder. A Black woman with short black hair and pointed ears looks over her shoulder. Her hand is on the back of her neck and a sword and scabbard hang from her left side from a belt. She wears a yellow jacket with blue stripes down the sleeves, orange pants cropped mid-calf, and sneakers.
I've been drawing fish and mermaids for 84 years and I needed a breather
#nilafflepub
Full-color cover illustration for upcoming graphic novel Creaky Acres. A 10-year-old Black girl wearing black helmet, black blazer, tan riding pants, and black boots sits astride a light brown horse. The girl is smiling at camera. The horse looks up at the girl fondly.
It's tiiiime! Barnes and Noble members can save 25% on book preorders until February 7! Now's a great time to order CREAKY ACRES, in bookstores May 6!
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/creaky-acr...
#comics #graphicnovels #nilafflepub
Digital sketch of an angry woman running toward the viewer with what could one day be a sword but at the moment is a line sketched with the shape tool
Mad that this was working well enough as a sketch but then fell apart when I started refining it ahahahaha WHICH IS WHY I NEVER FINISH ANYTHING
#nilafflepub
Photo of a paperback advance copy of Creaky Acres, a graphic novel. The cover shows a smiling girl riding a horse. Assorted horse toys, including My Little Pony toys, surround the book, arranged as if looking at it.
Checked the mail and to my surprise, Creaky Acres ARCs have arrived!
Creaky Acres is a middle-grade graphic novel about friendship, weathering change, and horses, horses, HORSES! Coming May 6, 2025.
Preorder today!
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/558467...
#nilafflepub
And now I take a break. I have text to add to a few pages but I'm not going to start inking until March. Gives me time to rest and also focus on other things. #nilafflepub
A page with three thumbnail sketches for the cover of Creaky Acres. A girl rides a horse and together they jump toward the viewer. In the sketches, there are supporting characters in the background watching the girl and horse jump.
A page with two thumbnail sketches for the cover of Creaky Acres. A group of kids face the viewer in smile. In one sketch, the girl in the center stands close to a horse, also smiling.
I actually did a few more passes before we settled on the final design. I sketched these years ago, way before the book was done, but as we neared completion I wanted to take another crack at the designs, which is what you see in the post above!
#nilafflepub
A page showing four thumbnail sketches of cover ideas for Creaky Acres. Each sketch features a smiling girl riding or leading a horse.
CREAKY ACRES hits bookstores four months from today! For fun, here are some sketches I did for the cover. I wanted Nora and her pal Hay Fever to be front and center, happy and confident.
Creaky Acres is available for preorder! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/558467...
#nilafflepub
Book cover for Fiery Deeps, a science fiction/fantasy story anthology. A woman, dark hair in a ponytail wearing a T-shirt and form-fitting pants stands on a rock with her back to the viewer. She is surrounded by rock, gears, and flames. Before her, in the distance, is an expanse of lava, a volcano, and a phoenix flying in the sky. Text reads: FIERY DEEPS: Ten Stories of Underground Caverns, Fantastic Technology, and Female Power Edited by J.S. Fields and Heather Tracy With stories by: Rosiee Thor, Maya Gittleman, N. Romaine White, Sara Codair, William C. Tracy, N.L. Bates, Robin C.M. Duncan, Dee Lyle, Heather Tracy, and J.S. Fields
I was invited to contribute to FIERY DEEPS, part of a sapphic fantasy anthology series, and it's on sale now! My story (by N. Romaine White) is about when you accidentally fall out of love with your job and in love with a dragon. #nilafflepub
www.spacewizardsciencefantasy.com/book/fiery-d...
Scanned page of a sketchbook showing an array of sketches of a young woman, a vampire, wielding a sword.
Scanned page of a sketchbook showing an array of sketches of a young woman in human form and werewolf form.
Pages from a sketchbook doodled years ago. Paper and pencil is still my preferred way of working out ideas. It's just a nice crunchy feeling!
That's something I miss when I'm in the weeds on deadlines. No time to experiment. To discover. To slowly carve out and refine a thought. #nilafflepub
Digital sketch of a woman wearing glasses and hair in a ponytail sitting at a desk with a psychology textbook, notebook, and paper in front of her. She is smiling and writing. A young man sits next to her, elbow on the desk, looking away with an irritated expression.
Fanart of Bree and Alex from @laurbits.bsky.social's webcomic/graphic novel series Polterguys! Polterguys is so good! #webcomics #nilafflepub
digital sketch in grayscale of a girl with long, flowing white hair, eyes closed
digital sketch in black and white of a woman's face, side profile, with curly hair
digital sketch of an anthropomorphic fox wearing a hoodie, a braided rat tail, and piercings in one ear
digital sketch of a sloth perched on a tree branch
just a ton of work doodles in this folder #nilafflepub
Digital sketch of two characters staring at a woman passed out on a drawing desk. Text reads: M.F.K. No Update...
Digital sketch of a desert landscape with two figures, very small, on the horizon. One says: Abbieeeee... The other answers: What? WHAT?!
ahahahahahaha #nilafflepub
A digital wallpaper illustration. Two teenagers walk across a desert in a wide shot, their figures small. Super-imposed over the landscape are two vertical images showing a closer shot of each child's face.
It took me forever to find that holiday card and now I'm just digging around in folders I forgot I had. This is back from my webcomic days. I miss these kids. #nilafflepub
A digital illustration of two children dragging sleds up a steep, wooded hill covered in snow. A house with gold light in the windows is at the summit.
Only once did I ever get my act together enough to send out physical holiday cards. A nod to the hill I grew up on.
#nilafflepub
A screen cap of a panel from the script of REEL LOVE, an upcoming graphic novel. Text reads: They look out across the water. They see the two ducks, but the problem is not immediately clear. DUCK: QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK NILAH: Wait a minute. . . .
It's a "semi-autobiographical" graphic memoir so there are some parts I made up for the sake of a satisfying story arc.
But this
the best scene in the book
this is 1000% real.
....I also was not clear in the script about how to draw this section so that's gonna be fun.
#nilafflepub
A sketched panel from an in-progress graphic novel. The line of a fishing rod with sinker, bobber, and worm on a hook flies through the air. "Voiceover" dialogue in the panel reads: I didn't... I shouldn't have... I'm sorry.
This is my graphic memoir REEL LOVE, based on my pre-teen years, and this part of the story is absolutely brutal.
#nilafflepub
Sketched page of an in-progress graphic novel. Two young teens walk through a forest of pine trees and arrive at a pond.
If you'd stopped this script at 220 pages like a sensible person you'd be done by now, but noooOOOOoooo you had to write 265 pages
#nilafflepub
Digital sketch of a girl lifting her face from the ground - she has left an imprint of her face in the dirt - and spitting dirt out of her mouth.
Drawing comics has exactly one redeeming quality and it's that every now and then I get to draw a silly face
#nilafflepub
Nine-panel grid of several ink drawings of cartoon horses with a photo of a real horse in the center.
"Motivated flour sack jump" assignment from my sophomore year of art school, in which I overdid it by leagues bcuz I really enjoyed animating the traditional way.
Unfortunately I was in a 3D animation program ahahahahaha. #nilafflepub
Digital illustration of a black woman with short, curly hair, pointed ears, and red and yellow eyes casually propping her chin in her hands. A salmon pink jacket is draped over her shoulders.
Pink.
#nilafflepub
I love an opportunity to draw knights in armor! #nilafflepub
This year I published a story (as N. Romaine White) about a vampire whose clan make her an offer she should probably refuse.
I was inspired after reading BURN IT DOWN by Maureen Ryan and my own experiences in Hollywood. The story is funny bcuz we must laugh to keep from crying.
#nilafflepub
Close-up of Spider-Byte, illustrated by Alberto J. Alburquerque, colored by Andrew Crossley.
A panel from Vault of Spiders #1, illustrated by Alberto J. Alburquerque, colored by Andrew Crossley. Spider-Byte web slings past a pair of elf-looking digital avatars. Dialogue: 'Scuse me! Sorry! Get a room, lovebirds!
I keep waiting for spare time to do a big thread of past work, but that keeps not happening, so instead I'll try talking about projects one at a time.
First up, thanks to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Spider-Byte is probably my most well-known creation.
#comics #marvelcomics #nilafflepub
A digital re-painting of a still from the "Part of Your World" song from Disney's The Little Mermaid. A Black mermaid with red dreadlocks swims smiles as she twirls in an underwater cavern, accompanied by a yellow and purple fish.
whaddaya mean it's the 35th anniversary of The Little Mermaid
#nilafflepub
A sketched spread in progress from the upcoming graphic novel REEL LOVE. The main character, a twelve-year-old girl, watches as a group of teen boys and girls help their friends work through a breakup in the middle of a country diner.
I am suddenly fully invested in this group of emotional teens that appear on 5-6 pages in the middle of the book to further the main character's development and are never heard from again.
#comics #graphicnovels #wip #nilafflepub #reellove
A full-color spread from upcoming graphic novel CREAKY ACRES. A group of equestrian kids braid and decorate the manes and tails of their horses, ultimately concluding that they should have a horse fashion show.
Oh it looks like Kokila uploaded a few spreads from Creaky Acres so I can share them with you too I GUESS. Written by @calistabrill.bsky.social, background inking assistance by @akemiart.bsky.social, and colors by @boxfulthoughts.bsky.social!
#comics #graphicnovels #creakyacres #nilafflepub
A sketch comic page. The main character, a 12-year-old girl, selects Tag Team's "Whoomp! There It Is" on a diner jukebox. The jukebox, however, plays Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight." The girl turns to her mother and says: this isn't the song I requested! Mother replies: it's a queue. Everyone requests music at their tables and the big jukebox plays it in the corner.
Four teen girls are goin' through it in a country diner and our intrepid acearo hero has just discovered she's going to have to sit through an untold number of love songs before the jukebox plays her request. #comics #graphicnovels #nilafflepub
A sketch of two panels of a comic page. Four teen boys walk through a diner entrance. Four teen girls eye the boys entering with concern and annoyance.
I am drawing like the wind to meet my deadline.
I rather like this pair of panels.
#comics #graphicnovels #nilafflepub
Full-color cover illustration for upcoming graphic novel Creaky Acres. A 10-year-old Black girl wearing black helmet, black blazer, tan riding pants, and black boots sits astride a light brown horse. The girl is smiling at camera. The horse looks up at the girl fondly.
Whoopsie, after proofing and approving all the art for CREAKY ACRES, I caught a mistake on the cover and made the team let me revise it lol. I CRAVE PERFECTION.
Drawn by me, colored by @boxfulthoughts.bsky.social! Coming May 2025!
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/558467...
#nilafflepub
