About the Author and the Co-Contributors

ABout the author

Dr. Jessica Boehman is an author-illustrator, art historian, and professor based in Brooklyn, NY. A member of a large military family, Dr. Boehman relocated to New York City in 2010. She holds both a PhD in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania (2009) and a B.A. in Studio Art and Art History from Western Maryland College (1999). Although she initially believed it would be impossible to merge her dual passions for art history and illustration into a professional career, she is now fortunate to teach the history, theory, and practice of art by day, while pursuing her own illustrative work by night.

Dr. Boehman is a full professor in the Fine Arts Program at LaGuardia Community College (CUNY) in New York City, where she also serves as the Interim Chair of the Humanities Department. As an art historian, she specializes in Renaissance and Baroque Italian sculpture, and teaches courses such as History of Illustration, History of Design, Italian Renaissance Art, as well as introductory art and art history survey classes.

In her practice as an illustrator, Dr. Boehman creates detailed works in both black and white and vibrant color. Her artwork blends elements of magic and whimsy with reality, often incorporating traditional painting techniques alongside digital drawing and collage. Dr. Boehman is the author and illustrator of two children’s books: The Lions at Night (The RoadRunner Press, 2019) and Café Au Lait: A Story of NF1 and My Special Spots (The Children’s Tumor Foundation, 2023). She’s particularly inspired by true-to-life and “mostly true stories”, and her recent work are graphic versions of such semi-autobiographical stories.

Dr. Boehman teaches both Illustration and Graphic Narrative at LaGuardia.

She resides in Brooklyn, NY. More information about her work can be found on her website, www.jessicaboehman.com, or on Instagram at @jessicaboehman.

about the co-contributors

I had the pleasure of working with some of my students on the creation of this textbook: this opportunity allowed me to get a student’s point-of-view, as the audience of this book is students of illustration. I want to thank them each for their effort; teaching them and all of my students is one of the great pleasures (and challenges!) of my life.

Donivan Bonilla:

Donivan Bonilla is an illustrator based in Brooklyn, with a passion for narrative storytelling. He is currently a student at LaGuardia Community College where he discovered a new love for comic illustration. A lot of his inspiration comes from horror media. You may follow him on Instagram @donivanfosho.

Johanna Guzman:

Hello I’m Jojo – a name my friends gave me after Mojo Jojo from the Powerpuff Girls, and it’s stuck with me ever since. I spent several years as a white-collar worker in the fashion world before deciding to return to school and finally pursue a long-time dream in the arts.

I’m majoring in Fine Arts–and I also like to say I minor in loopholes. My main interests are illustration, painting, and photography, though I also experiment with paper sculpture when inspiration strikes. Right now, I’m exploring – trying out different mediums and styles to discover what feels most fulfilling.

My style is still taking shape, but I’m especially drawn to ink work, water-based painting, and darkroom printing. You can check out some of my earlier pre-LaGuardia work on Instagram @theothergooseman. My art has expanded well beyond fan art, in part thanks to the tough but effective teachings and guidance of Dr. B in her illustration class.

Amelia Stepnowski:

My name’s Amelia, and I have been the creative type since I could form memories. I think it runs in my blood, I look around my family tree as I see a ton of hard working and artistically skilled people, like my uncle who is an artist, to my sister, who was musically gifted, to even my mom who was pretty good when she really tried.

I like to call myself the Jack of all arts, because I’m a multimedia artist and even though I might not be the GOAT, I’m still pretty good at what I do and I have many more possibilities ahead of me being good at many things. One thing that really clicked for me was illustration. I was officially introduced to it in Dr. B’s class at LaGuardia. I really felt connected to it because now I knew what to call my digital or even drawings on paper. It’s something I’ve always had interest in without knowing it.

Arnold Tatis-Algarin:

Arnold Tatis-Algarin is a 2025 graduate in Fine Arts from LaGuardia Community College. Highly passionate in the world of graphic and independent arts, their work is marked with a boldened lens on the ennui of the observational world. Caroline Cash and Wong Kar Wai are key artistic and narrative inspirations. Having never touched digital art in their life (as of yet), they prefer to work in analog materials such as pen and ink in order to utlize negative space to its fullest and most graphic extent. You may find them on Instagram @80_ayyyy.

Benjamin Alexander Taveras González

Benjamin Taveras Gonzalez (They, she , he),  is a Dominican-born and raised artist. Working primarily in oil painting and digital illustration, Taveras Gonzalez’s practice is rooted in empowerment, fantasy and cultural storytelling. Their work explores themes of Blackness, heritage, and visibility, serving as a vessel for ancestral voices and a celebration of Afro-Caribbean beauty and resilience.

Isaac Ramos

My name is Isaac Ramos. I am originally from Mexico, more specifically, the state of Puebla and the region known as La Mixteca Poblana. After finishing high school in 2019, I had the opportunity to come to the USA with my family’s support, and I have been living in Queens, NY, since then. I have an associate’s degree in Fine Arts from LaGuardia Community College, and currently I am pursuing my bachelor’s degree in Art Education at Queens College. The art I like to create is very much connected to my culture and life experiences growing up in my hometown, but also one to which people with the same background as me can relate. I take a lot of inspiration from contemporary Latin American artists, as well as the old masters, photographers, the media, and pop culture.

Ori Minghao Zhang

Ori Zhang is a 2D digital illustrator and 3D environment artist with a focus on creating realistic, immersive game worlds. His recent work emphasizes environment design and optimization in Unreal Engine 5. He is currently majoring in Game Development at the Savannah College of Art and Design, pursuing a career in the entertainment industry.