DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION GALLERY

ALIVE HERBALS

Alive Herbals, Valerie Caesar, 2026.

If you recall from my previous entry, I shared that I was interested in seeing all the spot illustrations from past works united together in a way that speaks to their iconic yet mundane status. I got to this point and realized: it was done. For now. (I’d originally made a video with all sorts of text embellishments highlighting the lyrics of the chosen song. But I realized that that approach took away from a focus on both the visuals as well the extremely personal nature of the items chosen, despite their widely universal availability.

I settled on a motion style video similar to the previous one that arced around the image in such a way to draw attention to each object, and the song chosen (Alive Herbals/ELUCID, who’s actually a good friend of mine) inspired the title, with its deadpan recital of words that are provocative mostly for the impact they describe, rather than any intrinsic power they possess on their own. Picking up on a theme? These objects are my alive herbals, so to speak. (Alive Herbals is also the name of a Black-owned herbs and spices shop in Brooklyn.)

A CLOSER LOOK

Watch this short video at the full screen setting to see the making of Alive Herbals from a behind-the-scenes perspective, and to view it in closer detail.