'Modern Magic': Memphis artist illustrates children's book for rapper Ludacris

A Memphis creative's artwork can be found on the pages of a popular new children's book.

Parker-Nia Gordon, 29, of East Memphis illustrated rapper Ludacris' first children's book, "Daddy and Me and the Rhyme to Be."

Gordon's work is driven by representation and a desire to see Black lead characters in the media she watched growing up.

"We have the token Black characters that will always be alongside, but we won't have leading roles," Gordon said. "So within my artwork, I want to make sure to have leading roles for black characters."

She recalls being interested in art for as long as she can remember. Inspired by the Disney movies, a young Gordon would draw her favorite scenes from movies and hang them up on her wall. She continued to pursue her passion for art at Overton High School and graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design.

To date, her illustrations have been featured in DC Comics, American Girl and now in "Daddy and Me and the Rhyme to Be."

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The agency she was represented by at the time pitched the opportunity for her to draw sketches for an unnamed celebrity project, and within a few months, she was selected to illustrate the book.

"I was just like, 'How do you even know about my work?'" she said excitedly. "It's very humbling... it's a shock factor for me even still."

Gordon worked for over a year trading notes and designs with the Atlanta musician, whose real name is Chris Bridges, and the book was released in June with Gordon's name sharing a space with his on the cover.

Her illustrations for the book are reimaginings of scenes based on the Netflix show "Karma's World," based on Ludacris and his daughter, Karma.

"The book is very important, especially showcasing a Black father and daughter together and being within their element. And within our TV, we rarely see that," Gordon said.

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In the vein of representation, Gordon hopes to build a brand called Modern Magic, which aims to modernize and highlight images of Black people and people of color in animated media.

Now Gordon is gearing up for her first solo exhibition at TONE, an art gallery in Orange Mound on Sept. 17. In the future, she hopes to build her own animation studio.

"On a more personal note with artists out there who are maybe struggling to find their way... if you're trying to drill into something that you're passionate about, but you may not know exactly how, but just keep going and not let fear keep you from moving forward," Gordon said. "You may not know everything at first, but improvement is always going to happen if you keep moving forward... you can start somewhere and just continue to believe."

Astrid Kayembe covers South Memphis, Whitehaven and Westwood. She can be reached at astrid.kayembe@commercialappeal.com, (901) 304-7929 or on Twitter @astridkayembe_.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Ludacris' children's book illustrated by Memphis artist