Carmahn M.

Hello! I'm Carmahn: an illustrator, animator, graphic designer, and web designer.
Welcome to my portfolio!

Illustration

Various styles of digital illustration including character designs, concept art, and animation.

Design

Different types of visual design projects including graphic design, logos, & web design.

Featured Projects

Contact Me

If you have a question or comment, please send your query via this form!

art series

NATURELLES

I created character designs inspired by different types of flowers/vegetation.

RAINBOW REDRAW

For a fun challenge, I redesigned some of the fairies from the children's book series "Rainbow Magic".

ZINES

Color With Me (2020)

New Beginnings (2020)

Newport Zine : Volume 5 (2022)

PROJECTS

KNIGHTS OF ARMANDI
Development & character designs for a story about four magical girls.

NYXIA CHRONICLES
Style explorations and character designs for a story about magicians.

This workshop lasted 2 weeks and consisted of 6 participants split into 2 groups. The goal was for each team to create a piece of children's media that incorporated experiences from the African Diaspora. This included creatives from North America, The Caribbean, and Africa.
For my contribution, I did a short 2D animated dream sequence featuring the main character, Abena. Below are the initial storyboards, the animation, and the team's final draft.

Animated Sequence

Full Project

KIANA GOES TO THE SYMPHONY

Kiana Goes to the Symphony is a children's book currently being written and developed by Kathryn Brown. I was responsible for creating the cover page, preliminary character designs for the main characters, and also a few concept art pieces for the pages.

OUR HAIR ABCS

A portrait series of mine for Black History Month 2021.
Composed of 26 different types of hairstyles worn by Black women.

HALIFAX PUBLIC LIBRARIES - ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
ASSISTANT

For this project, I created the illustrations of the fairies and the magical tree. The Artist in Residence used Lightform technology to allow the light and sound to be mapped and projected within the lines.

A laptop and cellphone mockup of The Braiding Lounge Salon website.

The Braiding Lounge Salon

A booklet mockup of the ANSMA Awards event program.

The African Nova Scotian Music Association

A mockup of a logo on a tote bag from the musical Love, Peace and Hairgrease.

Logos

A laptop and cellphone mockup of The Emerging Lens Film Festival website.

Epiphany HR Consulting

A laptop and cellphone mockup of The Emerging Lens Film Festival website.

The Emerging Lens Film Festival

A small plastic display of a profile card for the University of King's College.

University of King's College

A screenshot of a cellphone prototype for the digital Van Gogh museum project.

Other Design Projects

ANSMA

UNIVERSITY OF KING'S

OTHER DESIGN PROJECTS

THE BRAIDING LOUNGE

LOGOS

EMERGING LENS

HOOD HABITS

Other Design Projects

Below are a few miscellaneous design projects I have done; school assignments, practice, etc.

Medium UI Prototype

For this assignment in my Human-Computer Interaction course, we were tasked with designing a mobile app for an art exhibition. My team chose to base the project on the Van Gogh Museum online exhibit. I designed the medium-fidelity user interface in Figma. Below is a video of the prototype.

Sharpen Design Prompts

Sometimes I use the Sharpen design prompt generator to practice my graphic/user interface design skills.

LOGOS

For this company, I was responsible for the design of a variety of assets.

Exterior Decorative Art (Window Decals):

Interior Decorative Art (Decals + Mural):

General Graphics:

I was hired to create an event program for the 25th Annual African Nova Scotian Music Awards (ANSMA) Show (2023). Its design is based on the new branding package guidelines, which include a new color palette, fonts, and graphic devices. Below are select pages from the 40-page program.
Here is the link to the full program.

Design Brief:

The ANSMA needed an event program for the 25th Anniversary. They asked that the program that would provide attendees with all of the necessary information, including:

  • Event schedule

  • Staff statements

  • Information about the company

  • Artist biographies

  • Award types & nominees

  • Paid advertising placement

  • Sponsor listings

Branding Guidelines:

This event program would serve as the public's first introduction to ANSMA's new branding. The package included a new visual identity which included the following:

  • A new color palette

  • Typography for headings, subheadings & text

  • Visual graphic devices

  • New logo variations

Project Role:

As the graphic designer, I was responsible for formatting the text, images, and other assets I was provided with to align with the needs of the ANSMA committee.Additionally, I formatted the final product for both digital and print, use, sending the file with the necessary specifications (color profile, dimensions, etc.) to the printing house.The following tools were used throughout the project development:

This was a collaborative project for UKings to create a semi-permanent display for prominent African Nova Scotian community leaders. For my contribution, I created bio-cards for 10 of these community members.

A photo of the installation of the community leaders art project.

HOOD HABITS

I created a variety promotional posters for Hood Habits: The Musical, which ran during August of 2022.

Website Design (Live Link):

Tracy Rands, the founder of Epiphany HR Consuting, is a seasoned human resources leader, educator and coach with more than 25 years of professional experience across private and public sectors.She has requested a multi-page brochure website to improve her SEO standing and company branding.

Problem Statement:

Tracy previously had all of the information on a single homepage of her website. As her business grew, Tracy realized that she wanted to redesign and organize the layout of her website to better serve her clients.

Solution:

After discussing what her goals were, the website would include the following changes:

  • Breaking up the sections into separate pages

  • Establishing a consistent color palette

  • Optimizing sections for SEO

  • Creating a sitemap

  • Formatting the text and images to be more consistent

Project Role:

I was the sole designer/developer on this project, and I worked with Tracy to understand what changes she believed would help improve her website navigation for current and future clients. The tools/resources used for this project are listed below:

Using the content from the original homepage, I reorganized the sections into their own pages. First I started with a low-fidelity mockup, focusing on the page layout. Next, I made a medium/high fidelity prototype, implementing the chosen color and typefaces and rearranging content from the initial layout. The final homepage is based on the medium prototype with minor layout changes.

For this company, I was responsible for the design of a variety of assets, including the website, general marketing/social graphics, and event programs.

A screenshot of the Emerging Lens wesbite.

Website Design (Live Link):

I tackled the redesign of the film festival's website to elevate its functionality and visual appeal, while also prioritizing the user experience. In the original design, users found it difficult to find certain types of information due to format/layout, too deeply nested menu options, or lack of mobile responsiveness.

Through further research and user feedback, I identified areas for improvement and streamlined navigation, optimized layout, and integrated responsive design principles for seamless accessibility across devices.The redesigned website now effectively showcases the festival's events and offerings, reflecting its brand identity and values while delivering a delightful experience for visitors.

I have included examples of the website's pages before and after the re-design, to demonstrate how I decied to re-organize the page's information.

Event Program (Select Pages)

General Graphics

Hello!

I’m Carmahn, a Black Canadian/Jamaican visual artist from Nova Scotia who creates illustrations and animations. I enjoy creating art featuring characters in mystical environments or using magical powers, and often I'll incorporate themes of nature.I graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Computer Science from Dalhousie University, and I am developing a career in UI/UX design and web development. I enjoy blending my passion for art with my love of graphic design and coding. ♥

carmahnm.art@gmail.com