Shonda Rhimes

Shonda Rhimes is the celebrated television producer and writer of some of America's top shows, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away With Murder. Rhimes is a creator, mom, and author of Year of Yes, on her triumph over being an introvert and a single mom to three children. (And recently she lost over 100 pounds!)
The dramatic story behind my illustration of Shonda Rhimes began with a morning spontaneous pose in the mirror. My arms came up behind my head in a playful way, and I asked myself, “Who is this?” The answer came: Shonda Rhimes.
Shonda is a Jack in the Box. Her curls are springs, the TV tubes, the jolts she delivers in her dramas. Oh, and for all the mysteries she excels at, the names of her shows and some key words are hidden in her hair!
I added Candyland game stripes for the colorful way she takes our hearts on a roller coaster ride, her logo for her company, Shondaland.
Her hands look like that teasing pose and taunt that children do, saying “Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah! You can't catch me!” As I drew, I saw that this can represent her own personal path of saying “Yes!” in the face of her own “no’s” and breaking barriers as an female producer in TV land and as an single mom.
No surprise this illustration was more intense to create, much more detailed and layered than most! It was uncanny, I found myself several times while inking this having actual moments of suspense! My music would stop and only the sound of the pen on paper…an unexpected silence and concentration, which reminded me of the kind of still suspense I and so many Shonda fans gladly suffer through in Scandal!
Magical? Check. Inspirational? Beyond!