Atta Girl!

Client: Minessota Atta Girls!
Date: 2014
Category: Illustration

Project Description

Atta Girl is a clubnight I started in 2009 in Birmingham. It’s currently on hiatus as the majority of the collective no longer live there. So when a group of mothers and daughters that call themselves Atta Girls in Minnesota contacted me asking if they’d be able to use the original Atta Girl illustration for their group; I was really happy to redesign her for their use.

The original girl I drew to represent our night took me a long time to settle on. I wanted a non-sexualised image of female. I wanted her to actually be a girl to reflect our name and show that it wasnt about infantilizing women (it actually comes from a Heavenly song title). I also wanted her to show how I felt inside as a young girl and now; full of energy, mischief, happiness and a dose of innocence. I wanted her to look like she’d just been climbing a tree! When I dance I like to do that without being self-conscious and I wanted others to feel free to just enjoy the fun of music. So that was her message.

She predated the process I now use to ensure scanned hand drawn illustrations always have a crisp black and white without pixellation. For this commission I tidied her up and tried to echo that rough technique in the bird holding the banner.

The Minessota Atta Girls are a group of mothers and daughters that gather once a month to celebrate being female and discuss all the intricacies of growing up. They are holding a fundraiser in May so they’ll be printing her on t-shirts for their yard sale. I’ll post a photo when this happens. Really happy that Atta Girl lives on!