Author: Brad Cooper

I’m taking a slight detour and tackling a new illustration project based on Native Americans, the Comanche tribe to be more specific. The Comanche were known to be fearless warriors and were the dominant tribe on the Southern Plains, one of the first Indian Nations able to engage in combat while still mounted on horseback. As warriors they were known to often take captives from weaker tribes during warfare, selling them as slaves to the Spanish and later Mexican settlers, including captives from the Spanish, Mexican and American settlers.

The basis for this work is the numerous broken pacts and commissions that took place in the late 1800s between American Indians and settlers, culminating with the forceful relocation of the tribes by the signing of the Cherokee Commission in 1892, a really sad chapter of American history.

This is a rough digital sketch in development, that will be transferred to illustration paper for the actual fine art work.