CDG - The Costume Designer

B ng di y ta t d ry m 9B C ec• . By Gary . Foss FROM SKETCH TO REALIT B ng di y ta t d ry FROM SKETCH TO REALIT The three founders of the company, experienced costume illustrators and concept artists, Phillip Boutt Jr., Aldis Hodge, and Mike wandi, see this ob- jective not simply as a goal but as an opportunity. "People are varied and lay- ered and there's all diff erent types," says Boutt. "I think the main focus for me is normalizing job opportunity in a space that expands beyond one skin tone." The company brings talent to a wide range of products. If a project needs artwork to bring it to life, 9B has the team to make it happen. "We can conceptualize every- thing art related when it comes to enter- tainment: fi lm, novels, video games, ani- mation, live action, costume design, and world building," says Hodge. The seed for what would become the 9B Collective was planted at a drink and draw in February 2020. Boutt was host- ing the event in honor of Black History Month for the Concept Art Association. "There was a bunch of Black artists in one place and everyone had the same story," he explains. "'I work at a video game com- pany, and there's 300 employees but only two Black people.' It made everybody re- alize that even if you feel isolated, we're really not." The solution was to continue to meet at drink and draw events, build a community, and make connections. Then the pandemic shut everything down in March, no more meetings for at least a year. But wandi recognized the delay could become a blessing in disguise. "We all realized that we were thinking too small and that we could actually form a compa- ny," he says. "By using all of our resources and combining them we could not only facilitate Hollywood hiring more diverse- ly, but also build teams of people of color to work together." Putting a spotlight on that skill and ex- pertise is the mission of the 9B Collective, and includes reaching the next gener- ation. This emphasis is particularly the focus of wandi, who makes a special eff ort to reach out to youngsters. Boutt explains, "When they see Mike, they re- alize somebody who looks just like them made this cool game that they play all the time. And now these kids' minds are open because they understand what op- portunity looks like." 34 THE COSTUME DESIGNER | FALL 2021

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