Afrofuturistic Fashion

Illustrate with Impact. Win with Ideas.

Design Velocity: Illustrator Edition is a precision-driven challenge built for the creatives who sketch the future, the illustrators who give campaigns soul, style, and unforgettable characters. Whether you’re a junior with raw imagination or a senior artist with a vault of worlds, this is your arena to flex. Create bold, culturally-relevant illustrations that define. The winning illustration will set the stage for fashion-driven storytelling in the months ahead, making your work the creative spark for what follows.

This is where characters go first. Before the styling. Before the pitch decks. Before the campaign takes shape. This year’s brief challenges you to reimagine Black Tie through Afrofuturistic Fashion, creating a character that embodies

“Afrofuturistic After Dark.” Your job: give it a body, a face, a stance. Make it unapologetic, alive, and connected to the DV logo in a clever way, wearing it, holding it, fusing with it, or weaving it into your world.

NO AI ILLUSTRATION IS ALLOWED.

It should not be just a 'drawing', it should be storytelling through illustration. This challenge celebrates visual minds who don’t just sketch but build cultural icons.

Your Task:

• Clarity: Does your illustration make the complex feel simple and striking?
• Concept: Is there a fresh, original angle or character insight?
• Cadence: How well does the mood, energy, and style carry across your piece?
• Spark: Can this character inspire larger campaign directions and fashion ideas?
• Execution: Is your illustration inked and in full color?

• Lead with a powerful, character-driven concept.
• Ensure your illustration carries strong personality and visual identity.
• Think AIDA: Attention → Interest → Desire → Action.
• Ask yourself: Is it iconic? Inspiring? Expandable?

• Junior & senior illustrators
• Character designers & Fashion illustrators
• Advertising and design students
• Freelancers hungry to shape campaigns from the sketch up
• Anyone with ambitions of becoming an illustrator