From Sketch to Cafe: West Chester University Artist Chelsea Bonham

Chelsea created the middle panel in our triptych series at our new West Chester cafe. 

We’re delighted to have art from Chelsea Bonham hanging in our newest Saxbys West Chester University (WCU) cafe. The WCU senior majoring in studio arts has a spooky-cool aesthetic and makes incredibly detailed drawings. She was even featured on the fan-art episode of Bob’s Burgers (check out her contribution at the 17:50 mark of this video!)

We sat down for a quick Q&A with Chelsea to learn about her inspiration, career plans and what it was like to be featured on a national TV show.

Let’s start off with Bob’s Burgers. Were you pumped to see your art on the show?

I was so excited! It was a dream come true. I remember watching the episode I was on and everyone I knew was calling and texting me. They were so excited about it. I’m a big fan of the show so I was elated. They also shared my art on their social media along with the other artists chosen, and that was just amazing.


Chelsea’s featured fan art on Bob’s Burgers. 

How would you describe your aesthetic?

I’m really influenced by comics, especially Virgil Finlay and Charles Burns. They do weird pen-and-ink drawings that are extremely detailed. That’s what my aesthetic is. I want to create all these textures and hide little objects all over the page.

What objects do you hide inside your drawings?

Broken toys, candy or random discarded objects. Made up creatures. I think of them as objects from my childhood or anyone’s childhood that have been discarded years and years ago. It’s like a wasteland of things forgotten.

What inspires you as an artist?

I grew up with a lot underground comics like Weird Tales. That’s when I decided I wanted to be an artist. Black Hole by Charles Burns — that was probably early 2000s, late 90s. All his pen-and-ink drawings are so detailed. He’ll draw the ground and you see every single grass blade. That’s a beautiful graphic novel. When I was a kid I read a lot of Stephen King books, specifically The Dark Tower series. In those particular books there were illustrations by Dave McKean. It’s collage work, with photograph-type stuff — that definitely inspired me. Now being surrounded by such great artists at school, they inspire me.

What are your career aspirations?

I definitely want to find some career where I can do my drawings. If it’s in advertising that would be great. If it’s in comics, that would be phenomenal. As long as I’m doing pen-and-ink drawings I’ll be happy.

Are you excited to have your work featured in Saxbys’ West Chester?

Of course! Just to have my art out there where the public can see it is amazing. It’s a huge opportunity for random people to see it and say ‘who did this?’ It’s extremely hard for an artist to get their work out there, so this is a great opportunity.


More of Chelsea’s amazing art.