Announcing the 2026 Sketchboard Pro Thesis Sponsorship Award Recipients

Congratulations to Kelsey Lynn Cretcher and Nikari Dominguez of the Class of 2026!

Braintreehouse and Sketchboard Pro have once again generously sponsored the Sketchboard Pro Thesis Sponsorship Award, a $2000 award for production expenses. Award winners Kelsey Lynn Cretcher and Nikari Dominguez were selected by last year’s award recipients, Indra Fonseca and Haelee Lim .

Read more below!

Kelsey Lynn Cretcher (She/Her) is an Educator and Illustrator based in Cleveland, Ohio. Since graduating with a BFA in Illustration from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2012, she now is a Professor of Practice and Interim Chair of the Illustration Department at her Alma Mater.

With a strong emphasis on educational illustration, Kelsey’s artwork strives to blends informative elements with captivating illustrations and textures. While her background lies in vector illustration, she has embraced the versatility of digital painting in her contemporary work, often exploring themes of femininity and minimalist maximalism. In addition to her educational work, she has a passion for science fiction and fantasy art, book covers, and much more.

Beyond academia, Kelsey’s freelance endeavors have garnered recognition from esteemed clients such as Zox, Tuesday Knight Games, and Hopkin’s International Airport. Additionally, she operates her own successful business, specializing in pin-up enamel pins and an acclaimed reimagined Hanafuda deck. She seeks out multifaceted projects that offer the opportunity to commit to concepts and explore many aspects of illustration.

In her leisure time, Kelsey indulges in her passion for floral illustration, sci-fi horror literature, and gratuitous amounts of video games

Antumbra is a solo journaling TTRPG where players awaken alone from cryo on a generational ship mid mission alone except for the ship’s AI, CHARON. Through journaling prompts and illustrated ephemera, they must discover the fate of the mission, navigate isolation, paranoia, and their personal loyalties to the mission.

“Receiving the Sketchboard Pro Thesis Sponsorship allows me to take the project to the next level, refining its visual design, funding its production, and creating an experience that fully merges storytelling and play. This support provides both the resources and creative momentum to bring the vision of Antumbra to life.”

– Kelsey Lynn Cretcher

Nikari Dominguez it’s a Dominican American filmmaker and Creative Producer based in the Dominican Republic and New York. Graduated in Cinematography and Audiovisuals, major in Cinema from the Universidad Autónoma of Santo Domingo (UASD), She has worked in commercials, music videos and films in the production area. Passionate about books, cinema, music, photography, anime and paintings, without limiting herself, she wants to tell stories with different media.

Past Summer is a narrative short film that explores a day in the life of Eva, a Dominican woman exhausted by her daily struggle to provide for her family. In the suburbs of Santo Domingo, the heat, lack of electricity, noise, water shortages, and lack of opportunities make life in the neighborhood increasingly hostile. In the midst of a blackout, Eva urgently tries to contact her sister to help pay for their mother’s medical treatment. Despite the blackout and other struggles, she saves her mother and ultimately makes the life-changing decision to leave the country.

“Receiving this award among so many incredible artists and stories is a privilege, and personally, it feels like a confirmation that hard work truly pays off. I’m excited to continue developing my project and bring Eva’s story to life.”

– Nikari Dominguez

“At Sketchboard Pro our mission has always been put simply as “to support artists”—a silly pun given the nature of our product, but also something we take to heart as most of us are also working artists.

“With the headlining technology shift over the past couple of years we’ve revised our mission “to support human artists.” It’s more important than ever to foster the creative journeys of young artists. We treasure our partnership with the School of Visual Arts and we’re so grateful to be able to grant support to the incredibly talented winners of this award.”

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