169. Creating Positive Visual Futures with Illustrator Melquea Smith

“I think of hope. 

And especially in a world that can be seen as cruel, that can be experienced as cruel, I think of those who have the capacity to do what they can to spread that hope and to spread that joy so we can uplift the folks that need a little bit more help.” 

- Melquea Smith

In this How To Write the Future podcast episode, host Beth Barany chats to children’s book illustrator Melquea Smith where Melquea shares the inspiration behind her unique art style, plus how her multicultural perspective enhances her vibrant, forward-thinking illustrations. 

Melquea also describes the importance of representation in art and on creating diverse, positive visuals through her inclusive character design. 

ABOUT MELQUEA SMITH

Melquea Smith is a New York based illustrator with an obsession with color, animals, and children’s media. 

When not illustrating or traveling, you can find her watching cartoons and animated movies, learning all about Japan, terribly dancing with her cat Kilala, and giving her other cat Bumblebee pit-pats on her super fluffy tummy.

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• SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
• SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade
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Transcript

Introduction and Host Welcome 

​Hey everyone. Welcome to How To Write the Future Podcast. I'm your host Beth Barany. I'm a creativity coach for science fiction and fantasy writers, and I also am one. I really care about creating positive, optimistic visions and and stories for the future. And I believe that us as creatives, we are. We are doing it.

That's our job is, is to create visions for the future. 

[00:28] Guest Introduction: Meet Melquea Smith

So I'm really excited to bring to you a new, a guest today, a new guest, Melquea Smith Melquea, welcome. 

Thank you so much for having me, Beth, and thank you dear listener for tuning in. 

Yes, thank you so much. I'm gonna read Melquea's bio, everyone, so you get to know her a little bit, and then we're gonna chat.

All right, let me the spotlight here. 

Everyone please everyone welcome Melquea and meet her. 

[00:56] Melquea's Artistic Journey and Inspirations

She is a New York based illustrator with an obsession for color,

animals and children's media. When not illustrating or traveling, and we'll talk about that in a moment, you can find her watching cartoons or animated movies, learning all about Japan, terribly dancing with her cat K Kalala, Kilala and giving her other ,cat Bumblebee, pit pats on her fluffy tummy. We love cats.

We have two cats too. Welcome Melquea again. So glad that you're here and, oh my God. 

[01:31] Life in Belgium: Pet Sitting Adventures

You're, uh, just so everyone knows, you are, in Belgium right now, pet sitting? 

Yes, I am in Belgium right now. I'm pet sitting in this little town called, I hope I'm saying it right, Eksaarde. It's about, wanna say like 30 minutes away from Gent or Ghent.

And it's, it's been really cool because being able to bicycle to the nearest station and then take the, the bus or take the train in to like the cities has been really cool and I've been biking a lot more and I've been feeling a lot better, just like mental health wise, physically even just like my own stamina has been pretty cool too.

It's been really fun. 

That's so fun. And just so folks know, Belgium, you know, is northeast of France and is French and Flemish, so it sounds like you're in the Flemish region. 

I'm in the Flemish region. Um, a lot more people speak English, so it's been really helpful because I do not speak Dutch nor Flemish, nor French, like I can get by in Spanish speaking countries, much easier than, and a little bit in Japan, but mostly I have been clinging on to dear English. 

Thank goodness. That's really lovely. 

[02:49] Melquea's Unique Art Style and Membership

So you are a children's book illustrator.

Yes.

And I just wanna say everyone who, if you're not listening, not seeing the audio that Melquea, you have these gorgeous braids that are what? Magenta and green and pink, and just gorgeous.

Yes. I'm multicolored. Um. I was inspired by, uh, an author and content creator. I'm going to butcher the last name, but their name is Amina. And then their, what is it? A Rainbow in Your Cloud is the children's book that they wrote, um, illustrated by Elle Pierre.

And seeing that person wear rainbow braids and do it for so long, I was like, I, I, I've always wanted to dye my hair, but. I was like, I don't want to dye my hair. I want to make sure that my hair is as, as healthy as can be. So I was just like, what if I just start getting crochet braids? And that's what I did. I got rainbow colored crochet braids and I haven't looked back. 

Oh, it's so awesome. I just love them so much and it really. It seems to be so on brand for you because I'm part of your membership. So everyone Melquea has this fabulous membership that I'm gonna talk to you, you can tell us about, but I just, I love your art because it's so vivid, bright and playful, and you exude that and, and

thank you. 

So wonderful. So tell us about your membership. What is it and what kind of people can join? You know, I'm an author and I don't write children's books. I have YA, but I just love your art. It makes me happy to be supporting you and also I wanna have more representations of different kinds of people in whatever I market.

And I, I want to remember that. And so your work really reminds me of that and it, just makes my world bigger. So that's my endorsement for you. 

[04:39] The Importance of Representation in Art

You're really for children's book authors, teachers. Who else is your membership ideal for and what is your membership?

Yeah, so I'll go into it. So I have a membership, it's a monthly membership, it's just $9 a month and every weekyou get a new piece of clip art of black and brown kids in your inbox. The name is called Brown Sugar Graphics. and I was tearing myself apart trying to figure out the name of this thing for like six months and I'm so glad that I figured it out.

But it is, like I said, a monthly membership, $9 a month where you get a new illustration of black and brown kids in your inbox. And the way that clip art works is if you're creating social media content, if you're a podcast host and you somehow impact kids positively. You can be a entrepreneur, author, educator, homeschool families, and homeschool parents. Anyone who is sick and tired of trying to find diverse graphics and clip art of kids and families, and also that's not generated by AI. 

I definitely do not use AI with my work. What I've seen on Etsy and Canva and all these different websites where you can get, uh, graphics and, and stock imagery, at least for illustrated versions, is that they're not illustrated.

I wouldn't say it's not illustrated enough. I would say that the representation is just not there. You can generate your own graphics through generative AI, but there's just little details in the black and brown experience that just isn't replicated. And only a person, only a person with lived experience can make that.

So, the way that it started was I had a bunch of authors. I, I, I'm, I'm an in the children's book world and a lot of authors told me that they could not find clip art of black and brown kids when they-- I, I have a, a friend who does presentations, for schools, school visits, you name it. And they try to add little graphics and little pops of color and little bit of joy in, in the work that they do.

And yet they find something and they're just like. Okay, I found three and they're digging and digging and digging for more. And they're so frustrated because they can't find what they're looking for. 

And so I thought, one, this is a perfect Melquea shaped hole that I can fill. And two, it allows me to draw something new every week.

As I illustrate picture books, it can take seven to eight months, if not a year, to finish illustrating a whole children's book and that's only at max, maybe two to three, four characters. And yes, it's great that we have a book out, but I knew that there was going to be a better way to be able to diversify the amount of imagery of black and brown kids.

I. Yeah, that's pretty much my membership and thank you so much for the glowing review. 

Sure, 

for sure. I mean, here we are, everyone listening like this is a prime example of how you are putting art into the world in a very direct way, where you get to impact how people see themselves. How I get to envision the world. However, when It gets to see the world and it opens it up for us. 

[07:58] Creating Positive Imagery of Black and Brown Kids

And, and so that brings me to your, other interest, like of representing boys with their dads. Reading and maybe doing other activities together, and I just love that so much. Like that imagery, that warmth, the family, you know, the father being a role model for the son.

And you're bringing forth something so positive in, I mean, we have to say it, and historically very disjointed and broken and very sadly tragic, past of, of where fathers were ripped away from the family. Boys growing up without a father. And um, that's been such a traditional thing that's happened over the last few hundred years in the United States and, and who knows, maybe earlier, but it's tragic.

And here you are just repairing the world a little bit in your beautiful way. Here's a positive representation that we can step into and envision and feel like when I see those images, I just feel like warm and so positive and, and you know, my heart melts. And I'm like, yes. Right? Like, oh yeah, let's have some stories. Like my story brain starts writing a little story about that, you know? Yes. 

So, yeah. so I have a mentor, his name is Reggie Brown. And he, when I think of an illustrator that illustrates black boys and fathers, I think of him. For me, I actually-- my comfort zone is little black girls. and, but he told me when we were working together, he said, you know, publishers are really looking for positive imagery of black boys and their fathers or black boys, and families, because I guess.

I don't know why black girls are more palatable. And I say that in air quote, dear listener, um, to our industry. But, that's just something that I was like, I should probably start, I. you know, looking into and, and, and being more deliberate in the way that I illustrate, black kids. And so I was like, all right, let's take a look and let's see, like what, what has been done?

What is cliche? IE The Killmonger, the Killmonger hairstyle.

Um, and, and I also looked into, I, I looked into animation. I looked into illustration. I looked into books. I looked into all different types of children's media, just to have an idea, like, almost like a holistic sense of like, what is- what is out there? And then I try to fill in that gap of like, what can we like, include?

[10:31] Future Projects and Aspirations

So for example, one of my things that I wanna really hone in and focus on a little bit is, this little, what I call it, a collection. Yeah. Like a new collection that I wanna work on, called Back in Nature or Black in Nature. It's just a bunch of black kids and families that are in nature. Either they're hiking, they're biking, they're scuba diving, they're out in nature, and, and sort of repairing that, that sense of being in nature as well.

Even though I'm terrified of bugs, um, I love being in nature. Uh, I love being near, near the water. I love, being near trees and all sorts of things. And so that's something that I want to start illustrating and having that replicated in my work. And I also want to illustrate and either illustrate and or write and illustrate a book about that too.

That's just something that is like a passion of mine.

I I love that so much and I let me see if I can just put myself in the speaker view for a second. I forgot. I was supposed to be like being the producer. Um and you u And you also mentioned ahead of time, like you also wanna show black and brown kids,in professions, different professions or doing different activities.

Yes, 

and I also really, really love that, especially I'm a champion for women in the sciences. I have a heroine who's a kickass heroine who's scientific and kickass because I'm like, you can have both, you know, but women in sciences, women doing and girls doing professions that aren't normally, haven't traditionally been typically put into the media, and I love that you include that in your illustrations.

Can you tell us a little bit more about your decision there? 

Yeah, so that is not a collection that I have illustrated yet, but that's something that's like, I have such a big to-do list on all the illustrations that I wanna do for this membership, but I know of a few people that are in the sciencesthat travel, that do these things that I want to include because like when I think of, black kids in clip art, we have some sciences, we have some maths, we have police officer, we got the fire department. Like, it's all of the same types of jobs that, that have been represented in media, in our literature for eons. 

And I'm like, yeah, but I know somebody that works in marine biology. Come on. That's cool. I never thought that that was a thing. Like, there's some of these, like these an artist, you know? Yeah. We have like a person who's a painter. But now just imagine being someone who's like a social media influencer.

Like these sort of things that I love to just shake the mold of like what we see and what we expect when we think of careers. Like obviously, because it's just, it just has to happen. I'm gonna have your, you know, kid with a test tube beaker or you know, things like that. But I also wanna add a little bit more pizazz, razzle dazzle.

I don't know, just something that, something that, you know, that sparks conversation. You know, when I do release that illustration of a black kid engaging in marine biology work, I'm gonna write about the person that I know who is in marine biology, who's also a children's book author actually, and you know, the people that work in IT and sciences that work in, in all of the STEM fields and all of all of these different things, and just normalizing it. And just also having, and also just a way to differentiate myself too.

Oh, I love that so much. I have a nephew who just turned 21, who's um, wow. he is a brown boy. His papa is from North Africa. And, um, and he is going into biotech or he wants to go into, wow. Yeah. And I was just thinking, you know, what would be a representation for someone like him? you know, how the computer, he also is doing computer stuff too.

And, yeah, and I was just thinking of, of my, um. I have family in Hawaii, you know, and like what? And, and my brother is way into like all the jungle and the plants and, you know, native cultivation and, and I just thinking how illustrations for him and his kids and yeah, I just love how it opens up so many possibilities.

And there's that wonderful saying, you know, " if you can see it, you can be it." And I feel like you're really opening that door and it makes me hungry to see your illustrations and for people to know about them and to, you know

., What else could you be creating and how else could you be putting those visions into the world?

And I'm very excited for you.

Thank you. Thank you, and thank you for just being my champion. I really appreciate you being, just being my founding member and believing in me, in my art. And I, at first it was a little selfish of what, of what, what me doing this membership. It was, okay, I need recurring income.

I need to draw something that I want. I need this. This is a great place. But then I started thinking about my altruistic side. And I was like, wait a minute, but I get to be able to showcaseall of these different folks and all these different backgrounds and skin tones and all the things that I'm passionate of, and then other people are sharing how much that means to them. And it makes me think of, you know. It can be "Yes-And." 

At first I was like, oh, well this is a bit of a selfish thing to, to to do. And then I thought about it and I was like, wait a minute though. But I'm, but it's helping people. It's helping people. people see this and they go, oh my gosh, like, this is so beautiful.

Or even just the simple fact of like my artwork, bringing joy twofold, especially in the, where we are in this world, the climate, all over, all over. And just knowing that my artwork can be a beacon of hope and joy makes me so happy. 

I really feel like that is so key. you know, you call it selfish, and then there's the altruistic, and you're right, it's both- and. 

I think creative people, we, we maybe start with the urge to create the urge to, mm-hmm. to do that all on our own. And, and that's, that's beautiful. That's what makes our work so unique and so individual and then sharing it with the world. 

Well, our art is our gift. And being able to share that and you coming from this place of wanting to do something that suited you, that really suited you, I think is so important.

I, I teach creatives how to build their businesses and, and, and this is really key because if you're not coming from a place of true, truth for yourself, then how can you go out and help others do the same? And, right?

Yeah.

Can we be part of that, global, like bringing the energy up with what, with beauty, what, what art does?

[17:31] The Role of Kid Lit in Shaping Young Minds

And so this brings me also to, to kid lit writers and you working with kid lit writers and how they are, have such a key role and have had a, such a key role in really shaping us as children. And you know, What is that like for you to be able to work with these kid lit authors? And it sounds like you're also a kid lit author yourself, you know?

Yeah.

What is that like, or, I mean, do you think of the global responsibility? Is it really? Yeah. How, how do you perceive that? 

Being a kid lit writer and a kid lit creator there, it's a gravity to the fact that we are creating for our next generation or for our, our younger generations. And then there's also this big responsibility that we're creating for our next generation.

But then there's also the sheer fact of like, we get to have fun. We get to, influence kids and we also get to, heal ourselves as well as kid lit creators. uh, like you said, there's a both and there's so much that goes into creating children's books and, and when I first started getting into this industry, I thought, oh, this will be a cinch, this will be so easy.

I could just draw whatever, write whatever, and these kids will eat it up. And no. Everyone set me up to think that It was like, oh, just get into children's books. Just write children's books. It'll be so easy. No, there's a reason why there's gatekeepers. There's a reason why this is a craft, you know.

Some folks who write novels will, they're like, I won't even touch a children's book manuscript because every single word of your 500 word manuscript has to matter. Everything. Um, there's a structure- some of, there's, there's a bit of a structure to it. There is a bit of like a craft that goes into it. so there's there's so much that goes into kid lit writing and illustrating, and then the illustration as well.

You're literally illustrating a story that is not illustrating the text all the time, like don't illustrate the text, and you're still telling either a separate story and or a, uh, a story that compliments what is on the page because Littles- So many of the, the books that are being read to Littles, they can't read yet.

They can't read yet. So they have to be able to decipher through illustration what is happening in the story. And it is fascinating learning about being a children's book illustrator and, and crafting something that will hopefully be read for years to come over and over and over again. But there's a little, there's like this gravity of, you know, you're impacting kids.

You are, You're also impacting the adults that are reading it because the adults are also the ones that are getting the books from the bookshelves and reading to their kids as well. So when you speak to the adults, it'll speak to the kids as well. So there's, there's, there's so many little nuances that goes into like the kidlit community and being in kid lit as well. 

Mm-hmm. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I, I don't, I don't write for kids. I mean, YA is, is hard enough. A lot of consideration. Yeah. And I don't do middle grade. That's so wonderful. 

[21:03] Closing Thoughts and Reflections

So as we wrap up, I would love to know, um, when you hear how to write the future, what, what does that evoke for you? 

It is so funny because I'm literally think of like science fiction and tech when I think of like writing the future, but I, I do, I also- I just looked out the window and I just saw like a bird flying and I'm just like,

I think of hope. I think of hope. and especially in a world that can be seen as cruel, that can be experienced as cruel. I, I think of for those who have the capacity to do what they can to spread that hope and to spread that joy so we can uplift the folks that need a little bit more help. Um. I think of writing the future, as raising littles and, and hopefully unlearning as adults.

Just compassionate young people. I believe in our newer generations, I feel like our newer generations have so much to, so much that's going against them and so much anxiety and all this like. Why does a 10-year-old know about taxes? They should not, but at the same time, I love the ability that folks, that folks have to discern that we, there are things that don't need to exist or in terms of, certain hardships, certain things, and it's just like, honestly, no, we're gonna interrogate this and this should not be this way. 

Or why, I signed a contract for nine, a job for nine to five, and I'm leaving at 8:00 PM?

Like, you know, there, there are some toxic things and, and things in this world that we are just used to, and we normalize that our younger generations that are just like, mm, mm-hmm. This isn't normal. I don't think so. And I'm just like, I'm all for it. Like shake this, shake this industry, shake everything up, because obviously it's working for some people, but it's not working for everyone. 

I love what you're saying, you know, shaking things up. that, taking away some of the things that have been normalized that people think, oh, it's just the way it is. But actually no, it's not. Yes, it's created by other human beings. For reasons. 

Mm-hmm. 

Um, and I think our job as creatives is to, is to show a new way.

I mean, obviously that's my point of view. And I feel like in your work as a children's book illustrator and author like, and with these positive images of the way black and brown kids can, can be in the world, you're painting a new picture, you're like putting pictures in our heads of like, it can be another way y'all. Here, let's have some fun with these other ways.

Yes. 

And I, I think that's so vivid and so. Right there. Uh, I just love that. I mean, yes, story, like the kind of stories I write and it. But it's more involved, right? You gotta read the whole book versus the kids' book, you just open it up and boom, there you are. You're, you're in that new vision. And I just applaud you and, and just really love, love, love, love the work that you're doing, Melquea.

And so I, I know we could keep going on, but, um, we're gonna, we're gonna have to have you back and, and have more conversations. And so I just wanna say thank you so much for coming on the podcast today and, hanging out with us and, and chatting art and, and just what could be and, and play. We're having fun folks.

Thank you so much for having me, Beth. I really appreciate just spending this time and just hanging out with you and, and you, my dear listener. 

Thank you so much everyone for joining us here on How to Write the Future this week. Write long and prosper. 

And that's a wrap. Woo-hoo. We're done.

Woo.