Violet meeting everyone at Brown Books in Dallas.Texas Publisher Extraordinaire Shortly after I wrote and created a sketched book dummy for “Alithia Ramirez Was an Artist” in the summer of 2022, my wonderful agent Mela Bolinao of MB Artists sent it out to all of the big publishers. A snippet of the storyboard I created for “Alithia Ramirez Was an Artist.” This real response was a typical reaction: “I’m so sorry to say this won’t be going forward. We had quite a discussion about it, and while everyone found the book to be incredibly moving, we were struggling with how to position the book, sin ..read more

In the process of writing Alithia Ramirez Was an Artist and creating the Alithia’s Art Angels website, I’ve become friends with Alithia’s parents, Jess Hernandez and Ryan Ramirez. Jess mentioned wanting custom Converse, two pair for herself—high-top and low—and one pair of high-tops for Ryan. I offered to find a shoe artist but didn’t have any luck, so I decided to paint them myself. Finding shoes was easy. The best prices were at Journeys. I found some cool rainbow-y Converse high-tops that looked similar to the endpapers in Alithia Ramirez Was an Artist (above), and bonus, they were on sal ..read more

Every child is an artist. Pablo Picasso __________ Alithia’s Art Angels 2nd Annual Summer Kids’ Art Contest is underway! All art created by kids K-12 is eligible for fun prizes, including art supplies. Check out last summer’s entries in the YOUR ART section of alithiasartangels.com! The contest ends Aug 31, 2023. Send one image, along with the name of the artist and grade just completed, to: hello@alithiasartangels.com Or, send via smail mail to: PO Box 2017, Dilley TX 78017 The Backstory Alithia’s Art Angels celebrates the life and art of Uvalde victim Alithia Haven Ramirez and the art o ..read more

Meet Jess, a Mom from Uvalde This past year, Jess Hernandez has become a very special person in my life. I value our friendship greatly, but I wish our paths had never crossed. We only met because Jess’s daughter Alithia Haven was murdered at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24 last year, along with 18 of her classmates and two of her teachers. Immediately after the shooting I created a social media campaign in response, illustrating each of the victims. Scroll back in my Instagram to see. Alithia’s dad, Ryan Ramirez, commented on my post about Alithia. The following day, I was listenin ..read more

Thanks very much to Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal who interviewed me for Parents Magazine. Lauren asked me all about the making of Alithia Ramirez Was an Artist, my picture book biography of Uvalde victim Alithia Haven Ramirez. I told her the whole story, which includes a lot of support from Alithia’s parents Jess Hernandez and Ryan Ramirez. The interview was arranged as a cover reveal by my friends at Michael Sampson Books, publisher of Alithia Ramirez Was an Artist. Doesn’t the front cover look terrific? It was designed by the publisher. Click here to read the interview. Click here to preord ..read more

I feel helpless when mass shootings happen. I wish I could do something—anything—to make them stop. You feel that way too, I’m sure of it. The only skill I’ve got is making books for children. After New Zealand’s mosque shootings, I wrote and illustrated Let’s Be Friends. Perhaps the Uvalde shooting will inspire a book as well. When 19 kids and 2 teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School, I drew them, each beautiful child and teacher, and posted the images on Instagram and Facebook. The story of Alithia Ramirez, one of the murdered students, caught my attention. I read that her house was ..read more

Hey, everybody! Meet my intern, Raisa Shaheed. I wasn’t looking for an intern at the start of last term, but Raisa was looking for an internship. And my “ship” was docked right next door. Yep, Raisa is my next door neighbor. I made a portrait of her once, before I properly knew her. (I imagine inspirational people like Raisa are the subjects of countless unsolicited portraits, especially when those inspiring people live next door to sneaky artists). As I got to know her, I discovered that Raisa is an artist, and a writer. She is a gifted teller of stories. So much talent. So creative. So ded ..read more

VOTE FOR CHILDREN, NOT FOR GUNS On Tuesday, May 24, a gunman killed nineteen students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The stories coming out of Uvalde are heartbreaking, sickening. Single issue voters have recently proved their power. They play the long game, and get sh*t done. If I lived in Texas, I would make it my mission to vote certain people out of office. From now on, gun violence is my single issue. CELEBRATE THEIR LIVES I don’t live in Texas; in fact, I presently live about as far away from the US as possible (in Forest City, Malaysia). I’ve been wonderi ..read more

This morning I was interviewed by the lovely Genesis Amaris Kemp on her podcast, GEMS. We talked about publishing, creativity, inspiration, and following your dreams… and even cures for writers block. Click here to listen. If you prefer to watch on YouTube, click here. GEMS is a fun and inspiring podcast to follow. Whenever I listen, I feel like I’m having tea with friends. Make sure you subscribe ..read more

Hi, Everybody! Yesterday, I was a guest on The 500 Section Lounge Podcast. The 500 Section Lounge is a fun show, fresh and entertaining. The hosts—three dads who’ve been friends since high school—talk a lot of sports, so you may be thinking one of two things: 1) I want to hear three dads talk about sports and interview lots of cool sports personalities! If that’s you, no worries, settle down. All you have to do is click here, or use your Google machine. There are many ways to listen and subscribe. 2) What’s a children’s book illustrator doing on a podcast hosted by three dads? Well, let me t ..read more