Meet the Author: Melquea Smith

I have such a treat for you today! We're continuing with our author interviews and talking with children's book illustrator-author Melquea Smith.

Melquea Smith is a New York-based illustrator with an obsession with color, animals, and children’s media. When not illustrating, you can find her watching cartoons and animated movies, planning her next trip, terribly dancing with her cat Kilala, and giving her other cat, Bumblebee, pit-pats on her super fluffy tummy. You can learn more and stay in touch with Melquea by signing up for her newsletter!

How did you become an illustrator?

I've been illustrating or drawing for as long as I could pick up a pencil. I was always that kid who would doodle on homework, on classwork. Drawing was my reward. I grew up on the internet. As one does, if you're on old websites like DeviantArt, I started realizing people could get paid for their art. It pretty much went downhill from there. I started experimenting with commission-based work. Somebody says, “I have an original character, and I'd love for you to draw them.” I would do that for $2 on a sheet of paper and scan it, and that was their commission. Thank goodness now I don't sell my art for that price anymore. I can add two, three zeros on there. But that was the beginning, especially when I didn't have a job. As a teen, I started getting into cosplay and needed ways to pay for my cosplay stuff. That was something that I realized that I'm good at, and I can fall back on it as a career.

I always knew that I wanted to be paid for my art, and that has followed me everywhere. I've tried so many things, from drawing fan art to traveling and selling my art at conventions. I've done so much of that, and then I took a break in 2019. I remember going to a local con, and it was fun, but the thought of going and doing more conventions… I just thought, “I'm really tired. I'm gonna take a break in 2020.” I chose a wonderful year to take a break!

I realized that convention work means you spend money in order to make money. I could spend more than $1,000 and just hope to break even. I also got drained after conventions. They take a lot of energy out of me. I love talking with people and socializing, but now I realize it's too much for me. Now, I'll be an attendee at a convention. Sometimes, I'll dream about being a vendor again because there’s something lovely about having that vendor badge, knowing that you can skip the line sometimes, and also schmoozing it up with other artists. That is my favorite.

I started pivoting. I was in a class with my mentor, Chris Oatley, and he has a class called the Oatley Academy. We were doing this thing called Dream Machine, building the type of creative career we wanted. At first, I tried to do all the things. I had a YouTube channel, an Instagram, a Facebook. I was trying to make videos and do content, write to my email list, and I was trying to do conventions and all this other stuff. I was trying to break into two different industries. I wanted to be in children's books, and I wanted to be in animation. Chris was like, “Pick one.” I was terrified because I thought that if I picked one, I would never be able to do the other thing ever again.

I ended up talking with a couple of my classmates, and we worked it through and talked it out. I remember finding an illustration of this little Dalmatian puppy character, Daisy. She is in the rain with her little umbrella. She’s covering a snail on a leaf. That was what signified children's books for me. I looked at that picture, and I said, “Okay, I know what I want to do.”

What books have you worked on?

The first book that I worked on is called Two Homes in Omar's Heart, and that was in collaboration with an organization called Room to Read. Their mission is to lower the illiteracy rates across the world and in the United States. We were part of a project that paired up an author, editor, art director, and artist. There were 12 teams, and we had to make a book in a month. From writing to editing to illustrating, all of it. I will never do that again, but it was the first time I got paid to illustrate a book, and it was the first time that I was able to learn how to do this on the job.

At first, I remember thinking, “I can't do this. I don't know how to do that. I can't do it.” I missed my deadline, too, but I kept going. I learned so much about the process because of the time constraints. My art director trusted me and was like, “Take the reins. Do what you do best. Tap my shoulder if you need anything or want to work through ideas. But this is all you.” We finished it, we launched it, and it's available to read for free. That was my first ever picture book.

The second book was with Cardinal Rule Press. It was The Time Machine. I ended up emailing the team as an illustrator for consideration. I didn't think anything of it. I was like, “I'm just going to send this email.” I’m sure folks get this—they’ll have low confidence days, and then they'll have neutral confidence days where it’s like, “What do I have to lose?” When I have those days, I get out all of my proposals, send all the queries, all the emails.

A few months later, they emailed me and said, “We think you'd be a great fit for this project. Here's our budget, our timeline, and the manuscript. What do you think?” I tried to negotiate as much as I possibly could, but I accepted because I knew I was still new in the industry at the time. I said, “All right, I'm going to use this as a stepping stone to learn and build my skills.”

For the third book, they reached out to me and asked if I'd be willing to illustrate. That was for The Biggest Gift of All. The author has her own publishing company. It was very indie, and she had her volunteer marketing team. They champion disability rights and disabled characters as the main characters in books, which is super fun. It's super cool, and it was fun to work with her.

What would you tell a writer who says, “I've written this children's book. Now what?”

Don't contact me! Here's why. If you've written your children's book and that's your first draft, you know, especially if you're a seasoned writer, that it’s going to be trash. That's coming from an illustrator—what you see in my portfolio looks as good as it does, but it starts as awful scribbles. It starts as stick figures. It starts as cryptic word puzzles, like, “Needs a left foot,” “This hand is wrong,” or “Where are the fingers?” If you're writing a picture book, an illustrator is not the first person you contact after you're done.

You have to have other people read and critique that book. Hopefully, there are some littles who can read and critique that book and share what they like about it. At the very least, get a critique group or hire an editor. Bailey does that! Make sure that it is the best possible draft.

Then, if you're self-publishing, you can contact an illustrator. If you're working with Penguin Random House or some big conglomerate publisher, do not contact an illustrator. You're going to waste your time. You're going to waste your money and an illustrator’s time as well. Agents and editors and art directors are not looking for Illustrator-author teams unless you're the same person.

What do you find that writers sometimes forget when working with an illustrator?

A picture book is a partnership. Creatives, in general, have a very specific idea in our minds of how we want something to look. Rightly so! But the true magic of picture books, the ones that win awards, the ones that are well renowned, those are in collaboration with an illustrator who might have a completely different viewpoint. They're allowed to put their expertise and their experience and bring their own life into the story. Sometimes, authors forget to leave breathing room for the illustrator. Not everything has to show in text, especially if you're clever with that 500-word limit. It's a partnership.

Some things need to be in the art notes, though. So, for example, if you are an author of a marginalized background writing about a marginalized main character, we don't want a picture book about adversity and struggle that turns the main character into a rabbit if that is not the intention. If you're writing a nonfiction picture book, I need all the historical art notes because I am not great at history.

It's so important that a creative project like that is treated as a partnership and that the author and the illustrator are on equal footing for this project.

What should a writer look for in an illustrator? How can you tell when someone is a good partner for a project?

I've been noticing this a lot, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence and scams in the self-publishing and author/illustrator community. Illustrators might not like me for this, but they need social proof. Your illustrator needs to be on some form of social media. They need to have some skin in the game.

You can request to talk to your Illustrator. I know a lot of us have massive social anxiety, so talking could be terrifying, but we can have a consultation. You can do a paid illustration test. I was paid to do a character design for a book project.

An illustrator should have more than enough illustrations to know what you're going to get when you work with them. Follow them on social, see what they're posting, see if they're a good fit. Art directors and agents do this all the time. Take your time to scout and see if they're the right person for you.

What’s next for you? What are you working on?

I am a children's book illustrator, and I also work with children's book authors. I provide email marketing, content creation, and graphic design for children's book authors and entrepreneurs. I'm working on my illustrator-author book, as I would say, working on a book dummy, and I'm taking my email listers on a journey with that creative work.

I'm also thinking about a membership where I have an illustration bank for educators and educators and homeschool parents to use my art for their education content.

What is the number one piece of advice you would offer to a writer, illustrator, or both?

Success is mostly because someone has been doing their thing for forever. But that doesn't mean that you do the same thing. You can absolutely pivot. I pivoted by offering my services besides illustration to authors.

It's okay to take a break. I think the best stories come from us actually experiencing life and seeing things. I've gotten so many picture book and illustration ideas by observing people and being outside instead of trying to force myself to write things. Yesterday, I had a pretty weird emotional day, and I decided to take a break and watch an anime episode because I wasn't getting anything done.

Take a break, go outside if the weather permits, and take time off to enjoy not working. Put in that vacation time. You’ve got to refill the tank.

What is the best book that you've read recently?

I’m reading Children of Anguish and Anarchy, the last book in the Children of Blood and Bone series by Tomi Adeyemi (affiliate links*). The first book got me into reading for pleasure again. I was terrified of reading something so big and so long, but the first chapter threw me into an emotional roller coaster within seven pages.

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Melquea's lessons about creative collaboration are so resonant—it's a partnership! Treat it like one! That's the pathway to work you'll love and that your readers will love as well.