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Author: Robert Liu-Trujillo

Libros Solidarios – Book Cover

photo by my wife

I did the cover illustration for this book by accomplished teachers Dr. Luz Yadira Herrera (CA) and Dr. Carla España (NY) a couple years back. I had some footage of the painting process but I misplaced it and cannot find it. But, lemme share some of the process with you.

First and foremost, this is a guide for teachers and educators. It’s meant to help Spanish and bilingual teachers recognize the life experiences of their Latine students, outline kids books that affirm that, and pack in hella tips, tricks, resources, and guides for how to get it cracking. Get the book here.

In this book you’ll find Unit projects, Sample activities, Language study, Translation discussion and reading group guides.

You’ll also find guides for dozens of great kid lit books by creators such as Duncan Tonatiuh, Claribel A. Ortega, Adrianna Cuevas, Emma Otheguy, Margarita Engle, Juan Felipe Herrera, Aida Salazar, Lisette Norman, Yuyi Morales, and more.

Ok, when I’m vibing out and really diving into a story or project for a client I’m exploring lots of options. I probably had 3 or 4 times as many ideas for how this cover could look. I settled on three main ones and pitched those to the art director from Brookes Publishing; Rachel Word who would then share key images with Luz and Carla. They chose A3.

From there, I refined the sketch and added some grey tones to convey light, shape, and composition. After that I did an outlined version with the last few tweaks.

From there, I shared some ideas for color and I try to pick some that are a bit odd, or different from what I’ve seen on other curriculum books.

Then, the final cover painting was done with ink and watercolor.

I passed it on to Brookes and designers there brought it to life with the accompanying type and back cover design. It came out really fresh and I hope K-6 grade educators are able to make use of the wealth of information provided by these two bad ass educators. Cop this book here for your classroom!

Dig this? Check out my cover for Robert M. Alexander’s book “He Hit Me First”

May 10, 2026
in Ilustration
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2000 Sales on Etsy!

Got damn, I just crossed the 2000 number mark on Etsy. To celebrate here’s a discount code (GREATEST7) for 15% off anything in the shop that will be valid until May 22nd. Hella appreciate the support whether you’ve bought something from my shop once or 3 times.

History: I’ve sold on We Buy Black, My own wordpress site (new store coming), Faire, and a few other sites here and there. But My Etsy has been the most consistent for the past decade. I remember the first time at a class at Parsons in NYC a rep from the company came to a class . I think Trey Hoyumpat’s class (2008). He broke it down, I started a shop but didn’t think much about it. I sold zines, handmade light switch covers, original art with affirmations on it, and that was it from 2008-2014.

Fast forward to 2016, I’d been sending out my postcards to art directors in the kid lit world since 2008 and after getting little to no response I launched my own kickstarter for Furqan’s First Flat Top and then distributed the book myself. That book and those that followed it reignited my imagination. I began to sell prints from the book and decided to go beyond those and illustrate kids of color relating to literacy, identity, and self respect. That really started to kick things off, it felt like it was serving a need for folks and myself, it inspired me, and it was affordable.

Although I’d sold original art before this lead to a series of events as a seller. Local events like the Malcolm X Jazz Fest, then later my first large events like the SF Etsy Emporium where the focus was on the artists, nothing else. Here’s a photo of my first time selling at Malcolm X Jazz Fest with authors Jill Guerra and Gualikuya Mariposa fka Melissa Reyes. And then at a holiday market in Richmond with my wife.

This was my set up at the 2024 West Coast Craft Fair, my how things have changed. Anyways, this is just a short walk down memory lane. I plan to release a pdf on how I got to 2000 sales. In the meantime….

If you dig this, check out this post I made about getting to 1000 sales on Etsy five years ago.Or this post about my table set up.

May 9, 2026
in Business Resources
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Library Visit – Columbus, OH

What up fam, I just got back from Columbus Ohio, a city I visited for the first time in 2019 for the SOL Con at Ohio State organized by Dr Frederick Luis Aldama and Dr Kaitlin Marisol-Sweeney and a school visit to Weinland Park Elementary.

This time I was brought out by librarian and author Elisa Stone Leahy (picture in the middle) and I read alongside local author and teacher Dia Mixon who has some great bicultural and bilingual picture books here. In 2025 I started reaching out to libraries outside of the Bay more proactively and Elisa is one of a handful that invited me to come read!

It was great to share the space w/ the amazing librarians there and Dia who has a beautiful story “One Whole Me”.

I went up first after the librarians and had a really great reading with lots of ideas, participation, call and response, etc. The majority of these photos were taken by Elisa (thank you Elisa).

Big shout out to Keithia and the other librarians and teachers for their support that day.

BIG shout out to Cover to Cover Bookstore in Columbus for supporting us by having tons of books there for students to take home and read. If you check out their Instagram there’s a short reel of the reading up.

Here are a few shots I took of Dia Mixon while she was reading her book.

If you dig this, check out some of these other schools and libraries I’ve read at:

Here are some of the lovely books I saw on display at this library. Full of diversity, beauty, color, and life! I love seeing books about Queer families, Black folks, AAPI, Native, Latinx etc communities too. This is the link to the reading and if you check out the site, they’ve got over 23 branches!

Some shots from around the city!

I went to the Wexner Center for the Arts to see my friend Dionne Custer Edwards who works in public programs there and is doing great work to uplift artists and to engage young people with art. And I went straight to the bookstore to see my great books and some friends’ work from the Bay and beyond. Then I walked the museum with her and was so inspired by the work of Hew Locke, who’s work as a British Guyanese artists’ work comments on imperialism, cross cultural expression, and it was fucking amazing.

Now, I know -the whole shit w/ the Epstein files and the news about the founder among many of the wealthy elite. And that is its own sick but revealing study of how pedophilic capitalists harm children and the way the wield power over law, governments, corporations, policy, etc to control the working class. More importantly its a reminder to us to act by putting our words, energy, funds, and resources behind people and places working to flip the script. That’s community based organizations, cooperatives, unions, collectives, media outlets, radical candidates , etc. I’m thinking of all of us who do not come from wealth trying to survive which is a huge number and I’m calling in those who have money or access to resources with politics that differ from the 1%. Put your $ where your values are.

That’s it fam, back to the Bay!

May 8, 2026
in General, School or Library Visit
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I’m on “Short Cuts” Podcast- Bay Area Book Festival

Watch: Hey fam, I’m on the Bay Area Book Festival podcast “Short Cuts” w/ Dora La Flora talking about this year’s festival happening in late May, tune in to learn more. And come to the Bay Area Book Festival happening May30-31st in Berkeley California. You can find out more about the Youth Lit Specific day here and get the broader schedule here.

Why go?

  • If you’re a book lover or someone who wants to get your kids reading or get something new to read, there is such a wide array of books there from kid lit to romance, poetry, non fiction, etc. Its there.
  • If you’re someone who works in this field or you’d like to work in it, this is s great opportunity to meet folks ion your field at your level and folks who’ve been doing this for a long time.
  • Lastly, support community led events as opposed to corporations.

Dig this? Check out the Bay Area Book Festival’s YouTube page

April 28, 2026
in Events, Press & Interviews
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KPFA- I was on Hard Knock Radio!

Somehow I forgot to share this here but me, Justine Villanueva, and Mona Damluji were guests on Hard Knock Radio with Davey D on KPFA in Berkeley. You can go straight to KPFA to listen to the show, which aired right before the 9th annual Social Justice Children’s Book Fair of 2025. In this episode we talked about book bans, literacy, topics in kid lit that some adults shy away from, and why the book fair was founded. As I listener of Hard Knock, this was a proud moment for me because I have listened to the show off and on since it started airing.

If this is working right, you should be able to play it right here as well, we begin speaking at the 5 minute mark after the headlines.

Dig this? Check out this podcast I was on called Early Risers based out of Minneapolis

April 11, 2026
in Press & Interviews
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Library Visit – Philadelphia

Peace y’all, I just came back from a cool trip to Philadelphia to read the at the main branch of the public library. This is my first trip to the city and it was great to see it and connect with some old friends. Get ready, there A LOT of photos in this post!

I flew out on the red eye which I will not be doing again cuz I didn’t get much sleep. Once I landed I started hearing Black Thought lyrics in my head though because of street names and things like….

“South East Pennsylvania Transit Authority is what I’m probably on, if I ain’t rippin the land throughout ya section” -Black Thought of The Roots

One of the things I loved about the city is the beauty and abundance of murals. I thought the Bay had a lot of walls but Philly is truly the mural capital. I didn’t get to meet up with her but Michelle Angela Ortiz is one of my favorite muralists out there. Another thing I love about the city is the styles of Graffiti which are distinct and historic. They often write tall and skinny tags!

On my way inside the library I met Lynne Haase, a Philadelphian librarian who answered the call when I set out to visit schools and libraries last year for the first time outside of the Bay. Me and my folks headed into the library (its amazing by the way), and headed down to the kids section where we saw lots of letters and drawings from children. Then we went into a theater where the children would listen to me speak.

First it was one classroom, then 2, then 3 whole classrooms full of children from a local school came on in to listen to me read. They had such great energy and questions!

The room was full, I introduced myself and I got down to business asking them questions and trying my best to engage them so they would not just be listening, but talking back and participating. That means questions, call and response, and good interruptions. I read my book Fresh Juice to the kids!

I wish I could show you photos with the faces of the children unblocked but I was not able to get permission slips for each child. But, they were there and thats the important part.

As I usually do, I brought some of the artwork from the book with me because its like a doorway to understanding how stories get made. Its a process and I try to drive that home with kids, not just about my story but about how the video games, cartoons, films, or other forms of media they consume are created.

Ok , the reading was awesome and if you’d like to see more visits I’ve made to schools or libraries I invite you to check out some of these:

After that I walked around the library to check out the art books and music books.

The library is underrated yall. You can check out tools, seeds, films, records, CDs, musical instruments, and so any different types of BOOKS!

I love walking around libraries. Especially kids sections because each librarian, city, and region is different. I love seeing Bay Area creators work up in other cities too. Here are some fotos I took walking around and some of the librarians checking out my prints. If you would like to see my prints, you can see them here.

A few fotos from around the city from the downtown area, West, South, etc. My good friends who I stayed with took me to a place called Saad’s Halal Restaurant in West Philly that had some of the best Falafel and bean pie I’ve ever eaten:) My friend also took me on a hike around Cobb’s Creek park. I saw Osage ave, infamous for the bombing of the MOVE family, and I saw the famous Hakim’s Bookstore. One of the oldest Black owned bookstores in the country.

Next, I took a trip to Germantown to see my friend Sarah and Uncle Bobbie’s coffee and bookstore!

Uncle Bobbie’s was a beautiful store w/ lots of light and a strong curation. After that I went for a nice hike in a local park w/ my friend Sarah Kolker who is from Philly but lived in NYC and the Bay, where we met!

Lastly, I went to check out The Philadelphia Museum of Art; one of many museums! I also went to meet w/ my friend Dr. Li Sumpter before heading back to the Bay!

Dig this? Check out my trip to Detroit to read out there:)

April 6, 2026
in General, School or Library Visit
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Call your reps re: HR 7661

Urgent, call your reps to tell them : Vote NO on HR 7661! This is a dangerous bill targeting Queer and Trans kids, families, and books, read the images and go to this link #authorsagainstbookbans

Confused? See my previous post about book banning and how it went from 1-200 a year to over 4000!

Dig this? Check out the film The Librarians which features librarians harrassed, threatened, and fired for stocking diverse books about Queer/ Trans identity or Race/ Criticism of White Supremacy.

March 18, 2026
in Educational Resources
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Mini Comic 10 – A Break

Here’s a quick 3 panel comic about taking a break. There are so many things folks are going through. This past weekend I took a break with my family and it was lovely. Sometimes we gotta take a break and step away from all the things so we can recharge and come back better.

Whats this? I’ve had fits and starts with comics since 2007. In 2016 I started working on an epic graphic novel and it was too much, I couldn’t finish. So I took a break and began doing mini comics in 2021 (shorter more manageable stories) so I could do the most important part; finish them. This is a continuation of that. My accountability partner is my cousin and artist; Zhanne Easter.

Dig this? Check out some of my other mini comics

Check out Art of Rob feat 130 pages of drawings, sketchbook pages, illustrations, etc.

March 17, 2026
in Comics
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Latinx Comic & Arts Fest 2026

For maybe the 3rd or 4th time I will be at this years @latinxcomicartsfest in Modesto California.

If you’ve never been to this con, there’s an abundance of warm, inviting folks, Raza, Lowriders, comics, kids books, art, indy creators, students, parents, educators, and all types of people from Central Cali, the Bay, LA, AZ, NYC, Mexico, and beyond. Mark your calendar now. More information here.

When: April 3rd & 4th , 11am-6pm
Where: Modesto Jr College (West Campus)

Shout out to the founder and bad ass Professor Dr Theresa Rojas and Modesto Jr College for hosting us. Shout out to Javier Cruz Winnick for this year’s art and Amber Padilla for the art badges!!!

Dig this? Check out San Jose Day or the Social Justice Children’s Book Fair

March 14, 2026
in Events
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