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School Visit – University of San Francisco

These are some photos from a recent visit to the University of San Francisco (USF). Artist and professor Liat Berdugo invited me to come speak to her class through a referral from another designer and professor Sabiha Basrai! Check it out!

I’ve been an art teacher for elementary, jr high, and high school students. In fact it was one of the biggest and most consistent jobs I’ve ever had. I started speaking to children in 2012 as an author and have been doing so ever since. But its only within the past 3 years that I’ve been invited to speak to college students.

When I speak to them it has been to assist the professor in driving home a few points of experience, or to give insight into a particular part of my career. But what I really want to do is provide a regular everyday person’s experience of being an artist. Not a famous or wealthy one, a working class artist.

This means no bullshit. I try to be as honest as possible about making a living, debt from college, and how to scrape by because thats what I know. I also want to get them thinking less about working for a big company and more about running their career like a business, and working together with others like them because when we build unions, cooperatives, collectives I think our skill, wages, and power grows. This might be contrary to some schools instruction though.

I also like to bring my sketchbook because its something tangible they can touch and feel. But also, its behind the scenes. Its the making of. Its not finished or perfect, its messy, and its a reminder to me that its important to practice and generate ideas. I show finished work too of course, but I like bringing in physical media.

Me talking about my “why” regarding my career in kid lit.

All in all, I had a really great time talking to these students who had really astute questions about being a working artist. I think adults who are currently working in the biz of dance, music, design, whatever are experts who can really help prepare students to survive as beginners in an artistic career. You don’t need a big name, what you have is experience and that is valuable!

In this talk I spoke about:

  • Best practices as a working professional
  • Solidarity w/ social justice issues, working class people, and international struggle
  • Community building with other artists rather than an individual focus
  • Art education about different forms of art
  • Art practice and being multidisciplinary
  • Career: Kid lit, Mural Making, Merchandise making, and Public speaking

On another note: If you dig these photos, these were taken by my brother Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi who is not only a talented photographer but an organizer of the Fist Up Film Festival and a talented filmmaker! Watch the trailer for his most recent film “We Still here”!

Dig this? Check out other visits to colleges

November 6, 2025
in School or Library Visit
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Shipping merch!

Every month I’m blessed that people support my shop. Some are friends or fam, but most are people I’ve never met in my life. I hella appreciate you all! You can get art prints, books, stickers, etc.

Dig this? Check out this post about my table set up at SJ Made (Art Fair/Market)

November 6, 2025
in Merch
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Picture Book Recommendation-Perfect Harmony

This is a bit late but heres a picture book review for October featuring a lovely one that I used to read to my son called “Perfect Harmony” about the Boys Choir of Harlem. Its not often that picture book authors are also photographers but that is the case with this book and I wish more picture book would make use of it :). Watch my review.

Dig this? Check out my review of Our Little Kitchen

November 1, 2025
in Creative Resources, Educational Resources
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Mini Comic 5 – Trumpet

This is a short comic about a young child seeing a trumpet , falling in love with it, and learning to play so well that she inspired a new generation. I drew this super fast without any words.

Whats this? I’ve had fits and starts with comics over the years. 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 (shorter more manageable stories) so I could do the most important part; finish them. This is a continuation of that.

Dig this? Check out some of my other comics

November 1, 2025
in Comics
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Events- Dia de los Muertos @ Molaa

This was a dope event I participated in down in Long Beach, California. I hadn’t been to the museum before and after participating in this I plan to come back! For this “Dia de Muertos” event I set up with 30-40 other local vendors who were selling jewelry, pottery, comics, clothing, candles, and more.

During the pandemic I participated on a panel discussion for MOLAAA with some good friends Cathy Camper and Isabel Quintero alongside moderator Professor Frederick Aldama which was awesome. Watch it here.

I drove down with my family, hit the Lightbox Expo on my second day out there and then hit Molaa on day 3. I brought my whole set up.

While I was there I met some new friends such as Con Todos Press, Little Dreamers Publishing , my neighbors Rituals N Potions and For My Homegirls and had a great time. I’m hoping to do more school and library visits in the Los Angeles area so if you know of someone hit me up.

Meeting author and activist Danielle Davis in person

I didn’t get a chance to go inside or see all the performances but I caught a glimpse of a the Mariachi Cumbia and one of the alters outside. it was beautiful and somber being that ICE has been terrorizing Black and Brown folks in LA, Chicago, Portland, NYC, here in the Bay and many other places.

This is a short video showing some more photos from the event.

Dig this? Check out this video of me talking to Gabriela Martinez about Furqan’s First Flat Top

Or check out these photos of my set up at SJ Made in San Jose, Ca.

October 29, 2025
in Events
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Mini comic 4-Space Graff

Space Graf is a short comic about a time when me and my homie went to the freight train yards to paint our names on trains decades ago. Just a colored pencil and an ink pen. I’m not trying to make the greatest illustration, just trying to finish a comics. Even if its 1 page long.

Whats this? I’ve had fits and starts with comics over the years. 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 (shorter more manageable stories) so I could do the most important part; finish them. This is a continuation of that.

Dig this? Check out some of my other comics

October 29, 2025
in Comics, General
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School visit-CCA Picture Book Workshop 2

Alright so I must be lucky or highly favored or something because I’ve been invited to give a workshop to young artists at one of the most prestigious art schools in the Bay; California College of the Arts. And, they allowed me to come in and speak about a format of art that i LOVE. Picture books!!!!!

I’ve taken classes about making picture books. I have literally read hundreds of them. I’ve illustrated them, and written a few. I love making them, reading them, studying them, and I have enjoyed sharing what I know about the mechanics of picture books as I understand them.

OG artist, Papa, cartoonist, and professor Fred Noland invited me to speak and I began by talking about my non linear path to a career in the arts. I laid out a series of picture books for the students to check out. Some really old, some from the last twenty years, some new ones, and some of my own.

On the table is a series of picture books by creators that also worked in comics.

In this workshop I focused on:

  • Character
  • Story taglines
  • Synopsis
  • Thumbnails
  • Picture book spread

I asked the students to go through the process of coming up with a picture book story as an exercise and they DID! We used original and existing characters to achieve this. Then we shared them so they could see each others work.

I started doing a similar method of exercise that I began doing 20 years ago teaching while teaching graffiti lettering to young people all over the Bay Area and NYC. Its a way for me to teach but also for them to learn from their peers who inevitably have a different take on it.

All in all, one of my favorite things about being a visiting artist for high school or college undergrads is being able to give no bullshit answers about what its like to make your living doing this. Sometimes the answers are dreamy and sometimes they’re more blunt. Fred’s class had great energy and questions. I feel like I learned from them too.

Dig this? Check out these other visits to colleges.

October 12, 2025
in School or Library Visit
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Inspiring Artist-Eva Sánchez Gómez

I came to Eva’s work through Instragram. In the general feed (if I’m checking out illustration) I occasionally see some heat and I loved this image right away when I saw it. Eva is a DOPE illustrator from Spain who uses traditional media such as water color and colored pencils to create some of the illest illustrations I’ve ever seen. Check out more of her work here.

Her work has a fierceness and softness to it that is unmatched. I love the down to earth emotion and the wild out there fantastical elements to it.

What’s this? This is where I share inspiring artists that have been inspiring to me in my work sometimes directly and other times indirectly. I loved seeing Eva Sánchez Gómez’s work online and hope to check some of her picture books one day if I can get them in the United States. Here are some other artists to check out:

Bea Gifted – illustrator

Elizabeth Catlett – Sculptor and fine artist

Olivia Fields– Illustrator, cartoonist

Helen Mingjue Chen– Illustrator, concept artist

Check out an interview w/Eva here.

Dig this? Check out my last inspiration board

October 12, 2025
in General
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School Visit – San Francisco State University

This past month I got the opportunity to speak to undergrad and graduate students in “Ethnic Studies” and the “Department of Latino/a Studies” at San Francisco State University (SFSU) in California. Leticia Hernandez-Linares, a bad ass poet, professor, mama, activist, and my co-creator of “Alejandria Fights Back/ La Lucha de Alejandria” invited me to speak to a room full of students of all ages.

SFSU is the first college I went to straight out of high school. While there I took classes in design, fine art, and ethnic studies before transferring to an art school. I didn’t realize it then, but going to a school so rich in different types of people, and having access to so much knowledge about my culture was a gift. It was once I went to other schools that I realized what I took for granted. SFSU is the first college alongside UC Berkeley to fight for a curriculum that centered Black, Brown, indigenous, and Asian American history in the United States ever! Also know as Ethnic Studies which I talk about a lot here. Learn more about that college HERE.

Short videos about Ethnic Studies

I spoke about:

  • A career in the arts
  • Benefits/ effects of Ethnic Studies courses at SFSU and how I incorporate it into art
  • Public Art
  • Freelance Illustration
  • Political Art
  • Children’s Books
  • Solidarity and coalition building

Walls by muralist Juana Alicia (mural by artist above left), was greeted by the mural of Malcolm X by Spie One (above right).

While I was there I took a very brief walk on campus to reminisce about some of the buildings. The quad, the cafeteria, the huge grass field, the murals, etc. As a student I often attended my classes and went back to Oakland and Berkeley to hang with my homies. While I love them and doing that, I built some strong bonds w/other students and wish I would’ve taken advantage of the container of community there.

I spent sooo much time in this building as a student there. Books, food, sleeping, lol. Even met the mother of my first child there, ha!

I had a great time speaking to the students and I’m trying to be honest, forthcoming, respectful, and open minded not only as a visiting speaker but as someone who answers questions about what its like to be a professional artist or to be multi-disciplinary in my work.

Dig this? Check out these other visits to colleges and libraries.

October 12, 2025
in School or Library Visit
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