Happy New Year! Busting out some new new for 2026. Here’s a character of a girl dad and his daughter dancing 🙂
What’s this? This is from a long series of character drawings, paintings, and doodles to stay loose. My name is Robert Liu-Trujillo. I’m an author/illustrator from the Bay Area and my most recent picture book is “Fresh Juice/ Jugo Fresco” published by Lee & Low. Get it at your local public library or independent bookstore.
Here is a new short comic about some of what I do when I’m getting ready to be an exhibitor at an event. I will make the art, recreate it via prints, stickers, or other ways. Then I pack it up and drive or fly to the event before talking to lots and lots of people. Then I head back home and do it again.
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.
Hey yall, This is a photo of me holding a coloring book I illustrated for a south Bay organization called the Open Space Authority of Santa Clara. They are a an organization that stewards and protects over 30k acres of land in Santa Clara County from being bulldozed and turned into malls. The land includes hills, valleys, trees, wetlands, and lots of animals and critters.
Check out some of the land they protect even in the heart of silicon valley. Its a vast area! Thank goodness for organizations that do this kind of advocacy for all to appreciate nature and wildlife.
Here’s a bit of process of drawing one of the spreads from the book. This is the first spread from the coloring book. I also did the hand lettered typography for the title below.
Here’s the cover for the book which features coloring pages, puzzles, and some other observant activities for children to do. It’s a cool way to introduce them to the Santa Clara Valley.
Here are some screen shots from Open Source’s Instagram account where they took the books to a local hospital and made them available for kids in the pediatric waiting area. Visit Open Space Authority of Santa Clara here. If you wanna watch their video about this coloring book check it out here.
Ok, so I was contacted to do the cover for the Political Research Associates quarterly magazine “The Public Eye” around the summer time of 2025. For those who don’t know this magazine has been around since the early 80’s and they cover issues like White Christian Nationalists, Antisemitism, Immigration, Misogyny, The Queer community, Environmental and Reproductive justice, etc. They do RESEARCH and Analysis!!! The magazine “The Public Eye” started in the mid 90s and has been going strong since then.
Here’s some process art for the cover. I ended up doing a mix and match of photo reference, even shooting me and my wife for this. Ok, so a lot of this issue was about the absolute onslaught of attacks on Brown people from this white supremacist and his team in the oval office. And if you want to know why so many boycotts and protests have targeted certain corporations its because many of them funded his second rise.
Here are some color directions.
Anyway, think about what you read on social media and traditional news media. Some of it is by actual journalists and journalists in training. Some is propaganda to confuse and disinform. This magazine is the antidote to that and this issue is about:
The Department of Home Land Security, tech, and surveillance
Afrikaner refugees and the White Nationalist Myth
Immigrant Justice and why “We Must Fight for Everyone”
Florida, deportations, Aligator Alcatraz
And here’s the thing about this, in the magazine there are sources so you can go and read, watch, and learn what they’re talking about if you want to go more in depth. You can read more about my thoughts on creating the cover here on their site.
Heres a short video of me painting the cover art.
And here’s the final painting done with watercolor, ink, and edited in photoshop. Want the digital or print version of this magazine? GET IT HERE.
Dig this? Check out some other editorial illustrations
This is a short comic about going to the library back in the day. When I was a kid my dad would send me to the library to get books because he thought knowing how to read was important. It totally is and i’m thankful for the lesson. But, when I was starting elementary school we’d moved from Oakland and Richmond to a small city called El Cerrito where the library was NOT inviting or reflective of who I was. I only found that through magazines, music, lowrider shows, graffiti, etc. So I imagined myself becoming a librarian to offer those things to a younger version of myself.
This is why the movement to diversify the publishing industry by empowering writers, illustrators, agents, publishers, etc is so important! And why its being attacked.
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.
Last spring a doctor (Kara Durand) who is also a parent at a school I’ve done some work at in Oakland reached out to commission me to do an illustrated poster for the Afya Center for Health Equity at Kaiser Permanente Oakland. Afya means health in Swahili.
The center was founded by Dr Nailah Thompson. Listen to her talk about why the clinic was founded and how they are aiming to care for and uplift the health of the East Bay’s Black commmuity.
Here are some photos from when the clinic opened taken by Dr Rita Ng.
And here’s a little bit of artwork to show how the piece was created. For this piece I wanted to illustrate a primary care physician having a conversation with a patient. Something simple but intimate and caring.
Here’s a short comic about what has been happening to adults, families, and children in the United States who have been targeted by racist ICE agents who are seeking Brown and Black folks. There are a few words in it. Check it out.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
I did a quick and fun custom bookmark. You can buy it or one like it or you can give me a chracter or theme you’d like me to draw on one. No portraits of people though.
