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Inspiration board 48

Been almost a year since I shared one of these because times are challenging but here are some things giving me light. Top to bottom, left to right.

  1. Book: Armaveni is a graphic novel about Armenian genocide, history, etc by Nadine Takvorian
  2. Music: This jazz drummer rocks w/ a solid hip hop foundation. Listen to Makaya McCraven
  3. Book: This graphic novel tackles Chicago student resistance to book bans-Wake Now in The Fire
  4. Culture: This is a plaque from a well known Lowrider club in LA called “the Individuals”
  5. Distribution: A hip hop record store turned distributor. I wish there was a book distributor 4 kid lit like Fat Beats
  6. Podcast: Shawn from the R&B group Boys 2 Men has a dope podcast called On That Note
  7. Journalism: Newish but packing a punch abt unions, labor, economy, politics, etc is More Perfect Union
  8. Film: This is a great documentary about independent hip hop venues and scenes in 90s LA called Where We’re From
  9. Film: This is an older documentary about an attempted coup in Venezuela of then president Hugo Chavez
  10. Art: This artist has been consistently putting out radical and progressive work, check out Courtney Ahn
  11. Music: She has dropped her first LP in a decade, take a listen to this LP by Phill’s own Jill Scott
  12. Social Media: This Dad & educator is consistently sharing great info/views Fernando Deveras
  13. Music: This song had med dancing and singing along by Donaeo feat Omar, Lemar, & The House Gospel Choir
  14. Event: I attended this Bay Area event last year and really appreciated it. San Jose Day
  15. Music: This Nigerian UK singer songwriter is fantastic. listen to Ego Ella May
  16. Community: I have been inspired by more Black folks getting into the Tiny House world

Did you miss the previous inspiration board? Here it is, plus a few more

What’s this? This inspiration board is one of the ways I stay inspired and sane through all of life’s trials, and tribulations, work, etc. I’ve been making inspiration boards full of films, books, music, events, people, artists, movements, and more for over a decade. Do you have an inspiration board? Please share in the comments. Who am I? My name is Rob Liu-Trujillo and I’m an artist working in kid lit, public art, and other disciplines. Go to my website, or follow me on IG or YouTube. You can also cop my first art book here.

July 16, 2026
in Creative Resources, General
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$5k Match – Social Justice Children’s Book Fair

Hey fam, my organization the Social Justice Children’s Book Fair got a $5k grant and will be fundraising over the next 30 days to match it dollar for dollar. If you’re unfamiliar with the fair I invite you to check out….

Our Website: Site, 2025 fair, 2025 Award winners,

Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube

Press: Oaklandside article, NBC News clip, Hard Knock (KPFA) Radio Interview 

Here are some photos taken by photographer Mark Rea from the 2025 fair. Wanna see more? Check out this Facebook page or our website.

Short Mission: Bruh, make a kids book fair that champions social justice kid lit. Also, champion Bipoc, Queer, Immigrant, and Social Justice creators and kid focused orgs.

Longer Mission & Vision: Our mission is to promote social justice through the power of children’s books. We support independent children’s book creators to conceive, develop, distribute, and champion social justice-themed children’s books. We do this through our signature event, the annual Social Justice Children’s Book Fair, and other ongoing projects and initiatives.

We envision a world where children’s book creators have the ability to conceive, develop, distribute, and champion a diversity of social justice-centered stories that need to be told as they look to reach all children, families, teachers, librarians, and book lovers.

My Why: I believe there are some amazing stories about culture, class, race, gender, identity, politics, history, etc that need to be shared with a wider audience and I get to help facilitate that as one of many organizers of this fair. I believe in representation, being able to see yourself in literature early, and I believe in literacy for liberation and fun.

Accomplishments:

  • 2 years of co-curating Youth Lit Day for Bay Area Book Festival
  • Over 2k attendees
  • Thousands of kids books donated to Bay Area students
  • 1700 Social Media followers
  • 400+ Stories
  • 100+ Creators, authors, illustrators, publishers, etc
  • 30+ Organizations
  • 10 years this year!
  • 8 Performers

7 years all volunteer, 2 years w/ small funding. Imagine what we could do with more. Wanna help us continue to grow this?

DONATE HERE

July 15, 2026
in Educational Resources, Events
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Book Cover – 826 Valencia + De Marillac Academy

Last Spring I began working with 826 Valencia to illustrate a book cover for the De Marillac Academy, a middle school in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. And I have a history with this organization as I read there when I was just beginning to work in kid lit and I took my son and his class on a field trip there over 12 years ago.

The thing I remember back then was that the folks who started the org had a sense of duty and wonder. Duty in that they were taking it seriously; the charge to encourage literacy and creative writing. And wonder, in that their organization was housed in a pirate ship! Imagine pirate jokes and 4th graders telling you that they are “published”.

And they still have that dedication as this book is one of several published anthologies of creative writing by middle school students. Here’s the synopsis:

“In these vibrant poems, students in grades 6-8th from De Marillac Academy explore their own potential and the comfort of the things they hold dear. They find refuge in the bounces of a basketball and uncover a quiet hero in a cherished eyelash curler. In these pages you’ll find heartfelt declarations of love to their beds and a tenderness towards the quiet world their headphones offer. Students imagine life through the delicate wings of a butterfly, the sharp mind of a beloved teacher, and even providing hope as a lawyer. No matter who holds the narrative today, in the future they are building, these students assert one thing is for sure, they’ll be the ones.

Here’s a bit of process art from the making of the cover.

Shout out to Amanda Boesen and Lucy Goseline-Ratliff who assisted me in narrowing down and refining the sketch until it was right.

You can see the line work here and the color directions. Ultimately it ended up being a combination of colors. The uniforms for the actual students are red and grey though so thats what we ended up using.

And heres the final cover illustration! My fav poem from the book was called “lies” and I loved all the pieces about their video games, favorite foods, etc.

About the organization that does this work and commissioned this art:

826 Valencia equips students with writing skills to create change.

We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting under-resourced students ages six to eighteen with their creative and expository writing skills and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

Our services are structured around the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with individualized attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.

And with chapters in:

  • Boston
  • Chicago
  • Washington DC
  • Los Angeles
  • Michigan
  • Minneapolis
  • New Orleans
  • NYC

and the founding chapter San Francisco (Bay Areaaaaaa) they are taking the task to the next level.

Dig this? Check out this book cover I did for Robert Alexander’s book “He Hit Me First” OR the cover of Libros Solidarios written by Luz Yadira Herrera and Carla España.

July 10, 2026
in Educational Resources, Ilustration, Lettering/ Typography
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Stuff I’ve Been Listening to 28- Cuts from Brazil

Ed Motta (Rio, Brazil) – 1978 2013

I can’t recall how I came across Ed Motta, but he is my favorite Soul singer from the country of Brazil! check out his work, he plays, sings, and writes.

What is this? This series is called “Stuff I’ve been listening to” and this is my place to share music that I listen to while I work, process, decompress, and live life. Some of it is new, some old. But I’m always listening. I share in the hopes that you will find something that inspires you. Please share with a fellow music lover. My name is Rob and I’m an artist and author from the Bay Area.

Bebel Gilberto (Rio, Brazil) – Ceu Distante Remix by DJ Spinna 2005

I was introduced to Bebel (daughter of Joao and Miucha) through my sons mom and later found this remix by one of my fav Brooklyn producers, DJ Spinna.

Djavan (Maceio, Brazil) – Nereci 1978

Love this song and cannot remember how I came across it but I thought the brother looked super fly ion his sandals, little did I know he is a legend.

Kevin O Chris (Rio, Brazil)- Tu Tá Na Gaiola 2018

I think I heard about Brazilian Funk through an article from Afro Punk about their multiple day parties and found this banger through that search. It slaps. The slang is thick tho if you don’t speak Brazilian Portuguese.

Marcos Valle (Rio, Brazil) – No Tem Nada Nao 1973

Found this through Madlib! He had a mix from Brazil and had so many great cuts on there, but this is the one that stuck out the most and I’ve played this song 100s of times. Marcos Valle is still collaborating w/ folks!

Zelia Barbosa ( Brazil) – Funeral do Lavrador 1968

This is a record my sons mother gave me almost 25 years ago. I immediately fell in love with this song though there are several with heart wrenching themes. Highly recommend it!

Matchola feat 2ZDINIZZ (Sao Paulo) – Pensando en mim 2026

Just came across this dude whos style page says “Boom Bap Melodic”. Interesting! I’m feeling it.

Lo Borges ( Belo Horizonte, Brazil) – Calibre 1972

I came across this track through producer musician Flwr Chyld. Love it!

Gal Costa (Salvador Bahia, Brazil) – Pontos de Luz 1970s

Came to this gem through the incredible Kaytranada who sampled it for “Lite Spots”.

Toquinho feat Jorge Ben (Sāo Paolo, Brazil) – Carolina Carol Bela 1970

Just heard this the other day on a video from IG with some young futbol players.

Jorge Ben (Rio, Brazil) – Oba La Vem Ela 1970

Man, this song. I was introduced to Jorge Ben through my sons mom. She was a huge fan and so I started to listen, internalize a few of the songs and this is one of my favorites.

For Brazilians, I know this is a bunch of old stuff sprinkled with a few current records. But, these are songs I love. There are some other artists I’ve listened to like Emicida, Anitta, Nego do Borel, and DJ Renan De Penha

DIG THE MUSIC? THERE’S MORE! 

  • Stuff I’ve been listening to 25: MORE SOUL
  • Stuff I’ve been listening to 19: UK ARTISTS
  • Stuff I’ve been listening to 23: MORE JAZZ
  • Stuff I’ve been listening to 21: RAPS
  • Stuff I’ve been listening to 18: HOUSE
July 3, 2026
in Creative Resources, General
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Young Parent Tips- Summer reading

For the young fathers ESPECIALLY. Key point here is reading with them. It won’t stick unless you read with them.

Text:

Young Parent tip: If u want your kids to keep their reading game up during the summer, try making a trip to the library 2x a month to get bks for them you’ll read w/them and bks they like. Puzzles, comics, fotos, picture bks, etc count. -Signed a former young dad.

Dig this? Check out this film about Parenthood by Kevin Hart, Or this short film about the children of Black Panther Party members (The Panther Cubs).

June 22, 2026
in Educational Resources
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Events- Renegade Craft Fair LA 1/2 table

Hey, here are a few photos from my visit to Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles. I was booth mates with Queenie from Dear Mello who sells plush bunnies Go check her out. Her and her husband were super sweet and this photo was taken by her hubby James Giovanni Pan.

This year was the first time in a while that I shared a booth so I worked on my booth a bit before I took off and coordinated w/ my booth mate.

Once the time came I got my stuff ready, packed up the whip, and headed to LA.

I got down there to this wide open field at LA Historic Park outdoors and lugged my stuff up to my spot with countless other artisans, lots of working class folks trying to earn a living.

Craft shows are work. You make the work, the art, you produce original or reprinted or manufactured versions of your work. You carry it to the venue and you set it up in a way that shows off your stuff and hopefully invites folks to become a fan, and ultimately buy this work.

I got to my booth where Queenie was beginning to arrive and we got to work.

Folks started to file in, some just passerbys and many loyal followers of Renegade Craft Fair which I’ve attended or participated in up in the Bay and Seattle. The show went pretty good for a spring show, I’d hoped to make more but I keep tweaking my set u, trying out different events and cities. The event was well organized and promoted for sure.

While I was there my friend and author Danielle Davis came by and snapped some cool photos of me. Thank you Danielle! I also met Tori Drew it who was cranking out drawings, Story artist Anson Jew, artsy couple Aishwarya Chandramohan & Brandon Liu, jewelry maker Aracheli Studio. That’s it for this show. After all was said and done I got some ice cream around the UCLA campus and headed back to the Bay.

Dig this? Check out my table set up for San JoseMade or Craneway Craft Fair.

June 11, 2026
in Business Resources, Events
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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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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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Black Is Beautiful 2026 – Combahee River Collective

This is a crew of bad ass women who’s statements echo today and whose voices are still strong. The Combahee River Collective (1974-1980) is a crew, clique, or family founded by Black women out in the Boston area. They are Black, they are women, Queer, and Radical in their politics. “The name”Combahee” refers to the river in South Carolina that Harriet Tubman used to free over 700 enslaved Black folks. In the 60s and 70s we had a lot of movements for civil rights, independence, and social change happening but in separate silos. Meaning some knew their issue, but not others. So, these sisters came from different groups and formed their own. They wrote a statement that gave analysis to movements happening and how they “connected”. This definition was ground breaking back then and is still used by scholars, students, and activists today. Before the term intersectionality, there was Combahee. Celebrating , not ignoring their many identities and helping folks get that oppression is coming for all of us so we better stand with each other, rather than apart. As a group these women who were activists, artists, teachers, writers, etc worked on campaigns to support abortion rights, they stood against sterilization, against domestic violence and attacks against women, they stood up for their Queer and trans family, they were anti-war, anti establishment, and they advocated for solidarity between people fighting oppression. Members included: Gloria Akasha-Hill, Cheryl Clarke, Demita Frazier, Audre Lorde, Chirlane McCray, Margo Okazawa-Rey, Sharon Page-Ritchie, Beverly and Barbara Smith, Helen Stewart, and Mercedes Tompkins.

Why is this important? There are some folks within the Black Power, Feminist, Queer rights, or Social justice movement who pretend like one of the others ain’t shit. You may have seen it. But, I think some would agree, we’re stronger together (w/ hard discussions & principled struggle or disagreements). That means letting go of a lot of EGO and petty shit.

Sources: Black Women Radicals, Democracy Now, BLK History in 2 minutes or so, Wikipedia

Dig this? Check out my piece on Olive Morris, Claudia Jones, or Margaret Sloan.

February 13, 2026
in Black is Beautiful, Educational Resources, General, Ilustration
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