With eight published picture books on the shelves and counting illustrator Jenin Mohammed is as prolific as she is talented. We are thrilled to celebrate her as our Day 3 honoree!
The Journey: My Path to Publishing
My path to publishing started as early as high school. I knew I wanted to be an artist and a writer, but I knew my parents wouldn’t approve of me getting a degree in English or Fine Arts. I ended up going to university for Computer Animation because it appeared to be a great way to combine my love of writing stories and drawing (as well as appeasing my parents). After college, I decided not to go to California for a storyboard job, and instead, I worked in Florida at a design job. To say it underpaid me would be an understatement. But I figured I could use the money to pay for writing conferences. After joining SCBWI and attending a few conferences, I started thinking “What if I started working on illustrations alongside my novel?” I felt particularly driven after attending the SCBWI New York Conference in 2020. There, I met other Florida illustrators that were repped by the CAT Agency. After getting to know them, they generously offered to mention my name to their agent (which I was hesitant about, considering I had just started my kidlit portfolio). After the conference, I made it back to Florida, feeling more motivated to work on my portfolio. Then, COVID hit (dun, dun, dunnn). My job furloughed me for a month. On the bright side: a month was plenty of time to dust off my old painting and color theory books and work solely on my art. I was so confident in my illustrations that after my job invited me back, I straight up quit.
How I Got The Deal:
As much as I’d like to say that I got my first book deal from being discovered on Instagram, there were a lot of steps that preceded being discovered. I wouldn’t have been “discovered” if I hadn’t expanded my community. It was only after joining SCBWI, joining a writing critique group, and talking to other generous illustrators that shared their own experiences and mentioned my name to my agent, I was able to make progress in my career. Christy reached out to me on Instagram with a friendly message, inviting me to a video call to discuss my goals in kidlit. I signed with my agent in early summer of 2020. Not long after being put up on the CAT Agency’s website, Christy had exciting news: HarperCollins was looking for an illustrator for Song in the City, and they were interested in my work. While she was in the middle of negotiating, I won the SCBWI Summer Spectacular Illustration Grand Prize, which might have contributed to the higher-than-usual illustrator’s advance, haha.
The Inspiration: Who/ What Inspires Me
When it comes to illustration, I take inspiration from other artists I find while perusing Pinterest. In my early illustration days, I took a lot of inspiration from Harlem Renaissance artist, Aaron Douglas. I really loved his strong silhouettes, concentric shapes, and color gradations. I paired that with media I loved to play with when I was a kid. I’d collage tissue paper to make unique textures. I think my style has evolved a lot since then. I still use textures that I’ve made and scanned into my computer, but I now take a lot of inspiration from traditional prints, African fabric, and other abstract art forms.
Under the Radar:
I’d like to shout out illustrators Monica Mikai and (my fellow Trini) Daniel J. O’Brien!
Connect with Jenin: