We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dilleen Marsh a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Dilleen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
WHY I SAID YES TO DOING A GRAPHIC NOVEL:
In October of 2016 I drove from Utah to Barnstead, New Hampshire with my daughter and a friend. My daughter had auditioned and been accepted into a theatre group that was run by Kati Preston and her family. For only a brief moment, on the day that we dropped off my daughter, I met Kati Preston in person. Sometime during 2017 she called me. My daughter had acquainted her with my Instagram and the conversation ran something like this:
KATI: “I give a lot of speeches about my experience in the Holocaust. Teachers have told me a graphic novel about my experience would be a great teaching tool against bullying. I’ve seen your Instagram sketches and I like the spirit of your drawings. Would you be interested in doing a graphic novel?”
ME: “You were in the Holocaust?!!”
I asked her to send me the story script and I would get back to her. I would have to work it around my other artwork and my life. I had never done a graphic novel before. But when I read the incident in her story of an adult man on the street spitting in her face, when she was 5 years old, just because she was wearing a yellow star, just because her father was Jewish, I was shocked! IT RAISED MY INJUSTICE HACKLES. That’s when I chose to take the risk of working on a project with no money involved that would take 4 1\2 years to complete. The graphic novel, “Hidden” was published in 2023 and in 2024 was given two awards by The Children’s Book Council for Teachers and Librarians Favorites.
Dilleen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I was born in Texas, grew up in Idaho, went to college in Utah, and started my career in illustration in California in 1974. I have illustrated 10 children’s books, designed a magazine for teenagers, created an art curriculum for an elementary school, and taught at a university. For over three years, starting in 2014, I posted a daily Instagram sketch with stories and observations. That led to being included in a sketchbook show in NYC, various powerpoint presentations, and working on a graphic novel with an author in New Hampshire.
I have always enjoyed telling a story and I love making art to share–especially if it supports a good purpose. Because the spelling of my first name, Dilleen, is a little different, you can easily find my artwork in search engines. My art is also on Instagram: @dilleenart and @outofdilleensmind, WordPress blog: dilleenmarshart.com, and on my website: dilleenmarsh.com. I am also on Facebook as Dilleen Marsh.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Most of my work as an illustrator for over 50 years has been created with the purpose of promoting good causes. I may have stumbled into that early on–but the intent to do art that encourages courage and compassion, even in difficult times, and discourages prejudice and bullying has only strengthened.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Ten years ago Instagram was a new vehicle for me to share art and thoughts on. I added it to my growing list of internet connections: website, blog, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc. But I became more consistent on Instagram and the daily practice of posting for over 3 years built an audience of 20k at it’s peak. I’m not that consistent anymore because I have shifted to art shows and in-person contact. I would say consistency is the key to building an audience on whichever media you choose. And I will add that engagement with followers: answering questions and making comments is also important.
