We recently connected with Melissa Escobar and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Melissa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve been involved with are the Paint by Number Safari Books from PlayAbility Toys in conjunction with The American Printing House for the Blind. This series of books are specially made for kids who are low vision or blind. The illustrations all have embossed outlines and braille so they can learn with their fingers. I’ve done all the illustration, cover design, layout & design for Books 2-5. Each creature presents a unique challenge as I have to follow a specific set of rules like showing both eyes, not crossing things over one another and showing all toes on paws/ feet. It was a real challenge!
An important part of my work is educational because I really want to help kids grown and learn. Knowing those Paint by Number Books are out there doing just that gives me a lot of happiness. It was an honor for me to be a part of this series, and I truly enjoyed working on these books.

Melissa, 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?

About Me: I was about 14 years old when I said to myself, “I really would like to write and illustrate my own stories.” It was that sentence right there that set me on a course. It was a very long course to get to where I am now. It included many admin jobs, learning on my own and never giving up hope that one day I would be able to be creative for a living.

I have always been creative. It was something I knew very early on as a kid. I was an artist. For most of my younger days, I drew horses. I was obsessed! I still am. I had posters on my wall from Sue Dawe and Andy Mack of horses, unicorns, pegasus, in various settings. I would look at them and think, one day I’m going to draw like that. I did a BA of Fine Art in college where I fell in love with painting, specifically acrylics. I wanted to somehow get a creative job but well, with a fine art degree, I couldn’t where I lived. At the time, the University I went to didn’t offer anything like that so I did admin jobs after college.

While doing my admin jobs, I taught myself Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark Express (InDesign wasn’t here yet!) and kept going. I never could get a creative job where I lived because there was not much available and I needed a portfolio. However, as much as I disliked my admin jobs, they taught me crucial skills. I learned time management, how to be really organized, gained customer service skills, plus I learned to work with just about every personality type out there.

Finally the turning point came when my husband and I moved to the Bay Area. I decided to go back to school and get a Masters in Illustration focusing on Children’s Books. From there, with a lot of hard work, struggle and more hard work I came out with a much better portfolio. I got recommended for the first Paint by Number Safari book I did from a teacher of mine at my grad school because I did vector illustration and those skills were needed.

I’m also an author/illustrator for children’s books. I have a literary agent and I’m working on books to be submitted to publishers, hopefully one day I will have at least one of my stories out there! In that vein, I’m also hoping to illustrate other people’s books, do maps, toys, games, puzzles and coloring books.

Types of Services I Provide:
* Illustration – From Raster to Vector
* Graphic Design/ Layout & Design
* Educational Work
* Product Design/ Art

Problem Solving for Clients:
* Product development, technical issues around printing, layouts, etc.
* Working with clients and the printers to ensure all products are within specs, adjusting layout as needed
* Illustration challenges, working within specific parameters

What Sets me Apart From Others:
As a creative I have a range from very painterly to very technical. I can do both or anywhere in between. I can work in vector with Adobe Illustrator, put projects together in InDesign, paint in Procreate, whatever the client needs. I’ve also had extensive experience with the printing process and the technical side of things. I love to work on all kinds of projects.

What I’m Most Proud Of:
I’m most proud of the work I’ve done in the educational section. I really want work out there that helps kids and knowing I’ve been a part of these projects really fills me with happiness. Just last year I completed a Flipbook called Flippin’ Funetics for TalkTools. It’s for speech therapists to help their patients in speech therapy.

Main Things to Know About Me and my Brand:
My mission with my work has always been to share my joy in creating with people. I hope to bring people happiness by seeing my work whether it’s educational, children’s book, graphic design and in between. I’m a hard worker and I believe in developing good relationships with my clients. Some words that describe me and my art; whimsical, cute, magical, poignant and full of heart.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I was 35 when I went back to school for my Masters. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Everyone I was in school with had gone to art school for their BA, while I had not. I was so far behind everyone skill wise and I just felt crippling self-doubt all the time. I was also a good 10 years older than most people, making me feel even more out of place. My first two years were nothing but figure drawing, still lifes, all done in charcoal. The teachers helped me more because I needed it, but I was so embarrassed by that. I felt like I should be farther ahead than I was. It wasn’t until I had Color Theory that I hit a turning point. I had an amazing teacher, Jennifer Almodova, who was the warmest, kindest person and taught with gentle encouragement. I fell in love with color theory, color is my world. One day I said, “I just don’t know if I can do this.” Jennifer looked at me and said, “Melissa, you are doing this. I see you. You can do this.” Between her and my husband, lots of hard work and tutoring I overcame my self-doubt and started to believe in myself.
By the end of my Masters, I had a portfolio I was very proud of. I consider that to be one of the best things I’ve overcome in my life. I came out with confidence knowing I was on the right path.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, this answer is three fold:

1. I love that I have this gift and I get to share it with the world. My main purpose is always to give people happiness, laughter and joy with my art. Seeing people react with joy to something I’ve done with that makes my heart very full. That in turn inspires me to keep going, keep creating more art to share with the world.

2. I love the fact I can keep learning and my work will continue to get better. Learning something new always inspires me and then putting it to use is so satisfying. There is no ceiling for improvement with my work, I can just keep going.

3. The magic all starts with a single line, a word, a phrase and from there it develops into a piece, a story, a game. Each project is a new challenge, a new way to stretch my skills. It’s such an adventure and I love being on it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.melissaescobarart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissaescobarart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-escobar-illustration
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mescobarart
• Other: https://bsky.app/profile/melissaescobarart.bsky.social

Image Credits
Images are © 2024 Melissa Escobar, all rights reserved. Images may not be used without express permission.