The latest KidLit Connection interview is here! And I’m so excited to celebrate a very happy book birthday with illustrator, Acamy Schleikorn! This past week, Acamy celebrated the release of her debut book, NOT MY CAT, written by Stacy Patton, published by Simon & Schuster for Young Readers. Acamy is an illustrator and writer from Las Vegas who creates stories and art that celebrate diversity and joy in the Black community. Her illustrations have a focus on family, friendship, joy, and imagination with a unique and playful style, using digital tools with a textural, traditional feel.
In this interview, Acamy shares more about her process, what inspires her, and more about her new book and upcoming projects. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Acamy as a critique partner in the past and it’s been a joy to see her grow and bloom in her picture book career. I can’t wait for you to learn more and read her new book!
An Interview with Children’s Book Illustrator and Author, Acamy Schleikorn
Can you tell us more about yourself? What do you love about illustrating books and what inspires you and your art?
For those that don’t know, my name is pronounced uh-kay-me and I absolutely love my name! I’m a wife and mom. When I’m not illustrating, I’m spending time with my family, practicing piano, or baking anything sourdough. My favorite thing about illustrating picture books is that I get to include snippets of my own world into my art. I love expressing myself in that way. The very things that make me who I am can be seen sprinkled throughout a lot of my art. For example, I love laughing, so you’ll see a lot of joy and heartwarming scenes depicted in my art. I think it’s awesome because we can never have too much joy in our lives, right?! It’s truly my favorite thing to illustrate. Honestly, all kinds of things inspire me like nature, my family and other art. I like reminding myself that there is inspiration all around me if I take the time to notice it.
How did you get your start illustrating picture books? We’d love to know more about the path you took to get here.
Before I was an illustrator, I was a hand lettering artist that focused on weddings. I’d hand letter wedding welcome signs, seating charts, table cards, and all kinds of other things. It was cool, but it became repetitive for me, and I just wasn’t fulfilled. Once I discovered the world of picture books, it was a wrap. I was hooked and in love. I have a heart for children, so this was a perfect way for me to do something that would impact them in a positive way. I posted a lot of my artwork on social media when I was just starting out. My agent actually found me using the #PortfolioDay hashtag on Twitter. It was truly a blessing, because I didn’t even realize I had that kind of potential at the time. My agent is awesome, because she is able to draw out the gold in me that I didn’t know was there. When my agent emailed me about an inquiry she received for me to illustrate NOT MY CAT for the first time, I was shocked! The amazing journey I was on became so much more real!
Your debut picture book, NOT MY CAT (written by Stacey Patton and published by Simon & Schuster), is a funny story about Staceypants who says she doesn’t want a cat, but somehow finds herself with a cat who chooses to adopt her. Can you tell us more about this book?
Absolutely! The thing I love about NOT MY CAT is that it is based on real events that happened between Stacey Patton (AKA Staceypants in the story) and the cat who “wasn’t hers”. This made me feel as though I was putting a new lens on reality with my illustrations as opposed to creating my own world. There’s definitely a greater level of care that goes into projects like this because you want to represent the things that happened both accurately and creatively. The publisher sent me several images of Stacey with her cat, so I took it upon myself to bring some of that to life. The cat yoga scene in the book is based off of a real photo! So fun!
What were your favorite parts about working on NOT MY CAT? Was there anything you found challenging with this project?
I actually enjoyed so much about working on this book! But if I had to narrow it down, I’d say I loved the fact that the main character had locs and crazy pants! I also have locs, so it was a connection point to the author for me. And drawing crazy pants… well, that’s just fun! I was really able to let my creativity shine and come up with different patterns and colors that I could only dream of having on my pants.
The challenging thing about this project is that… believe it or not, I had never really illustrated a cat before this! It’s one thing drawing a cat, but it’s another thing drawing the same cat in different poses and making sure it’s consistent throughout. Sometimes the body would be too long or wouldn’t be hairy enough in some scenes. So it was basically trial and error for me to figure out what worked best. I actually love these types of challenges, though! You say yes and figure out the details along the way!
You also have another book you illustrated coming out at the end of the year called I’M ALWAYS LOVING YOU (written by Kathy Wolff). Can you tell us more about illustrating this book?
Of course! This book is so personal to me. Once I read the manuscript, it was an immediate yes to illustrate this book. As a mother myself, I could relate to every single word (well almost, because there is a line about coffee in there, and I am definitely not a coffee person at all, haha). For the illustrations, I decided on following three different family units throughout the story. I wanted to be as inclusive as I could because all families are different. The first family is a family of four that consists of a mother, father, son, and daughter. The second family is a single father with his daughter, and the third family is a grandmother with her grandson. I cycle through each of these families throughout the pages to show how love expresses itself in different ways. Some of the scenes have a bit of humor that I believe many parents/caregivers can relate to while other scenes are very sweet. I poured my heart out onto those pages!
How would you compare illustrating your first book to your second book? How were the experiences different or similar?
I loved both experiences, but they were very different! For NOT MY CAT, since it was based on a true story about the author, there were certain qualities about the main character, the cat, and the surrounding environment that I needed to make sure I incorporated into the art. So I had a little bit of art direction with that one, but it wasn’t so much that it was overbearing. I was still able to pour myself into the art like I usually do. I really enjoyed it!
For I’M ALWAYS LOVING YOU, it was more of a free for all! I was able to simply read the manuscript and illustrate whatever I wanted to. That felt like a lot of freedom compared to my first book and allowed me to incorporate even more qualities from my life into the story. For example, one of the family units shown in the book… is a direct reflection of my own family! I was very intentional about every little detail and finding ways to tell a separate story from the manuscript itself.
We’d love to know more about how you work and make your art. Can you share more about your creative process and tools?
All of my illustrations are created digitally using an app on my iPad Pro called Procreate. It’s a powerhouse! My favorite thing about it is the ease of working anywhere. If I want to work at my desk, cool! If I want to work on the couch, also cool! It’s convenient because I don’t have to worry about cleaning up any art supplies; I can easily grab my iPad and go! I recently just built my own desk out of butcher block, and I absolutely love it. I’ve fallen asleep way too many times on my bed while “working” on my iPad, so this will be helpful. It’s way easier to focus at my desk!
What is your biggest hope for your work as a children’s book creator?
Honestly, my biggest hope for my work is that children will be able to see themselves in my art. I am a firm believer that representation in picture books is so important. I didn’t see enough of myself growing up and I want to ensure that children today have a bunch of options! And as a Black woman, I want to be able to connect to Black girls specifically. That’s also why I love drawing natural hairstyles! I want to remind them that however their hair grows out of their hair is perfect and beautiful! Another one of my dreams is to have my author-illustrator debut! I don’t yet have a polished story for my agent to start querying yet, but I’ve been trying to work toward that.
What is something you’d like to share with other illustrators wanting to break into this industry?
Be yourself! Your art should be a reflection of you and have a unique voice. If you are weird, show that in your art! If you love drawing food or astronauts, make sure those specific things can be found in your portfolio! And don’t include anything you aren’t 100% happy with or anything you don’t enjoy drawing. Always keep working on your craft and asking the right people for feedback! Be okay with making mistakes and creating art you aren’t proud of. It’s all a part of the process, and sometimes you have to crawl through the mud to find some gold.
Learn More About illustrator and author Acamy Schleikorn
To learn more about Acamy, see more of her work, and follow her on social media, check out these links:
- Visit Acamy Schleikorn’s Website
- Buy a copy of NOT MY CAT, out now!
- Follow Acamy on Instagram
- Follow Acamy on Twitter/X
- Follow Acamy on Facebook
- Follow Acamy on BlueSky
Acamy is represented for children’s books by Claire Morance at Painted Words.
Are you a published or soon-to-be published illustrator or author/illustrator who loves creating books about nature, animals, the environment, social justice, or mindfulness? I’d love to chat with you for a KidLit Connection interview! Send me a message.