DreamChaser DeAnn Wiley
DeAnn holding her book Homegrown.
Name: DeAnn Wiley
Pronouns: she/hers
1. Can you share a bit about your background and what has shaped you into who you are today?
I’m DeAnn Wiley, I have a bachelor’s and master’s degree in psychology. I’ve been doing art, self-taught, for 10+ years but just recently broke into the children’s book world within the last 3 years. I started my adult career practicing therapy but decided to pursue art full time in 2023. One of the most impactful things to happen to me was getting an iPad at the start of COVID. I had nothing but time on my hands and began teaching myself how to do digital art. I started off with portraits and then I began creating scenes from my childhood memories, which went viral online. This is what attracted my agent and started off my career in the publishing world. I continued to build my community and started selling my art. Since then I’ve illustrated 8 books including: Homegrown, Double Dutch Queen, Marley’s Pride, My Afro Is a Rising Sun, Sarah Rising, The Rainbow Park, and The Numbers Store. I written 2, Homegrown and The Double Dutch Queen.
2. What inspired you to start your business(es), and how did you know it was the right time to take the leap?
I started my business in undergrad actually. I was doing traditional acrylic portraits for folks on campus. I was charging only $50 dollars. I started because I was looking for an outlet while experiencing a tough time in school. I had done art when I was younger but stopped once I got to college so decided to pick my paintbrushes up again. I realized how much I missed it and really started doing more commissions. That was the start of DeeLaShee Artistry.
3. Who has influenced your journey the most—whether personally, professionally, or creatively—and how?
My biggest influence has been Vashti Harrison. I started following her on social media in the beginning of COVID in 2019,2020. She inspired me to start doing children’s book illustrations. Before that I had never even thought of illustrating children’s books, I just loved the whimsy and magical feeling of her work. I immediately knew it was something I wanted to do as well. So I started shifting my art in that direction and really fell in love with it.
4. What dreams did you have as a kid, and how do they connect to what you’re doing now?
My dreams as a kid were quite small. I had a bit of a tough childhood, there were good times but also times of hardship. So my dreams were all about survival. I wanted to become a psychologist because it was a good, stable job, and I was interested in the subject. I figured it would be my safest bet to be sure I could provide for myself financially.
Any dreams I had outside of that, I kind of pushed down. I wanted to be a paleontologist , a forensic scientist, then psychologist. Once I got older and kind of figured out how the world really works, I honed in on psychology because it felt the most true to who I was, and it was a “real” career. I loved it but always found myself gravitating to art. Then my goal became to marry the two. I haven’t completely figured it out but I’m always working towards it.
“Self-care for me is about setting boundaries, not overworking myself, saying no to projects that don’t align with my values, and giving myself grace.”
5. What role does self-care play in your ability to pursue your goals?
Self-care is so important, especially as an entrepreneur. It’s easy to be on go 24/7, because you make the rules for yourself and are willing to push yourself to meet your goals. Self-care for me is about setting boundaries, not overworking myself, saying no to projects that don’t align with my values, and giving myself grace. The biggest one is asking for help. I had to realize I couldn’t do it all alone so I’ve been vulnerable with my support system and letting them know when and what I need from them. They’ve been a tremendous support to me being able to take care of myself.
6. What goals did you set for yourself at the start of your journey, and how have they changed as you’ve grown?
My goal at the beginning of my art journey was to make art that was authentic and true to myself. I didn’t want to make art be solely about making a living. I had goals to build my social media presence, build my business skills, and make an impact within my community. My goals are pretty much the same, except now that I’m in the children’s book world, I have my eye on a few awards such as the Newbery Medal, the Caldecott Medal, Coretta Scott King Award and some starred reviews.
7. What challenges have tested your resilience, and how did you overcome them to stay on course?
I think the financial challenges have been the most frustrating. It’s hard to do art full-time because it’s such an unstructured job. You can do a project and not get paid for months, or you may have a month of low sales. The economy is also a big factor, if people ain’t got money to eat, they sure don’t have it to spend on art. Luckily for me, I have a supportive partner and sister who will help pay for things or take care of me in those low moments. I truly appreciate them because whenever I say “I should get a regular 9-5” they tell me not to give up on my art and to keep going, they got me. That was really hard for me to do in the beginning because I’m used to being the one they come to but now I’m more comfortable with depending on someone other than myself.
8. What life lessons or skills have you gained that extend beyond your work into your daily life?
I’ve learned how to take criticism, how to manage my time, and how to advocate for myself. I’m generally a go-with-the-flow type of person. I like to create when I get the inspiration, and that’s it. Being in the children’s book world, I’m learning that sometimes I have to create even when there is no inspiration. That has trickled into my daily life as I get into my mid-30s and am relearning how to take care of myself, especially my body. Sometimes I just don’t want to, but I think about having a long, fruitful career, and that requires me to take care of myself. Many people don’t know it, but art can be taxing on the body. Rather, it’s from sitting in awkward positions for hours or staring at screens for hours. Even your hands get impacted from holding brushes, pens, or pencils for hours.
“I’m okay with having a hard day.”
9. What drives you to keep going on the hard days?
Knowing that there are more good days to come afterwards. I’m okay with having a hard day. I used to let the hard days derail me, turn into hard weeks and hard months but now I’m able to regulate my emotions better and deal with the hard days. I know that I have family support and I know trouble don’t last always.
10. How do you define success for yourself at this stage of your life?
Success to me is doing what I love while being able to take care of myself, help family and still give back to my community. I can do art, pay bills and donate to some crowdfunds? Hey that’s a successful life to me.
11. What role does your identity (e.g., gender, race, culture) play in your work and vision?
All of my art centers my identity as a Black, queer, disabled woman. I make art for Black women and Black kids, especially Black girls. I make art for Black queer people. I make art for Black fat people. Because those are the people I grew up loving and being loved by. My biggest art series titled “The Memories Collection” is about growing up as a little Black girl in Detroit. It highlights and centers my experience in the church, being taught by my aunts, being in a big multigenerational family. I use actual houses, people and settings from my childhood to recreate these scenes and it’s my most fulfilling work so far.
“I used to think art had to be a specific way, mostly because all the art/artists I grew up learning about in school were old white men.”
12. What advice has been the most impactful for you, and how do you apply it in your work and life?
The most impactful advice I’ve gotten is to just put it out there. Just make the art you want to make and put it out for the world to see. I used to think art had to be a specific way, mostly because all the art/artists I grew up learning about in school were old white men. When I started making my art I didn’t know that it mattered. But I was told to just drown out the noise and create from a place that was authentic to me, put it out there and let the audience feel how they feel. Whether it’s bad, good, or indifferent, every reaction communicates something to you. So now I just live my life putting myself out there, my art, my beliefs, my values, it’s all on the page. I speak up for myself and what I believe in and if you don’t like, that ain’t got nothin to do with me.
13. What is one thing you wish you had known when you started?
I wish I knew that creating art was an option for a full-time career. For the longest I saw art as just a hobby or side hustle so I always treated it as such. I wish I had known that I could dream bigger than just surviving because I feel I would’ve taken the chance a lot sooner.
14. How do you ensure your work aligns with your personal values?
I only do work that I can attribute to my own story. I don’t want to tell anyone else’s story because they have that covered. I have my own story to tell, so I focus on that and how I want the audience to receive it. That’s where knowing what topics, people, and events to make art about comes in handy. People ask me “DeAnn will you make art about *insert subject*” and I say “That’s not really my experience to make art about” and most times I’ll direct them to a peer I know who makes art about that thing. A lot of times people think just because you do art that you can do art about any and everything, but it’s always nice to remind them of how big and rich the art world is and just connect them with another artist if I can.
15. If your journey could inspire one change or belief in others, what would you hope it to be?
My biggest belief I want to inspire in my people is that they are worthy of being art. My fat, dark skinned, disabled, trans, folks, I speak to them through my art often. I want them to feel represented, embraced and appreciated. I grew up in a family full of fat women, my mother is dark skinned, my sister is apart of the trans community, I’m disabled, my mom is disabled and I just want them to know I see them and I honor them. We need more art that depicts the vastness of the Black community.
16. Anything we missed that you would like to share?
My debut book, Homegrown, is available, and my upcoming book, The Double Dutch Queen, is available for pre-order! Thank yall so much for thinking of me for this incredible opportunity to interview with you all.
Support and Purchase DeAnn’s work here.