Artists Alley: Yesenia Moises paints Honeysmoke's Simone

Earlier this year, artist and toy designer Yesenia Moises’ new children’s book, Honeysmoke: A Story of Finding Your Color, was released. The story was written by Monique Fields, and it follows a young biracial girl named Simone, who wants to find a color of her own. Essentially, Simone wants to define her place in the world and determine her identity. In the latest installment of SYFY WIRE’s Artists Alley series, Moises paints a sketch of Simone and tells us why the young girl's search for her color resonates so deeply within.

“[Simone] is a mixed race child that’s trying to figure out what color she is,” explains Moises. “She’s not black, she’s not white, and the book is pretty much about her trying to figure out what color she could be. In the end, she realizes that she’s her own color. That’s something that’s really important to me, since I am someone who probably doesn’t fit your standard appearance for a Latino person. Being an Afro-Latina, I always get people really shocked when they realize I speak Spanish.”

Throughout the video, Moises demonstrates her coloring techniques and expands upon the ways she approaches her craft. She also tells us about her approach to drawing.

“It’s a little, I want to say, hopeful,” notes Moises. “Because most of the time I’m just hopeful this turns out okay. Since I’ve been working with watercolor for many years, it kind of became intuitive for me. Where I kind of understand what will happen if I put one color next to the other.”

For more artistic insights from Moises, you can watch the entire video. Then leave a comment for us below!