Hijabi student illustrates to inspire

At 12 years old, ATEC sophomore Aaliya Jaleel began posting her art on
social media such as Tumblr and Instagram. Her illustrations soon caught the
attention of editors at Lee and Low Books, a children’s book publisher.

“Tumblr was
where the editorial director of Lee and Low found me because she was looking
for hijabi artists,” Jaleel said. “She literally just searched up ‘hijabi’ in
the Tumblr search bar and found my work and my portfolio and went from there.”

In October 2017,
Jaleel began illustrating for the book “Under My Hijab” by Hena Khan.

“It was really
exciting and nerve-wracking because I was like, ‘Am I really the right person
for this job?’” Jaleel said. “It was like that imposter syndrome thing where
it’s like, ‘I don’t know if I’m good enough for this, I can’t believe they
chose me to do it.’”

Jaleel said she
wanted to pursue a career in film and animation before she began to illustrate
children’s books. She had always been interested in film and cartoons and
wanted to see more hijab-wearing women represented in the media.

“That was definitely
something I wanted to see done, and so that’s why I started drawing hijabi
characters and whatnot,” Jaleel said. “It’s really exciting because now I’m
looking at all the different media and there are more instances of
representation, and I see even hijabi background characters.”

A self-taught
artist, Jaleel attended a private high school where no art classes were
offered. She started posting her art on different social media sites in middle
school. She did portrait commissions in high school and published her
illustrations in a self-published book called “Ali and the Moon” by Mehnaz
Kafray.

Jaleel said when
she illustrated “Under My Hijab,” she often had to manage time for school and
illustration, working under a flexible schedule with monthly deadlines. Jaleel
said she would structure her days so that she could do homework one day and
illustrate the book the next day. 

“Everyone at the
publishing company was really flexible because they knew I was a student, so if
I had like finals or midterms coming up, I could be like, ‘Can we push this
deadline to next week?’” she said. “They would be willing to do that.”

Jaleel has two
book deals with publishing companies Simon and Schuster and HarperCollins. She
said she was recommended by the editors from Lee and Low to Simon and Schuster.
HarperCollins found her work in Publishers Weekly announcements and from
checking her website.

“Don’t be afraid
to put your work out there,” Jaleel said. “Even if you don’t like it, there are
people out there that will love it.”

ATEC junior Huda
Moopen said she first saw Jaleel’s work on social media. Later, they were in
the same animation class together during their freshman year, where she said
Jaleel would send her and her friends sketches and ask for their help on color
and design choices.

“I got to see all
the black and white sketches, and seeing where she started and seeing the book
in person complete and done is an incredible experience because I just got to
see her work at every stage,” Moopen said.

Moopen said
Jaleel would try to finish homework weeks in advance so she could have time to
work on her illustrations. She said she would make sure Jaleel would give
herself breaks in between working and helped motivate her throughout.

“In addition to
being a student, she’d have other projects she’d be working on, and sometimes
she’d just get really caught up with it all, even during breaks,” Moopen said.
“When we’d be hanging out, she’d always be working on her iPad on the book, so
sometimes I’d just have to catch her in between and we’d go on boba runs or
explore new art museums.”

Jaleel said she
looks forward to the progress being made on hijab representation in film and
animation in the near future.

“I really hope
that I can be an inspiration for other hijabi or young artists that are like,
‘Oh, if she can do it, so can I,’” she said.