11 Facts About Jillian Tamaki

Jillian Tamaki read Archie comics and newspaper strips as a child.

Jillian Tamaki's parents had anthologies of other popular comics, including The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, and Herman.

Jillian Tamaki began making mini-comics after graduating in 2003, and her very first mini-comic appears in her first book, Gilded Lilies, which was published in 2006.

Jillian Tamaki often acknowledges her influences as inspirations for beginning her work as they helped her learn the basics of cartooning.

Jillian Tamaki worked on boarding for the popular television show Adventure Time.

Jillian Tamaki grew up in an area of Canada where she was the only mixed-race child in her school.

In multiple interviews, Jillian Tamaki explains that her identity shapes the lens that she sees through, but she does not make conscious effort to work these themes into her illustrations and designs.

Skim is a critically acclaimed graphic novel illustrated by Jillian and written by her cousin Mariko Tamaki.

Roaming, created with Mariko Jillian Tamaki, was shortlisted for the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Graphic Novel.

In September 2020 Jillian Tamaki published Our Little Kitchen, an illustrated book about cooking in a community kitchen.

Jillian Tamaki became the center of controversy when Mariko Jillian Tamaki alone was nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award for Skim.