We caught up for a chat with American artist Lili Todd to pick her brain about all things art.

Tell us a bit about yourself. I grew up in Los Angeles, and I graduated from ArtCenter College of Design in 2023. I recently moved from Altadena to Joshua Tree, California, after the LA fires happened in January 2026. Along with my illustration practice, I have been making pottery for over 10 years.

 

 

 

 

 

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You come from a family of illustrators – how has that shaped the work you do? I wanted to be an illustrator because that is what my parents did, and all of their friends were artists too. So, to me, it seemed natural to be an artist. I was fully immersed in the Los Angeles art scene from a young age. My home growing up was more like a shared studio space where we lived among our ongoing projects (and it still is that way now). The cement floors of the galleries downtown were where I bonded with friends and played with paper dolls. For me, there was no question that I would be anything else but an artist.

In my parents’ friends, I saw examples of people who could sustain lifelong careers as creatives while also raising families and owning homes. I saw that it was possible, and this is what gave me the confidence I needed to pursue it as a career. But I also saw the reality of what it takes to make that career happen, and that is what developed a strong work ethic in me. The business side of an art career has always existed hand-in-hand with my practice. I first began learning about the business of art from participating in zine fairs over the years, which was something my parents introduced me to at a young age.

I have been enjoying the desert environment, living here with my husband, Keiji Ishida, who is also an illustrator, in the house next door to my parents, Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson. So there is a lot of creative energy here and space to carry out big ideas. Sometimes I joke that it is our artist commune or our own family residency. It really is a lot of fun. Between the two houses, we have two painting studios, a computer art space and a ceramic studio. But even then, all four of us will somehow end up on the dining room table, fighting for workspace! So being in a family of illustrators has completely shaped who I am in every way, how I live, and what I envision for my future. And, of course, it has influenced my art style as well. Sometimes I can clearly see the mash-up of my parents’ styles in my own work, and other times I can’t so much, but I think their influence is always there. All of us in the family often ask each other’s advice on projects, so we all end up influencing each other’s creative voice somehow.

 

 

 

 

 

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Your work cascades across a plethora of subjects and forms. Is there a particular kind of image, form or style that you always find yourself coming back to? I am always coming back to quilts, cats, hot pink and bunnies. The beautiful patterns of quilts always excite me, probably because I could never have the patience and precision to create a perfect geometric quilt, even though I have made many wonky quilts in my own way that I also love. But it is the history behind quilts, their patterns and their creators that have kept me interested for years.

As for cats and the colour hot pink, those are things I have been drawing my whole life. When I draw sparkly kitties with hot-pink hearts and outfits, it brings me right back to my child self. I have quite a few animals that keep appearing in my drawings, but lately it is bunnies. Maybe it’s because there are little cotton tails and jack rabbits in the desert where I live. It is most likely because I just figured out a way of drawing a bunny that is simple and satisfying to do. However, when there is an animal that keeps appearing in my work, over time, it develops a personal meaning naturally.

 

 

 

 

 

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What do you like about creating comics? Each medium I work in serves me differently and helps me to process things in different ways. I use comics like a diary – drawing what I do each day, trips abroad, or just meandering thoughts. Like a diary, it is an outlet for more complex feelings and questions that I am in the middle of processing and have not resolved yet. Sometimes you can say what you want to say with one image, and other times you need a string of images. Sometimes I also make comics that are research-based about subjects that interest me. Creating a comic about a subject actually helps me retain the information better.

Recently, I made a comic about my experience visiting fire relief centers set up around Altadena soon after the Los Angeles fires happened in January 2025. This six-page comic will be published in an anthology organised by Oak Tree Comics, called We Are Los Angeles. The physical book will be released on the second anniversary of the fires on January 7th, 2027, but a digital version will come out this year.

Where can we see more of your work? You can find me at @lilitoddart on Instagram or at lilitodd.com.

There’s more arty stuff where that came from! Feast your eyes on the cool work by Katie Barron and Lauren Ericksen.