Julian Plum

@julianplum.com

1775 Followers 861 Following

Picture book illustrator working in gouache! he/they 🏳️‍⚧️ 🖌️ 🌿 WHOSE TREE IS THIS (Singer, Lerner, S '26) THE HOUSE THAT FEELS LIKE ME (Allen, LBYR, W '27) Rep'd by Naomi Davis @ BookEnds Literary 💌 contact: hello@julianplum.com 🎨 portfolio: julianplum.com

Gouache painting of an eastern newt in its bright orange red eft stage.
A digital postcard featuring a cross-section of a garden above and below the soil's surface. Plants grow lushly around the edges of the piece, full of leaves, ants, a mouse, a slug, and a newt. Sitting on the soil's surface, an adult with a shovel smiles lovingly at their kid sticking half-out of the soil, pretending to be a worm. A fat American toad looks on from the right, and on the left a friendly milk snake pokes her head out from under a leaf. The soil is full of roots and seeds and wriggly worms. The text reads, "Julian Plum, represented by Naomi Davis at BookEnds Literary."
A lush, detailed gouache painting of a verdant tangle of differently shaped native Northeast US plants, in which a cheerful little grasshopper sparrow is snacking on, you know. A grasshopper!
A photo of Whose Tree Is This, a picture book with a cover depicting a child in an oak tree full of critters. The picture book has a small crocheted birthday hat perched on it and is being celebrated with a festively-besprinkled chocolate cupcake.
Photo of the illustrator excitedly holding a real, extant copy of his debut illustrated picture book, Whose Tree Is This, in front of his face.
An illustrated postcard with five spot illustrations of a kid mimicking animal movements. She crawls like an inchworm, sits like a toad, runs like a chipmunk, bows like a crane, and howls like a coyote. It reads in hand-lettered text, "Julian Plum, represented by Naomi Davis at BookEnds Literary, hello@julianplum.com"
A gouache illustration of a cedar waxwing, a brown-and-white bird with dramatic dark eye feathers, perched sideways on a branch full of bright red rose hips.
A snowy painting of a landscape in the late afternoon. A covey of white-feathered willow partridge look over the landscape at a group of geese taking off from a near-frozen pond. Trees cast blue shadows over the white snow.
Bright, warm, colorful still life of a table set cheerfully for breakfast with cherries, strawberries, tea, biscuits, and a green glass vase full of pink peonies. Small rainbows of light paint everything in the scene.
Intricate gouache painting with a swirling mass of native northeast plants, creatures, and wildflowers. From top left: a gray birch stand with one tree in the mid-ground, its branch stretching across the frame. On a twig sits a grasshopper sparrow eating a grasshopper. Fading sundial lupine going to seed sways below, its leaves tangling with the leaves of yellow partridge pea. Sideoats grama arcs gracefully across the bottom, and bright pink corydalis sways above. At the bottom right, a clump of narrow-leaved mountain mint is pollinated by wasps. Hoary vervain with clumps of purple flowers grows above.
A short video taken of pavement from above. A little woolly bear caterpillar determinedly waddles from the right edge, across the video, and back out the left edge.
Gouache painting of a sunlit forest floor covered in a verdant mass of early-spring flowering plants: virginia bluebells spill over onto a groundcover carpet of tiny pink spring beauty flowers. Large-flowered bellwort grows in the shade of a lacy New York fern. Yellow bell-shaped leatherwood flowers dangle over bright red eastern newts in the red eft stage, and puffy clusters of white baneberry flowers grow toward the early leaves of a buckeye tree. Spring beauty miner bees gather pink pollen in the foreground.
Gouache painting in lush dark green and blue featuring a cross-section of a pond at night. A green harlequin-patterned frog with a hint of tadpole tail climbs half out of the water into the cattails, looking at the stars. In the darkness lurks a taloned heron foot. The water is full of tadpoles, pond weed, insect larvae, and frog eggs. A single bright mayfly hangs on a cattail leaf above the frog's head. Text below reads JULIAN PLUM | Represented by Naomi Davis at BookEnds Literary, julianplum.com
Gouache painting of a white destroying angel mushroom growing through a mouse skull among greenery: partridgeberry and heal-all. A gold-leaf halo glows behind the mushroom's cap.
Gouache painting of a brown-and-honey jackalope on a dark blue background. The jackalope's antlers are a glowing yellow and are draped in stars. There are stars in its one showing eye.
Photo of Julian in front of a slide reading only "Earth is a hellacape!". He is doing a gay little stance while talking, flipped wrist and leg up and all.
Photograph of a blue-lined sketch with a tide pool in the foreground and some kids and their teacher exploring another tide pool in the background
A lush, intricate gouache painting featuring many leaves in different colors and textures, plus native birds, insects, flowers, and seeds.
A newly-emerged monarch butterfly with wings still straightening clings to the seed pods of hairy beardtongue.
Top-down photo of a batch of pastry cream cooking in a pot with yellow pawpaw puree in a vessel beside it
A photo of a lot of small framed gouache paintings with a rabbit, a snake, some bloodroot, and lady slippers.
An illustrated list of art prompts by @furrylittlepeach. In order: 01 Acorn 02 Kite 03 Slug 04 Gingham 05 Poppy 06 Ring 07 Strawberry 08 Leaf 09 Rope 10 Critter 11 Seagull 12 Bark 13 Marble 14 Brush 15 Aquarium 16 Hatch 17 Whistle 18 Toad 19 Melon 20 Truck 21 Snowflake 22 Web 23 Paper 24 Spots 25 Stripes 26 Bear 27 Axe 28 Button 29 Sour 30 Whisker 21 Ghost @Peachtober 2025 #Peachtober25
A highly-detailed lush green gouache painting featuring a riot of color and leaf texture on a dark green background. It features stylized, accurate Northeastern US plants and animals, including pink eastern wahoo, a speckled wood thrush, goldenrod, and many other native species.
Graphic featuring a bright repeat pattern of overlapping oak leaves and branches. A blue jay and a squirrel are hidden among the leaves looking at brushy text which reads PAGE TURNS: The Art of Picture Books.
Photograph of a bountiful technicolor harvest of cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers
A close-up gouache painting of glistening red witch's hat mushrooms with pointed tips, growing in a patch of heart-leaved wood sorrel. A little bright red newt meanders under the mushrooms.
Photo of two ducks swimming in a sunlight clear creek
Screenshot of a Publisher's Weekly post. The relevant text is "LERNER/MILLBROOK Millbrook press steps up to the plate with... and Whose Tree Is This? Poems About the Mighty Oak and Its Companions by Marilyn Singer, illus. by Julian Plum, centered on an oak tree and all the different creatures that depend on it."
A shoal of silver-blue swallowtail shiners, small minnows, surround a shining orb in the top left corner of the painting. Their scales shine with yellow light.
Gouache painting in lush dark green and blue featuring a cross-section of a pond at night. A green harlequin-patterned frog with a hint of tadpole tail climbs half out of the water into the cattails, looking at the stars. In the darkness lurks a taloned heron foot. The water is full of tadpoles, pond weed, insect larvae, and frog eggs. A single bright mayfly hangs on a cattail leaf above the frog's head.
A bright gouache painting of a vial of testosterone cypionate rendered in pastel rainbow hues. the T itself shines gold with the light of the sun. a pink needle and a blue needle reflect onto the white ground.
An art postcard of a red-haired boy clinging to a selkie skin in a swirl of blue waves and seafoam. Fish jump around him. A hand reaches out to pull him free. The text reads, "Julian Plum," and "author-illustrator, julianplum.com, hello@julianplum.com"
Bright, colorful still life of a close-up vial of testosterone cypionate, rendered in pastel rainbow colors and casting a golden shadow onto a tabletop. A pink needle and a blue needle rest nearby.
Botanical painting of yellow-flowered trout lilies with long, spade-like leaves, speckled brown like the belly of a fish. They grow from the leaf litter, and small ants gather their seeds to carry and disperse.
Screenshot of a book deal announcement from Publisher's Marketplace. Bright art of a gorgeous house interior is in the background. It reads: DEAL REPORT By Sasha Allen, Julian Plum Imprint: Little, Brown Children's Trans TikTok influencer and The Voice contestant Sasha's Allen's THE HOUSE THAT FEELS LIKE ME, based on the author's viral video, about a house that's dull and gray on the outside, but bright and colorful on the inside, and the neighborhood boy who helps the house's exterior match who it is inside, illustrated by trans artist Julian Plum, to Alvina Ling at Little, Brown Children's, for publication in fall 2026, by Naomi Davis at BookEnds (world). Children's: Picture Book Fiction, April 23, 2025
A gouache portrait of Rümeysa Oztürk surrounded by wildflowers, reading "Free Rümeysa" in hand-lettered script.
Photo of a very young white-wooled lamb sniffing a bright yellow daffodil, which is the same height as his pink nose.
Graphic gouache painting of a small white cat shadowed in blue, standing on a bold pink background. She is in a dancerly twisting pose, wearing a cream-colored tutu.
Gouache painting of Rümeysa Ozturk smiling quietly against a deep red background full of Palestinian wildflowers. Below her, hand lettered text reads "Free Rümeysa."
Photo of a black cat from above. He looks up at the camera with massive eyes. He is very round. His tail is like an uncooked spaghettie
A snippet of a lush, leaf-filled gouache painting showing a grasshopper sparrow sitting on a gray birch branch. It holds a chunky grasshopper in its short beak. Surrounding the bird are fading sundial lupine flowers with emerging seedpods, pink corydalis, and bright yellow partridge pea flowers.
Photo of the artist: a white trans guy with fluffy brown hair, squinting into the sun with a golden cornfield stretching away behind him. He's wearing a bright golden turtleneck and a cool tweed jacket.
Photo of a hand holding three stickers: a black femme Trillium flower fairy, a mushroom fairy riding a snail, and a frog prince with a golden crown.
Screenshot of a gouache painting showing a golden-furred bat with a cute face and big ears hanging over brightly-painted green oak leaves.
A photo of two glass vessels containing milky green liquid. One has a bamboo straw. One has a paintbrush. Only one contains a matcha latte.
Close-up photo of a painting detail: a large acorn being drilled into by a golden acorn weevil.
A gouache painting of an amber mouse in white snow looking up at blooming snowdrops against minty green. It reads "Julian Plum" at the top, and below the snowdrops against the snow it says, "Rep'd by Naomi Davis at BookEnds Literary, julianplum.com, hello@julianplum.com". The mouse has left little footprints in the snow.
Bright gouache painting of orange glowing mushrooms on a forest floor against a dark night sky.
Gouache painting showing a wintery scene in various shades of white. In the foreground on a snowy hill, seven fat white willow grouse watch geese flying up from a frozen pond in the distance. The geese fly up in a line, aiming for the migrating geese in the sky. Bare-branched blue trees catch the pink light of a fading sun.
Messy digital painting of the artist, a person with fluffy brown hair sitting cross-legged with eyes closed. He wears a large white knit sweater over a gold turtleneck, black pants, and purple socks. He looks pretty tired.
A grid of nine paintings and the artist's face. From top to bottom, left to right: orange mushrooms glowing at night; white birds flying in a blue sky away from running children; two excited schoolchildren looking at a butterfly; a chipmunk eating a strawberry at night; Julian wearing a hat in a cornfield; checkered frittillaries and black hellebores; a robin feeding its pink baby a worm in a nest; two white geese looking at the stars; "Julian Plum" in the leaf litter, spelled out on a leaf in snail slime.
Photo of a platter of decorated green and tan sugar cookies. Some of them have candy google eyes.
An overhead photo of a half finished jigsaw puzzle, which is being used as a bed by two lazy cats.
Photo of an art studio at night. It's a wood-walled space brightly lit on one side by a floor lamp. A colorful rainbow arch rug leads the eye to dark windows full of plants. Everywhere is the detritus of art making: paper, frames, books, half-finished paintings.
Photo of a painting in an arched, scalloped white frame. The painting features two white geese on a dark blue background. One goose cranes toward the stars, and the other bows its head in sleep.
A digital postcard featuring a painted Yule Log, a brown log-shaped roll cake with a swirl of white icing. A mouse some cranberries, and some marzipan mushrooms sit atop the log. The mouse is snacking on a sweet berry while another mouse with a be-ribboned tail contemplates its own food crimes. The ribbon-like hand-lettered text reads Julian Plum.
Cropped snippet of a half-finished painting full of lush leaves of different shapes and textures, and many flowers shaped like tiny gold stars.
Photo of a colorful sketchbook spread featuring bright illustrations of various leaves, seeds, and flowers.
Black and white digital sketch of an opening sheet from a storybook. Framed in a doorway is a mother spinning yarn and her child, a kid in a dress holding a ball of string and looking up at her. His mouth is open and his long hair cascades down his back.