This directory lists Black Cover Designers, Artists, & Illustrators who have worked on traditionally published YA literature written by Black authors.

If there is a Black Cover Designer, Artist, or Illustrator who has worked on Black YA titles and they are missing from the directory below, please email info@melanininya.com

Last Updated: Update in Progress as of October 2026

Monet Alyssa

  • Illustrator
    • Website: monetalyssa.com
    • Instagram: @monet_alyssa
    • YA Book Covers:
      • Balancing Act by Paula Chase
      • Off Balance by Paula Chase
      • The Black Girl Survives in This One Edited by Desiree S. Evans & Saraciea J. Fennell

Sunday Avanti

Rachelle Baker 

  • Illustrator
    • Website: rachellebakerdraws.squarespace.com
    • Instagram: @indoorcatgirl
    • YA Book Covers:
      • Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh
      • Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson
      • The Marvelous by Claire Kann
      • One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite & Maritza Moulite
      • All the Fighting Parts by Hannah Sawyerr

Charles Chaisson

  • Illustrator
    • Instagram: @charleschaissonart
    • YA Book Covers:
      • Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
      • Redempter by Jordan Ifueko
      • How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon (Paperback)
      • The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus

Alexis Franklin

Vashti Harrison

  • Illustrator

Chelsea Hunter

  • Cover Designer
    • Website: seehunters.com
    • Instagram: @seehunter
    • YA Book Covers:
      • Dead Girls Walking by Sami Ellis
      • See No Color by Shannon Gibney
      • Saint-Seducing Gold by Brittany N. Williams
      • That Self-Same Metal by Brittany N. Williams

Marcie Lawrence

  • Cover Designer
    • Website: marcielawrence.design
    • Instagram: @marcielawrence.design
    • YA Book Covers:
      • Finding Yvonne by Brandy Colbert
      • Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert
      • The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert
      • Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles
      • When the Stars Lead to You by Ronni Davis

Erin Robinson

  • Cover Artist
    • Instagram: @brooklyndolly
    • YA Book Covers:
      • Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
    • Fun Facts:
      • Erin designed a 2022 Kwanzaa U.S. postage stamp.
      • Erin is Emmy-nominated in the news and documentary category for her illustration work on the Washington Post’s Obama Legacy.

Shaylin Wallace

  • Cover Artist
    • Website: smwvisuals.com
    • Instagram: @smwallday
    • YA Book Covers:
      • Home Is Not A Country by Safia Elhillo
      • The Shadow Sister by Lily Meade

Hillary D. Wilson

  • Illustrator
    • Website: hdwilsonart.com
    • Instagram: @hillarydwilsonart
    • YA Book Covers:
      • Eternally Yours Edited by Patrice Caldwell
      • It Lurks in the Night by Sarah Dass
      • It Waits in the Forest by Sarah Dass
      • Beasts of Prey by Ayana Grey (Illumicrate Special Edition)
      • Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn
      • Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
      • Oathbound by Tracy Deonn
      • Escaping Mr. Rochester by L. L. McKinney
      • Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams
      • Bones at the Crossroads by LaDarrion Williams

Lesley Worrell

  • Cover Designer
    • Website: lesleyworrell.com
    • Instagram: @lesleyworrell
    • YA Book Covers:
      • The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
      • The Sisters of Reckoning by Charlotte Nicole Davis
      • A Chorus Rises by Bethany C. Morrow
      • A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow

Dwayne “Dubelyoo” Wright

  • Illustrator