UNDER THE INFLUENCE
The interviews from the Under The Influence videos really helped me understand how I should discuss my inspirations and thoughts about my own work. Seeing all of these different artists with different skillsets discuss their own influences and what drives them to create was very helpful for me, as I'm not used to talking about my drives. I usually just let my work talk for me.
Most influential teacher? My Illustration 1 and Rendering Techniques professor, Professor Dittrich. Not only does he fully believe in his students' abilities to push themselves and is always there to lend a helpful hand, but he's genuinely a good person who encourages people to be the best version of themselves.
Which artist most influenced you? Without a doubt has to be the King himself, Jack Kirby. His work at Marvel, creating most of the Marvel Universe that we know today with characters such as Captain America, The Fantastic Four, Thor, The X-Men, Black Panther, and many more, and his work at DC with The Fourth World Saga has really driven me to want to create my own books as magical as his.
Favorite artwork? For years now, something about Van Gogh's Starry Night has always captivated me. The impasto paintwork, the loneliness of the moon in the sky. It feels very intimate, like I have no friend in this world except that moon.
Exhibition with the most influence? Last semester, I went to the Lente Latin exhibition my campus was having. It was comprised of Latin photographers local to us, and being a Peruvian and Puerto Rican man, it was very nice to see artists like me create images of how they, their families, and people around them live their lives.
Favorite museum? I love The MET so much. It's a damn shame that I haven't been there in some time- soon I'll have to pay them another visit.
Book with the most influence? Sean Gordon Murphy's Punk Rock Jesus was something I didn't know I needed. A book that punches you in the mouth with an anti-capitalism message and questioning the validity of religion and if there really is someone or something out there showed me that comics can really be something more.
Other influential creative fields? I can't live without music. I need to have something playing in my ears almost all the time for me to even function. That carries into my art as well- I'm a big punk rock guy, and I try to carry that energy into my work, whether it's high octane or political.
Advice to new artists? Don't be afraid to be as weird as you want to be. Create the kind of work that you want to see in the world. Not the work that you think other people want. At the end of the day, it's your art.
My influence as an artist? I don't think I have much of an artistic influence on others right now, but if I ever do, I hope it's for good reason. I hope people look upon my work and realize that, yeah, weird comics geeks can do some cool stuff, too.
An experience that has influenced you to become an artist? Not a singular experience, but I remember looking at the sick artwork in some of the first comics my uncle got me, and loving how dynamic and colorful everything and everyone looked. It wasn't like anything I ever saw before- it was a whole new world. And I wanted in on it.
LE'ANDRA LESEUR INTERVIEW
The interview with Le'Andra LeSeur was a really cool read for me. She talked about how she likes to work with how we as people perceive others and how we carry on with living. She said how she thinks about the gaze and how violent it is in nature, how we're always trying to figure each other out just from a first glance. It's something that I really engaged with and was thinking about for some time. I can kind of relate to LeSeur in this stance. What motivates me is wanting to make fun comics that can also tell deep, emotional stories that can leave a lasting impact on people. People might look at them and just think they're regular comics, but if they were to take a second gaze at it, they may be able to see something more. I usually try to go for a punk rock space aesthetic for my work to make it feel both out of worldly and relatable at the same time. A feeling of revolution.
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