Draws in Spanish | Conversations with Latinx Visual Artists and Designers

In this episode, I chat with Chilean Motion Graphic Designer and Illustrator Cristobal Saez. Cristo was raised in Chile and eventually made his way to New York City to attend FIT where he studied graphic design. He quickly realized that branding and logo work just wasn't for him and started creating illustrated GIFs of pop culture moments on his off time. But it was through his work creating this digital fan art that he was able to land a role at a record label creating content and now works at Universal producing visual content for artists such as Beyonce, Adele, and Lil Nas X.

Keep on listening to hear us talk about why he chose to move to the US, his experience creating viral fan art, and his advice for breaking into the music industry today.

EPISODE LINKS

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Host: Follow Fabiola on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok

Guest: Follow Cristo on Instagram and TikTok

If you feel that running an online shop isn’t a solid long-term plan, today’s guest is about to blow your mind! In this episode, I chat with Cuban-American illustrator Danny Brito, who has run a successful and sustainable online shop for over a decade.

Danny originally went to college for Graphic Design, but eventually dropped out to pursue illustration independently after “the universe told” him he wasn’t good at academics. Once he realized you could sell prints of your illustrations instead of only originals, he opened an Etsy store and has kept it running ever since.

After 38,000 online sales, Danny has learned to design products as he goes, as opposed to developing entire collections, in order to get a sense of how his customers receive the new merch. With this method, he’s been able to create a variety of products that make his online shop more sustainable in the long term.

Tune into this episode to hear Danny and I chat about his experience as an alt-Cuban in Miami, the intricacies of Cuban politics, how he’s made his online shop sustainable, and exactly how he feels about online art theft.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Guest Links: Danny’s online shop, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok

Host Links: Follow Fabiola on Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok

Free Download: Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Topics Covered:

1. Growing up in Hialeah aka “Little Cuba”
2. How his family immigrated from Cuba
3. Facing culture shock when you leave Miami
4. Trying to fit in with American “white” culture
5. Reconnecting with his Cuban roots with his Cuban boyfriend
6. His experience of losing his connection to the Spanish language
7. Avoiding racism by staying in the Miami bubble
8. The politics of Cubans in Miami
9. Why he chose to drop out of Graphic Design school
10. How he started his merch career with custom painted tote bags for clients from Livejournal
11. How he started an Etsy shop in a different era (2009)
12. Fundraising with sticker sales and matching donations for charities
13. Dealing with artistic theft
14. Whether he thinks art theft is ultimately preventable in an online era
15. Struggling with imposter syndrome as an artist
16. How finding community can help you cope with imposter syndrome
17. Rolling with the punches when it comes to the ever-changing social media trends

Pepita Sandwich grew up feeling like she couldn’t be an artist because her work wasn’t realistic enough. Josefina — who goes by her nickname Pepita Sandwich — is a Brooklyn-based illustrator and cartoonist who loves to capture “crappy magic” and nostalgic emotions with her creative work.

She was raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina and grew up visiting art museums and eating endless amounts of ice cream at her grandfather’s ice cream shop. Pepita pursued a degree in Fashion Design from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, but after graduation, she quickly followed her passion for illustration and comics.

Once she published Survival Diaries in 2016, she made her way to the US to pursue an MFA in cartooning at The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. While studying for her MFA, she wrote and published her second book, Women Move Mountains, with Penguin Random House. She’s gone on to work with clients such as The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and Adidas.

In this episode, we go over how she discovered cartooning and illustration, why she decided to move to the US, the pressure that comes with sharing your work on social media, and why she just loves to cry.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Topics Covered:

• Growing up in Buenos Aires with an Art Historian mother and Engineer Father
• Frequenting Art Museums in her childhood and how it impacted her work
• Feeling the pressure of being a “Fine Artist”
• Graduating with a Fashion Design degree from Universidad de Buenos Aires
• How to explain a creative career to your parents and family
• The pros and cons of the rise of social media
• Dealing with social media comparison and toxicity
• Pursuing an MFA in Comics at The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont
• Publishing Women Move Mountains in 2019 and Survival Diaries in 2016
• Experiencing culture shock from moving from Buenos Aires to Vermont
• The origin story of the name Pepita Sandwich
• Making bilingual comics in order to expand her audience and reach the US market
• Developing a book on crying and the associated taboos of crying
• Launching her new class about having a visual diary to capture a feeling

Guest Info

Check out Pepita’s Instagram, Patreon, and new visual diary course on Domestika.

Special Offer

Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Follow Host Fabiola Lara between episodes:

• Instagram
• Youtube
• TikTok

Sometimes one decision can completely change the trajectory of your life! That’s what happened to Natalia Cardona Puerta when she decided to follow her dreams of being an illustrator and uproot her life in Colombia.

In this episode, I chat with Colombian illustrator Natalia Cardona Puerta who creates colorful and playful illustrations inspired by her ‘90s upbringing, her love for the outdoors, and her innermost feelings.

Natalia “never in a million years” expected to leave Colombia, but after graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design she took a break and realized she wanted to reconnect with her creative voice. Eventually, her mom encouraged her to pursue a Master’s degree and it all happened very quickly from there. One thing lead to the next and she was on a one-way flight to Georgia to pursue a Master’s degree in Illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Nowadays, Natalia is going through the permanent residency process here in the U.S. to be able to live and work here long term. The legal process has been slow and frustrating. She feels it slowed down her post-grad momentum but she is taking this time to ”plant a lot of seeds” that are sure to blossom in the future.

Tune into this episode to hear Natalia and I talk about growing up in Bogota, why she decided to immigrate to the U.S., and how she developed her illustration style after graduating.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

EPISODE LINKS:

Listener Survey: Take the survey to help me improve Season 2!

Guest Links: Check out Natalia’s Instagram and Portfolio.

Host Links: Check out Fabiola Lara on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Topics Covered:

1. Living a sheltered life in turbulent Bogota in the early 90s
2. Rejecting a fine art career path for an undergraduate degree in Industrial Design
3. Pursuing a Master’s in Illustration at SCAD after learning about the program a few week prior
4. The difficulties of being an artist in the US pursuing a Permanent Resident Card (greencard)
5. The impacts of not being able to work in the US as an artist
6. The pros and cons of receiving an art school education
7. Her current creative routine after graduating
8. Finding a better work-life balance after graduation
9. Developing her personal illustration style and tailoring her portfolio
10. The feeling of languishing during slow creative seasons
11. Working with an illustration agent for editorial and publishing projects
12. Completing a large-scale mural for a dream client
13. Working with The Washington Post on an editorial illustration

On this episode, I have a very vulnerable conversation with 21-yr-old Mexican illustrator and YouTuber Paloma Cordova. We get real about how broken the US immigration system is, the intricacies of race and Latinx identity, and how she broke into the illustration world through YouTube.

In the first half of this episode, we discuss how Paloma’s Mexican heritage impacts her work and she gets honest with me about the struggles of immigrating to the US. Paloma reveals that she’s an undocumented DREAMer in the US, how that impacts her life here and her relationship with her Mexican roots. We also bond over the intricacies of racial identity as light-skinned Latinx women and how it can be difficult to navigate racial terms while staying true to ourselves, our experience, and our culture.

In terms of her creative career, Paloma got her start in illustration by following her love for cute stationary and stickers. Her father (adorably) gifted her a Cricut machine as a way lifting her out from a depressive season, and she seized the opportunity by launching her online sticker shop in mid 2019. Once sticker sales started picking up in 2020, she realized — alongside her parents — that she could pursue art as a career.

Now, Paloma is studying Art History all while balancing a thriving YouTube channel, Patreon, and merch store. Her degree is helping her round out her influences and develop her style as she keeps exploring new mediums and evolving her digital work. Listen to this episode to hear more about Paloma’s complex immigration story, racial identity as a Mexican woman, and career as both an artist and content creator.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Guest Info

Check out Paloma’s latest work on Instagram, YouTube, Merch store, or website.

Special Offer

Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

Follow Host Fabiola Lara between episodes on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok

Topics Covered:

1. Immigrating from Mexico at 1 year old
2. The struggles of living undocumented in the US
3. Dating within your nationality and immigration status
4. How to stay connected with your Mexican heritage
5. The divide between Mexican-Americans and Mexicans
6. How your immigration status impacts your everyday life
7. Discussing race within the Latinx community
8. Breaking down negative Mexican stereotypes
9. Exploring the difference between race, culture, and ethnicity
10. Finding a community of art youtubers such as Katnipp Illustration and Apple Cheeks
11. Getting started on YouTube by creating Studio Vlogs
12. Advice for launching a successful Patreon account
13. Establishing yourself as a Content Creator and Artist
14. Landing her first brand collaboration with Kinokuniya USA