Name: Ronnie Garcia
Specialties: traditional penciler and inker, digital coloring and painting
Style/Genre: Colorful Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Historical fiction, ranging from MG to YA
Contact Info: coquiwi.biz@gmail.com
Page Rate for Commissions: base rate $50 per hour for general illustration commissions, the rate varies for comics based on page count, style, and deadline
Rate for Prints of Original Work: N/A
Current Affiliations: Teacher’s Discovery, HarperCollins, Stimola Literary
Previous Work: ¡Hablo! – Teacher’s Discovery; Here (Puerto Rico Strong Anthology) – Lion Forge
Current Projects: Saving Chupie – HarperCollins 2022
What was the first project that made you feel like a real artist and how did you get it?
Actually, I was asked to work on ¡Hablo¡ and Here around the same time so I always consider them both as my firsts: my first children’s book and my first published comic. I was approached for them after gaining visibility on the #LatinxsCreate hashtag event on Twitter. I still get approached for projects often after participating in hashtag events, so I do my best to help boost new creators during those times in hopes someone else will get their Big Chance as I did!
What is your primary inspiration when creating art?
I pull most of my inspiration from my own life, especially my past. Whether it’s relationships, conflicts, or even fantasies and characters I’d dream up of as a kid, I try to find new ways to explore those aspects through the lens of the present and/or future.
What other artists do you use to learn technique?
Oh god, there are so many artists I follow I don’t know how to narrow this down? When I first started out in art and was trying to find “my style”, I mostly followed artists only as a tool to hyper analyze and I found my growth felt very stiff and shallow. Nowadays, I try to follow as many artists as I can from all backgrounds so that I can still find something to learn from them without just blatantly regurgitating their unique style. And knowing that I can enjoy someone else’s work without feeling pressured to recreate their path to success has been very liberating.
As far as an actual answer goes, I highly recommend James Gurney for anyone who works in color in any capacity of their visual work. He’s very open with his tools, knowledge, and observations and has many free resources for those wanting to get a better grasp of color theory and its applications.
Where would you like to see yourself in five years with your art?
I would love for my art to become my sole source of income by that time! The most frustrating part of getting started in the arts is that you usually only have two paths to choose from: sacrificing your creative energy into a full-time studio job that leaves you no time or inspiration for your own projects, or working more flexible part-time jobs that allow you to spend time on your craft but aren’t as financially sustaining. Right now I’m on the path of the later, but I’m hopeful I’ll reach my goal of full independence in five years’ time.
What would your dream project be?
Right now I don’t think I have a “dream project” so much as “dream circumstances”? I want to continue creating projects I love with people who inspire me, and in an ideal world we’d either be able to have a central location to work from or I’d be able to travel around to work with various collaborators in person.
I will say though, I’d be absolutely thrilled to work on some sort of cool sci-fi/fantasy monster romp with Guillermo del Toro or a historical fiction dramedy with Lin Manuel Miranda; both projects staring Gina Torres in some capacity. I’d just love to be very self-indulgent and have a great time creating something wild but heartfelt with them!
FINAL FOUR QUESTIONS:
When the zombies take over the world, where will you be?
I remember reading an article years ago about how zombies wouldn’t survive anywhere with extreme heat or cold. So as much as I love the mountains in winter, I’m an island girl. I’d be in Puerto Rico, we’d be wielding our machetes and torches by the beach, and if all else fails the hurricanes would blow them away.
And if all of that was a massive failure, at least I’d die in paradise. Zombie beach party baby!!!
How do you identify: Jedi, lesbian, Ninja, gay, vampire, bisexual, were-wolf, transgender, pirate, asexual, fairy, aromantic, sith, intersex, Spartan, non-binary, wizard, genderfluid, time lord, queer,…??
Ooooh, this is a tough one. In my heart, I would love to identify as a roguish bisexual genderfluid pirate. But in reality, I am an impish lesbian prince but one who has a lot of older siblings who are fighting for the throne so I’m just chillin’, doing some bard-ish things, hanging with mermaids…maybe committing light arson in an abandoned fort somewhere.
What piece of art, be it in the form of music, a book, a film, or a picture, do you think people must experience before they die?
It feels weird to suggest something specific based on my own experiences and what I consider profoundly enjoyable, so I feel like everyone should experience the exact opposite of the surroundings they grew up in at least once?
For example, I grew up in places like Puerto Rico, Georgia, and Florida: lots of trees, hills, mountains, temperate weather, etc. So when I moved to the panhandle of Texas, I didn’t really appreciate the beauty that could be found in expansive flat planes, the dry Southwestern climate, or just how far everything is from each other. But when a few years later I moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, I realized it was the middle ground of those two environments: it had mountains, it had expansive views, it was colorful and got the best of all four seasons without being too extreme on either end.
Now that I’m back in Georgia, I find myself looking back on the environment and culture of those areas with a sense of fondness, and an appreciation for things in my life I would have taken for granted had I not experienced something else; primarily, waking up in the morning and not smelling cow manure wafting in from cattle farms miles upwind from town.
Art and media are so subjective and ever-changing with time, so maybe taking a step back and reexamining the world around us before we die would make us less fearful of what comes next.
Give one fact people would not believe about you.
I have never broken a bone, and I have never had a cavity. I’m not saying I’m basically Wolverine but…I’m not not saying it…
