Illustration
My Digital Art Journey
I've been drawing digitally for as long as I can remember. I think my first interaction with digital art might've been when I was around 10 years old, or even younger, so a little over half of my lifetime.
As for traditional art, though, I've been doing that since I learned how to pick up a pencil. However, I didn't start taking it seriously until I was around 14 or 15 years old.
I've drawn both on computer programs and mobile devices. As for mobile devices, I started out using my tiny little phone. And for computer, my mom got me a Wacom Intuos Draw (which doesn't even exist for purchase anymore) way back when.
My first ever art program on computer was... Microsoft Paint. That's funny. The first "complete" digital art program I used was Paint Tool SAI, though. I used to love Paint Tool SAI. After that, I started using Fire Alpaca.
As for mobile devices, the oldest art app I remember using might've been Medibang Paint or Autodesk Sketchbook, probably. After that I migrated to Ibis Paint and used that for a really long while.
Once I got my iPad, I started using Procreate and never went back.
Procreate has been my beloved and my favorite ever since I bought it. Every art piece featured on this page was drawn on Procreate.
When it comes to personal illustrations, I tend to gravitate more towards emotional stuff with some sort of meaning, which I'll touch up on later.
This specific piece to your right is titled "Never Enough" and I drew it around 2023 if I'm not mistaken. I've improved a lot since then, but I don't have much proof, so you're going to have to trust me on that.
Something I've never gotten used to drawing is backgrounds, so you'll quickly be able to tell that most of my pieces feature a solid color, pattern, or gradient as background.
Additionally, most of my pieces feature my OCs (Original Characters) Brownie and Capu. If you're curious to learn more about them, you can head over to my editorial page and read up on my magazine Crumbs. On it, I talk about my characters' stories, their issues, and how they came to be.
The Meaning Behind My Pieces
My illustrations, as you may've already been able to tell, are very emotionally packed.
I mostly like to explore themes relating to mental health and self image: so anxiety, depression, and low self esteem or body dysmorphia.
Another thing I like to draw a lot is artistic nudity. I believe the naked body should never be considered something inherently sexual.
I like to draw men, women, and genderqueer characters, so a little bit of everything is always good.
My pieces tend to illustrate problems I personally deal with, which I will touch up on later. These characters mean the world to me, and I use these drawings to cope with my own feelings and thoughts.
My Characters
As I mentioned previously already, all of the illustrations I've featured here show off two of my favorite original characters to draw: Brownie and Capu.
I use them both to express myself and project my issues onto them, drawing them in all sorts of situations.
Capu has anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia, like yours truly, so he tends to get drawn in the sadder, more hopeless kind of pieces. I seriously need to draw him a bit happier from time to time.
Brownie represents other issues of mine, but I usually use them to explore my and their queer identity through my art. For example, their whole relationship with gender.
I will always believe representation matters more than people realize. Seeing one's issues be represented in any sort of media gives off a huge "you're not alone" feeling that I will always adore. So, with my characters, I aim to be something like that for other people as well, not just me.
I believe if anyone can relate to my issues or my characters, I've done a good job writing them and representing them.
How I Cope Through Art
Not to get too personal, but I've always had a hard time expressing myself (or my feelings) through words. I've spent years trying to figure myself out and failing miserably, so the only thing I had left to do was to express and explore myself through art.
A lot of these pieces were drawn with nothing specific in mind, just me grabbing my Apple Pencil and drawing whatever I was feeling or had in mind at the current moment, so they're very raw and somewhat thoughtless.
However, despite that, I believe they do convey my emotions quite clearly, and their message doesn't need to be too explicit or fully explained to be understood, and I'm proud of myself for achieving that.
When i first started therapy, my therapist tried to read me through my art.
I'd like to encourage you, reader, or anyone you know, to express yourself through any sort of creativity. If you don't like to draw, that's okay! You can sew, crochet, color, write...
Art is an amazing way to cope with big feelings that spoken words can't seem to materialize, and I think that's beautiful.
You know what they say, art is meant to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.
And, right now, in the age where AI is running rampant and ruining everything, human creation is more important than you realize.
Human creation, raw feelings, and art can mean the world to a lot of people, like myself.
Animation
College Animation
I can do both frame by frame and rigging animation! Here's an example of a little rig we did in After Effects using Duik Angela.
We did a lip sync video, a couple of simple expressions, and a walk cycle as practice to experiment with rigging in After Effects.
Personal Animation
When it comes to animation I make for myself, sometimes I gravitate towards fandom animation (like the one to your left, that's Pomni and Jax from The Amazing Digital Circus) or stuff with my original characters, like the one below!
I wish I had more frame by frame examples, but I've been very busy.
My true passion is animating frame by frame animation, but with how time consuming it is and how busy I've been, I haven't had much time to make new examples.
The one below is from all the way back in 2020.
My YouTube Channel
I know, I know... I keep promoting my YouTube channel over and over whenever I get the chance. What can I say, it's my pride and joy! I would be making so much content if it wasn't for college! Jokes aside, though, I really enjoy animating and editing videos, whether it's for a client or for myself.
This is something I made for class a couple years ago, but I'm still proud of how it turned out. I had a fun time working on it because I hadn't done anything like it in a while. I hope you enjoy it as well!
- barbiecantumo@gmail.com
- Quintana Roo, Mexico