I’ve talked about Gradients (previously Abre Una Ventana), very recently. Just when I was announcing the beginning of the strips on Patreon, I made a series of most of the main cast for Instagram, that I am sharing here again.
Aria, Henry, Moonbeam Honesty, Luisa, RenĂ©, Romeo, and Xolotl look a bit different when I make them in traditional techniques, but they’re still my beloved kids.
I adore Steven Universe. It’s one of my three favorite cartoons right now, because of the gorgeous colors, the amazing characters and more importantly, because the main message is that communication is key for everything. So of course, when it won my weekly poll… I just couldn’t choose just 7 characters, I had to do EVERYONE. But the main ones are the Crystal Gems.
I will probably do this again one day, correct some of the ideas that, by doing a full image by segments, didn’t translate perfectly. But for now, Here, We are the Crystal Gems, and we always save the day.
Around 15 years ago, I was called by my editor at Vanguardia Editores, Mr. Arnulfo Flores (R.I.P.) to tell me about a new magazine he was launching. The magazine, Saga Shojo, was a huge risk for mexican market: one that would be run by women, with only stories by women and only women collaborators. And he wanted me to be the editor, and to make a story “like Friends”. I was all up for editing, but there was a small problem… I hated Friends.
There were other problems (such as the resistance to more LGBT+ friendly stories from both audience and editing staff), but I created Abre una Ventana (Open a Window. Long story that has to do with my love for musicals), and la Saga Shojo had the love of the readers for about 10 issues. (Well, less according to sale numbers, but due to mr. Flores’s faith and stubborness, we lasted 10 issues). And while the others stories closed, I left mine open ended because I hadn’t finished with the characters.
In 2006, I tried to relaunch it with the Oubilette magazine. But due to time, and other situations, I couldn’t get past issue 2.
Still, I didn’t forget Romeo and the gang. And so now I can tell you all that I have written the whole story (22 chapters of 16 pages each, more or less) , and while I am drawing it, I am doing small strips with the characters, that am posting in Patreon, once a week. First strip of the month is free for all, the other three are for Patreons starting at $1.00 USD.
So, I hope you all like it, and trust me, you will be seeing more of the gang around here too.
And of course, I hope you follow me in Patreon too! đŸ˜€
Jem and the Holograms has always been part of my childhood. I remember when I watched the TV series, and found ONE store that carried a stamp album of the series. I never got anyone to change stamps with, so it went unfinished, but I loved it with all my heart. We never got the toys in Mexico, so I had to make do with Barbie and the Rockers -which I always saw as an inferior copy to the outrageous fabulousness that was Jem.
Fast forward a lot of years, and IDW with Sophie Campbell made a dream I had come true. Namely, a more modern Jem comic. Sure, it didn’t last too long, and I still want the second omnibus volume, but while it lasted it was AMAZING. Seriously, go and buy it at your local comic book shop and wonder at the gloriousness that is a Jem story that doesn’t have to sell dolls.
So of course, during my weekly practices, I had to do Jem and the Holograms (And Pizzaz and Stormer because I ran out of time the day I was supposed to finish the Misfits)
And seriously, go and buy IDW’s Jem and the Holograms.
 
I have to say, one of the things I love about working with Mandi Gordon, Dream Keeper Robin’s editor, is that she keeps challenging me to do better every time. One of her challenges was to try and change my style, not for the comic itself (That you can read at Tapas, updating every monday), but for illustrations.
So here they are, looking a lot more comic-strip than usual, for a nice exercise with color sharpies.
This particular playful house is from the city of Monterrey. She was built by a single father for his daughter, who, according to the legend was wheelchair bound. Thus, the house was fitted accordingly with ramps and not stairs. Unfortunately, one day when he and his daughter were checking the house, she slid down one of said ramps and out of the window, dying instantly. Since then, legend says, anyone who spends time inside the unfinished house will end up jumping out of the window, pushed by the house.
But come on, look at her! She only wants to play with you.
La Casa de la TĂa Toña, or the TĂa Toña House, is a very intriguing house down here in Mexico City. It’s in the middle of the Chapultepec Forest, and entering there is forbidden. It’s also the focus of at least four contradicting stories, from the age of the TĂa Toña (Some say she was elderly, some say that she was in her 40’s), to the nature of what happened there (Some say she killed some kids that were bullying her, some say that she killed the children she had adopted, all say she killed herself afterwards), and what happens if you actually manage to enter her.
That’s why making her design was so fun. Because she’s beautiful, but shrouded in mystery.
She-ra was another winner in my weekly polls, and one I was REALLY happy to see. I mean, it’s She-ra! And now she’s back in Netflix, which makes it even better because she deserves more love. When I was a little girl I had She-ra, Katra and Bow (I LOVED my Bow doll), and never missed an episode. Sure, some are really cheesy, but they’re still some of my fondest memories, and, let’s be honest here, one of the first, if not THE first, American Magical Girl.
Writer’s Block is Mandi Gordon’s and my baby. We’ve done almost 150 strips so far, and we’re going for more. And we both love our angels.
Now, Mandi also loves Calvin and Hobbes, so she challenged me to try and do a more comic strip-style for the cast. While I didn’t do the Horsemen (yet), I did all the kids. And I think that it’s a fun and quick style, that I might use one day in the strip. Or in another project.
Maybe.
I’ve always found the Winchester Mansion to be fascinating. Both the house itself with it’s crazy architecture, as the story behind why it has such weird rooms. So of course, she had to be the second of the set of actual haunted houses in human form. She’s young, she’s old, and she’s always there to help you hide.