DBZSuper

I had Japanese classmates back in 1992 who introduced me to Dragon Ball Z and I fell in love with the series. I've followed it ever since and am so happy with the direction that Dragon Ball Super has taken. This is my tribute to the series!

La Hijas De La Crisis

During the unprecedented time in which Puerto Rican's took to the street to protest in the hopes of ousting the governor of their island, Las Hijas De La Crisis utilized their creativity to bring more attention to the pain that they and their brothers and sisters on the island were feeling. They expressed that pain through art, body paint, and costuming, Initiated by Valeria Martiro, these women brought a significant amount of attention to the protest and helped in Renouncing Ricardo Rossello from office.

Edgardo Miranda Rodriguez initiated this image that you see above that focused on these women and their art, supported by his character, La Borinquena, in a show of solidarity, strength, and support! He has made grants available to grass roots organizations on the island through his publication of the La Borinquena comic and recruited myself, along with 13 other artists to create this wonderful art which was on display on the island to help celebrate and create a fundraiser to aid in the $10,000 grants that Edgardo delivers on the island.

I was responsible for the background of Calle Fortaleza as well as the woman in the rainbow top. Gustavo Vasquez did the layout and La Borinquena and 12 other Puerto Rican illustrators on the island or on the diaspora helped to make this beautiful piece happen.  If you'd like to get your very own t-shirt and help bring some aid to the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, head to this site:

https://stores.inksoft.com/Borinquena_power/shop/product-detail/17511179

or click here!

  

Pokemon!

I was blessed with being able to bring my book series to the American Librarian Association (ALA) Conference this past summer and while I was there, it hit me that I really wanted a Pokemon t-shirt! I didn't get into the series until I started playing Pokemon Go! and ever since, I've fallen in love with the designs of the characters! I knew how much fans enjoy the starters, and no lie, I do too, so I decided to start with the characters I knew (at the time) that were in the game.

I'm an Eevee fan, so I added her and her evolutions to the mix. As I started adding them, I realized, I wanted to add ALL of the characters I liked. Machop was an easy add but he also helped me figure out how to add Magickarp to the mix. From there it began spiraling out of control!

The original sketch was on a 9x12 sheet of paper, so when I wanted to start adding more to the layout, I started another 9x12 on the side. As that layout grew, I realized I was going to have to make this a Triptic, and add another sheet to the right side. I tried to make them mirror each other in their layout to force your eye back to the middle, but then I had to figure out how I could make this an 11x17 illustration so I could add it to my portfolio. That was when I figured out how I could add the larger Pokemon to the list.

Did you know that some of your favorite Pokemon aren't more than 3 ft. high? Even the larger ones aren't more than 5 ft high. There are only a few in the foreground that are, so I relegated the larger ones to the background.

How many Pokemon do you think there are here in total? My previous grand total of characters per page was hit on my X-men Illustration. Do you think I beat it here?

If you'd like a copy of this illustration, head to my Etsy page and order it there at http://www.etsy.com/shop/thelearningcurv or click here!

Check out my instagram, @thelearningcurv to see a close up of the full illustration!

Los Dos Mujeres de las Islas

I am proud to say that there are two comic properties that star Puerto Rican's that are making noise. One is La Borinquena and the other is my series, "A Reason to Smile!" I've been able to cultivate a decent little following due to my series starring this little Puerto Rican girl named Luiza Brillante, but I aspire to have her be as culturally relevant as Marisol Rios de la Luz.

Edgardo Miranda Rodriguez created her as a comic representation for the Puerto Rican Parade and as a comic book character named La Borinquena. She has the powers to help people due to her connection to Atabey, the creation mother of Boriken, Puerto Rico's original name, and goes back and forth to from PR to NYC to help people on both island. Sadly, I do not have as close of a connection to Puerto Rico, but my roots there have inspired my character, my series and being that I am from NYC, I aspire to make her relevant to this island's inhabitants. Through the stories I tell here, I hope to one day create stories where Luiza tries to see why Puerto Rico is important to her, in more than name. 

I've created this image to show solidarity with my Boriqua brother and his creation, and show others that we can all coexist in the same market. I decided that since both ladies have connections to Manhattan and Puerto Rico, joining them in a setting that shows both, showcasing my new animated cell style as well,  would be a great way to show some love and spread the word about both of our creations. The more people see us doing the same things they do in their daily lives, the more they may come to understand us and see us as they see themselves.

If you'd like to order any of my books, you may email me at thelearningcurv@gmail.com, go to www.etsy.com/shop/thelearningcurv or click here, and https://www.la-borinquena.com/#Store, or click here to buy La Borinquena!

Teen Titans GO!

I was commissioned a while back to create the a Teen Titans Go! illustration but with the faces of the friends of the person who commissioned me in the place of the originals. Seeing the opportunity to have this piece as a good illustration in my portfolio,  I drew the originals, saved the pencils in Photoshop and then drew the commission as it was requested. When I inked the piece, I scanned that, deleted the faces, and digitally inked over the older pencils. I now had a piece of art that satisfied the younger people in my audience to go along with the original Titan's piece I have as well.

When I saw how much space I left in the art, I realized I could make the piece more dynamic by tilting it and cropping the piece around the key figures. I have the artist Gabriel Picolo to thank for that. He's done some AMAZING Titan's inspired art and it's inspired me to do more slice of life pieces like this!

Email me at thelearningcurv@gmail.com if you'd like your very own custom commission!

Disney's Avengers!

I've worked on this piece for a few months now in between everything else and now have a second, pop culture full illustration (the first being my Sesame St. piece) with a painted background and a digital foreground. I'm digging this direction I've undertaken with these Disney's Avengers. I realized too late that I didn't include the GOTG but with as many characters that are here, I'm okay with that. I hope I did your favorite Disney and Marvel character justice. This was designed as if it would be a wrap around cover and the right side would have the logo/title over top of everyone. Would you read this comic? 

Check out what the art would look like with a HOUSE OF MOUSE logo on it!

...and here is the process for the piece from pencil drawing to inks, and on to how the background was painted in watercolors!

One Punch Academia

I have loved cartoons since I can remember and the older I've gotten, the more I have loved creating mashup stories where heroes and cartoon universes collide or interact! The more I get into writing my own books as well, the more I want to write and create stories and fan fiction is an amazing place to do that in!

The way I see these universes connecting is that Metal Knight from One Punch Man finds the hair that Saitama lost from his evolved state and makes a serum that he disseminates into the water. This experiment ends up giving quirks to 80% of the population! All For One comes from a higher dose being given to the first test subject, and All Might is a descendant of that first subject. From a heroic organization to a hero school, it doesn't seem too far a stretch... what was a further stretch would be if down the timeline, we saw Naruto  in is the distant future and kakegenkai end up being quirks passed down through families... but that's a whole other conversation!