Life & Work with Valeria Alvarez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Valeria Alvarez.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started? 
Hello! I’m Valeria “Veri” Alvarez, I am a first-generation Colombian American illustrator, printmaker, tattoo artist, and painter. I’m originally from a small town called Easley, South Carolina, just on the outskirts of Greenville, South Carolina, a slightly larger town that some people consider to be a city. (haha) 

I started taking my art career seriously at around 12 years old, having my humble beginnings posting anime art on Deviantart. I did not know that having an art job was at all possible until around that time; I spent all my time on animation forums and watching student reels on YouTube. I remember spending all my time on the bus not talking to anybody, just practicing my animation/drawing skills on the DSi with this app called Flipnote Hatena. 

In school, nobody really took the kind of art I was into seriously, so I often just had to teach myself what I wanted to learn. That was until I took my high school art classes, I was really challenged by my teacher around that time to do things I necessarily did not want to do. In the end, I really see what he was trying to do was for the benefit of my future art career. (i.e., teaching me the fundamentals of art instead of drawing anime all day long, haha) 

I eventually made my way to SCAD, the Savannah College of Art and Design, that’s where I really feel that my knowledge flourished. Even though I feel like I made the most of my time at SCAD (studying in France, helping run clubs and events, did as many portfolio reviews as I could), I still look back on my 4 years and think, “Man, I really could’ve done more”. 

I graduated in May of 2020, worked at Carter’s Inc. as an assistant graphic designer from 2020 to 2022, and as of 2022, I have now started the career of teaching and giving back to marginalized communities that shaped me as a person. I moved to Los Angeles, California, and now work as a teaching assistant at Nova Community Arts. Additionally, I exhibit my work at various art markets, conventions, and galleries. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh definitely not, I feel like these last few years, I have been trying to hike an entire mountain in in stilettos. Needless to say, it’s been super hard, haha. Especially since living in this post-pandemic world, trying to figure out how to navigate this new world. 

I’ve gone through a lot of changes in my personal life, and because of that, it’s 100% affected my work. I kind of had a mid-life crisis starting at the age of 23; it has manifested itself in me dipping my toes into many avenues of art. I can’t even begin to list down all the stuff that has gone down in the last few years, from being unemployed for a year and a half to losing all motivation to create, and even reconsidering what I was making art for, it was really jarring to start all the way from step one. But instead of it being a block in the road, I use this temporary reset as a means for me to try new things. This is how I ended up being really involved in my local art community. Right now, I’m a volunteer instructor for Nova Community Arts, a non-profit in Atwater Village. I help out with their Risograph, linocut, and screen-printing classes, and it has filled me with nothing but joy and motivation to keep pursuing art education. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
Currently, I’m taking a backseat from doing illustration as full-time work. (I’m always accepting freelance opportunities, though!) I work part time at a stationery store, still being around stuff that I’m really passionate about, and I’m looking for positions in being an instructor or even an art teacher. Politics have gotten so much scarier these days, especially when you hear about funding in the arts being slashed in half by the government. A major motivator in my life is to make the arts accessible to underprivileged communities and/or the general public, whether they want to pursue the arts as a lifelong passion or as something that can be therapeutic for them! 

Right now, I am teaching myself how to tattoo and will soon take on an apprenticeship, I really found a home in the printed arts and the body arts scene. Everyone I’ve met in both communities has been so kind and welcoming, especially since I find myself in primarily LGBTQIA+ spaces. I feel so safe being around like-minded artists who truly understand what it’s like to be a twenty-something artist in the 2020 decade. 

In my work, I focus on very specific ideas and motifs, I’m a very mushy-gushy, sentimental, nostalgic, kind of person. Because of that, all of my art is referential to the stuff I used to adore as a child. Fantasy anime, graphic novels about cool girls with superpowers, heroines, and heroes, and cute things! I love folklore, mythology, weaponry, and fashion. As someone who grew up in a religious Roman-Latino Catholic household, I had religious iconography all around my life. Especially in my little southern town, practically everyone was Baptist. It’s hard not to go through my portfolio, personal library, or even my sketchbook and not see what the remnants of religion have left behind in my life. I’m not particularly religious, but I do lead a deeply spiritual life, and symbolism is VERY important to me. Currently in my life, fish, swords, and stars have taken the lead in my brain, I always include them in my illustrations as they symbolize prosperity, protection, and guidance. I feel like it’s a good omen to include them in my illustrations! 

I think what sets me apart from other illustrators is my voice! Literally and figuratively, I have a stutter, and growing up as a queer, disabled, Latino person has given me a different perspective on life that no one can really replicate, if that makes sense. I’m so proud of the person I’ve become and how I’ve overcome my hardships in life. I feel it’s really reflected well in my work; the characters I have created are written to be these strong, powerful femmes with complex ideas and notions of morality. I could really go on and on about how important writing well-rounded characters can be. 

What do you think about happiness?
How much can I write for this? Haha! 

Honestly, my list would have been so much shorter a few years ago, even last year it would’ve been, like, two sentences long. But as I stand right now, so many things in my life and out of my life make me happy. 

The sun and the moon, the passage of time, night and day, being with friends, being alone. I’m so happy that I get to exist on Earth right here, right now! Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t have days where I just wanna drive off into the sunset and never return, haha. I get angry just as much as the next guy!! But I think it’s so important to take a step back and really appreciate what you do have, if you stand around thinking about things you don’t have, you’re going to miss a lot, and I unfortunately had to learn that lesson the hard way. 

After both of my grandfathers passed within days of each other back in 2020, I had a come to about life and how precious it is. And how they both have legacies that have outlived their time on earth. It is SO important to utilize the love you have and the love you can give. Even though it can be so hard sometimes, treating others with the love you want to receive is so fulfilling. 

What makes me the most happy in my life is my cat, my partner, my ability to make art, being outside, eating amazing food, traveling, and reading comics. And all of that is because those things make me feel like a human being, and being a human is so special. 

Okay, I’m getting off my soapbox now, haha! 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.valeriaalvarezillu.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veripeachy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeria-alvarez-15a840174/

Image Credits
Valeria Alvarez Illustration