Today we’d like to introduce you to Marissa Espiritu.
Marissa, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up a hopeless romantic in the San Francisco Bay Area who never put down a pen when art class was over. I lived in a small town that had one high school where everyone knew each other and longed for the big city. It was breeding grounds for every YA, coming of age love story you’ve ever read or watched. It was John Green territory, and if I wasn’t living it, I was dreaming of it. I had your classic “I’m too big for this town” complex and wrote myself stories of either the grand gestures of friendship or wild adventures of secret agents. But mostly love, for a person, for a craft, for a cause.
A lot of people don’t know this but I originally wanted to be an author and illustrate on the side. I mean there are stories hidden away in the eaves of my attic, never to be found, and unfortunately never to be finished. Because I wanted to capture those indescribable feelings of nostalgia, longing, connection and heartbreak. But there’s beauty in being unable to describe it, and my visual language excelled where my words couldn’t. I found more purpose in trying capture everything you could feel in a hug with a simple drawing. And that’s where it started. My sketchbook was a diary. I drew what I felt or what I wanted to feel and it became a beautiful outlet to express things I don’t know how to express.
So my doodles and my big city dreams brought me to Cal State Long Beach, where I pursued a degree in illustration.
In college, I found a million and one different avenues of where my doodles could take me. I could still illustrate for books, but I can also illustrate for magazines and newspapers. I could lean into graphic design or I can go on as far as graphic novels. I could animate or just design the characters or layout storyboards. And at the end of the day, I realized I wanted to do it all, and have created a wild portfolio because of it. I was doing a million things at once and became a master of odd jobs and commissions, managing and multitasking, slowly but surely turning myself into a workaholic. There was just this high of being everywhere at once I just couldn’t get enough of. I said yes to everything and was just addicted to the impromptu passion projects that would fall into my lap.
In the midst of it all, I landed a job as a magazine art director at 22 West Media. This company is where I met all of the crazy, obsessive, creatives I wanted to be and be around. I was networking in the magazine department, making cover art for podcasts in the radio department and designing sets, props and backgrounds in the video department. And it was the video department that I realized my busy body personality match those in production design. And finally making that connection in my mind opened a new universe of possibilities I could be.
So today, graduated and back at home, in the midst of a global pandemic, I’m actually very excited to get back outside and be everywhere at once. I’m itching to explore animation production and every other avenue the world might have for me.
Has it been a smooth road?
There’s always bumps in the road. I mean for one, I decided to be an artist, and sometimes I think that’s my greatest flaw. I could have been anything and done just fine, but I decided to draw for a living. But that was a challenge I set my heart on from the very beginning and I’ve embraced the path ever since.
No, the biggest challenge in my career is being a first-generation college student from a Filipino Mexican American household. And not for reasons you might think: financial, racial, academic. No, I am extremely lucky to have grown up in the family and community this culture has provided me and overall blessed with the level of support I’ve had growing up. I would not have the tools that got me through all those barriers without my family and I am forever grateful for that.
The biggest challenge was deciding to leave in the first place. I’m very close to my family and all of my extended family was within an hour drive of where we lived. So the idea of moving to what felt like the opposite side of the state definitely challenged many cultural and familial norms I had grown up with. It’s sort of terrifying making that transition and it was something I genuinely dealt with while being away at Long Beach. Should I feel guilty for leaving my family to pursue my career? It was definitely a learning experience for everyone, but at the end of the day, proximity was never the measure of a good relationship. So again, I am blessed to have the family that I have.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
Ah my business, a personal brand. Who am I? Currently, just someone who draws for a living.
Some of the most fun I’ve had was working at 22 West Magazine illustrating for articles instead of directing them. I mean finding the perfect artist for an article was so satisfying when the words matched the pictures in print. But I’ll admit I stole a couple of articles for myself. Just finding a story that moves you enough to fill in the blanks with art was the cherry on top of my job. To settle into becoming primarily an editorial illustrator would be a lovely path to fall into, especially now in the world of working remotely.
In the meantime, sitting in quarantine, I have leaned back into storytelling. I became extremely interested in graphic novels in college. So now in post-grad, I have dedicated myself to extending my senior project into a passion project. It’s a narrative I’ve been focused on for a while that I’m spending way too long trying to perfect, but that’s where the fun is, isn’t it?
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I’m keeping my hopes up for the end of quarantine. I’m excited for the worlds we can create when we finally reconnect. I’m looking for production positions so I can explore the pipeline and learn everything there is about animation and how I can best fit myself in the studio.
Until then, I’m embracing my personal brand as an illustrator, creating worlds from my bedroom.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://miespiritu.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @mie_doods
Image Credit:
Photo taken by Valor Aguilar
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