Rising Stars: Meet Christopher Mejia

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Mejia.

Hi Christopher, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My life didn’t start the same as many other children’s life starts, but I had and have a wonderful life and I am thankful every day for each day! My name is Christopher Carlos Mejia, I am 31 years old, and have Autism, but don’t worry, challenges and obstacles did not stop me from accomplishing some of my dreams. I still have more dreams to accomplish and working towards them.

I graduated with honors from Rowland High School in 2008, and Cal State Fullerton 2017 with honors and received my BFA in Entertainment Arts/Animation.

Growing up, I loved to spin things, watch the sand fall in front of my eyes, watch cartoons on TV, and line up all my hot wheel cars in perfect rows. I lived in my own little world.

I can remember moments of my life starting at the age of five, but before that age it is mostly stories told to me. My mom said I had started speaking the usual baby words, such as mama, papa, and bye-bye, but that from one moment to another I stopped speaking. She told me that the things I started to do were the reason why they asked for an assessment from the doctor. Such as rocking, flapping my hands, parents calling my name and having no response, and not crying if I was hungry. 

I was five when I started speaking, but my mom said it was more like babbling and echolalia (just repeat what others would say). As I said previously, the stories of my young years are based on what I was told. And boy, my family has a lot of stories. My mom until today says that the things I did would make her laugh and that she never was upset at what she was gifted to have in life.

I remember my dad always coming home from work and hugging me and having my face nose to nose with his. He would tell me, “eye to eye, Quito, eye contact Quito” it was like an Eskimo kiss of a few minutes. He would do this a few times during the day, so I wouldn’t become overwhelmed of him holding me. 

By the way, Quito is my nickname given to me the day I was brought home from the hospital by my brother Tony. My mom told him, “Mira to Hermanito Chiquito” (look your small brother) and Tony said, “baby Quito” and my mom said, “yes, baby Quito” and it became my new name.

The one story my mom always tells me is when I would just sit next to him to play Nintendo games and it was my turn, and Tony would say, “Quito it’s your turn”, and he would hand me the control, then he would say, “You need help Quito, I’ll help you” and would take the control and continue playing and explaining to me what he was doing and I would just let him. My mom says it was beautiful to watch how he would just talk to me and never wonder why I wouldn’t answer. She says he would answer for me and that is how our conversations went, my brother just always thinking I was the best brother ever because we never fought about anything.

WHY Entertainment Arts / Animation? Here are the reasons why:
I am the second child out of the 4 siblings. my siblings, Tony, age 32, myself, age 31, Stephanie, age 29 and Matthew age 21. They each played an important role in my life and made me who I am today. I had an interest in drawing at a very young age, I couldn’t speak but I could draw. My mom says that I could write my entire name and alphabet by the age of three. The house walls were my canvases, my mom called my scribbles “a work of art a Picasso in the making!”

One day a school was getting rid of the classroom chalkboards to put in new dry erase boards and my mom was given the old chalkboard to bring home. This amazing big green board became my way to connect with the world around me and my family.

Oh, how I loved all the colorful chalk and the hours I could spend just drawing. This was the start of one of the best relationships I have. I loved being with all my siblings growing up, but DRAWING with Tony gave us a special connection that helped me through life!

As a child, my siblings and I loved watching a lot of children’s animation programs from places like Disney, DreamWorks, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Pixar and we loved playing Nintendo Video Games.

My brother Tony was a drawer and I was always just fascinated by watching him draw, that I started drawing my own pictures and would put words that described my stories. We were always together, him drawing and me just sitting or lying there next to him watching for as long as he was drawing. He would talk to me about what was going on in his drawings in different voices for each of his characters. My mom says it was beautiful to watch how he would just talk to me and never wonder why I wouldn’t answer. She says he would answer for me and that is how our conversations went, my brother just always thinking I was the best brother ever because we never fought about anything.

Then, suddenly a little book series called Captain Underpants came along and in those stories two of the main characters were two kids that would draw comic books in their spare time after school. I was fascinated by this book. Something my brother had been doing for many years, so I got the wonderful idea that me and my older brother could start making comic books together.

I had an early grasp of storytelling and creating character personalities because of the time spent watching my brother draw. Also, watching how much laughter we all shared while watching cartoons, it inspired me to create comic books based on our lives growing up and my interests at that time such as Nintendo videogames and skateboard clothing.

Well, I took an animation class in High School and I really enjoyed the medium so much that I decided I wanted to pursue animation as a career in hopes to one day become a filmmaker making cartoons or work at a major animation studio such as Pixar or Disney, this is the dream I still have to accomplish, but not impossible.

To prepare for this career path I attended Fullerton College right after High School and took several basic art classes like life drawing and basic design before transferring to Cal State Fullerton where I met several classmates that became friends with them fast. Some of my friends went on to work at studios like Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, and even Disney!! 

During my time at Cal State Fullerton, I was inspired by various Cal State Fullerton art colleagues and professors such as Chuck and Wendy Grieb, Cliff Cramp, Mike Dietz, Tara Johnson, Emily Otzell, Ari Castleton, John Munoz, and Michelle Rincon.  Also, I spent hours during my college years watching the amazing YouTube short films made by independent animators such as Harry Partridge, Simon’s Cat, and Eddsworld which the latter gave me inspiration and motivation to my decision of wanting to create my own animated cartoon shorts. I have made several animations projects with my biggest animation accomplishment at that time being an 8-minute cartoon short called Brothers Day Out. This was an animation about my siblings and me having a fun-filled day at a fictionalized fun center that was like a mix between Dave and Busters and a Boomers Fun Zone. In that animated cartoon Tony was driving now and our sibling adventures were just not at home anymore.

Check out the Brothers Day Out cartoon on the link here below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZvxSVGh1dw&t=1s

This cartoon short is what I am most proud of because I learn how to put together an animated cartoon film entirely on my own without the aid of the Cal State Fullerton professors. The animated short started production in 2015 and finished it in 2017. My short films have been selected to participate in several Film Festivals and I have won awards on certain categories for short films, but I am yet awaiting to be discovered, so I can share my talent and skills. My passion for drawing is great, I am determined, focused and responsible. I had to learn all those traits to be able to succeed not only in school, my job at Target but in life.

Autism or I should say, my autism would make me feel disconnected from everyone around me and at time make me think a lot and feel lost. It was difficult to understand and accept. Although I was accomplishing many wonderful things in my life, I still had this sense of uneasiness, until one day that I asked my mom why me, and she said, accept what is and you will stop asking why. You have life and you can do so much, nothing can stop you if you just embrace your disability and not make it disable you.

My families love, support, believe and the challenges I had in my life gave me the desire and motivation to animate and bring laughter, happiness and enjoyment to others. I communicate and connect through my ART!!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
  It wasn’t a smooth road that’s for sure.

I was diagnosed as severely autistic at the age of 18 months and nonverbal. My parents were told that if I did not speak by the age of 5 that they would need to learn sign language to communicate with me and to only speak one language at home since it would create confusion in learning to speak if they continued to speak both English and Spanish. They decided on speaking English for the first 15 years of my life.

As I was growing up, I felt out of place, not because I wasn’t loved, but just because I had no connection, no need of others, I was fine with just myself and the flapping of my hands that gave me stimulation of relaxation. BUT being in the middle of two siblings didn’t give much time to be in my own little world.

My mom told me that the hardest thing to hear the Psychologist say was, “Mr. and Mrs. Mejia you have to see Christopher as a child that will have to live with you forever, his severe autism will not allow him to accomplish much in life”.

My mother did not believe the psychologist’s words and she picked me up, grab my dad’s hand and told her we will see about that. I became my mother’s motivation, her determination to make me live my life to my fullest, nothing was going to stop her or me, no obstacles or challenges, we would make it in life together and we did!

I always saw life in a different way and it was because I was different, my family never made me feel different, but I knew. My drawings made feel happy, it gave me a sense of belonging or just being a part of everyone around me. I made our everyday life into a comic or a drawing, I was now able to express what I could not say, demonstrate or show. I was emotionless due to my Autism, but not in my drawings. 

My stories and drawings helped me communicate and most importantly express what was going on inside me. Sometimes life can be taken for granted, and we don’t take the time to appreciate all we can do and the precious time we have been given to do all we wish to do. Life is a beautiful gift!

I love being around people, but it was hard for me to make friends, so my brother’s and sister’s friends were my friends, they accepted me as me, with my goofy ways, they were never ashamed and they would laugh with me not at me. 

The obstacle and challenges that I faced are so many, from being nonverbal up to the age of five, and once talking still not knowing how to communicate or catch social cues, I am better at that because my sister Stephanie, who became a Psychologist to work with children with Autism, taught me how to read other peoples body language and social cues. With her eyes when we would be at social events, I knew when I was to let others talk.

It’s funny, but I am told now that I talk too much. My siblings sometimes joking will all at the same time say, “Chris, be quiet!” when I am rambling on about something I have a great interest in. My little brother Matthew, although he knew much more about life then me, would let me feel like his big brother and allow my repetitive advice about life and how he should live it.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am currently a freelance 2d digital animator working on a NDA project for a small indie animation studio in Los Angeles. In addition, I also was involved contributing animation for a SpongeBob Collaboration Fan Project on Discord animating a part of a scene from the first SpongeBob movie. 

However what I am best known for are my cartoony style of art and short animated cartoons that are viewable on my YouTube animation channel called ‘Chris Mejia’s Redcap Productions’. In addition, I also have an Instagram account where I showcase my art online for everyone to see called “@chrismejiatoons” such as my original ideas, fan arts, and work in progress animation from my latest films.

Check out the Youtube channel on the link here below:

https://www.youtube.com/user/chmejia16

Check out the Instagram profile on the link here below:

https://www.instagram.com/chrismejiatoons/

My channel holds many of my animations I created from the last five years of my life including the Kid with the Redcap cartoon web series with two splice of life episodes: the Brothers Day Out short animation I mentioned earlier in this article and Cookie in the Sky with Balloons, a 5 minute short about “a flying dog” made in 2018. I am working on a third episode that has been in production in 2018 called The Loud Party where the siblings throw a house party for Chris’s birthday. The cartoon will be another animation accomplishment for me because this will be my first time that I made an animation that is longer than eight minutes (the story is big and pretty epic).

Check out the Cookie in the Sky cartoon on the link here below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brg0VHh8TlE

In addition, I am writing up and storyboarding original animation ideas with new characters and helping out with my older brother providing illustrations and character designs for a book project he is working on.

My stories and drawings helped me communicate and most importantly express what was going on inside me, this what sets me apart from other artists.

How do you think about happiness?
Spending time with family and friends, watching fun movies or play video games, going out with my car and explore new places, learning new hobbies, and discovering new interests.

Contact Info:

• Email: chmejia16@yahoo.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrismejiatoons/?hl=en
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrismejiatoons
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/chmejia16

Image Credits:
All images are by Chris Mejia. People featured in the photos are Chris Mejia and his siblings Richard Mejia, Stephanie Mejia, and Matthew Mejia and their animated counterparts. The Spongebob image is my animation for the Spongebob Rehydrated Collaboration Animation Project and it is not affiliated with Nickelodeon in any way. The parrots birds is owned by Chris Mejia for a personal project I’m working on.