Ronnie Garcia is a visual creator; they develop characters and bring them to life in comics, graphic novels, and other medium that blow me away. I first learned about their existence with their piece on the Eisner Award-winning Puerto Rico Strong, which set the tone for the comics anthology. Poignant and dynamic, their art portrays emotions that are tied into those of diasporic Puerto Ricans. In the not-so distant future, they’ll be illustrating a middle grade graphic novel set in Puerto Rico, tentatively called Saving Chupie (authored by Amparo Ortíz). Here, Ronnie talks about the process of working for an anthology, connecting with Latinx collaborators, and Chupie.
You’re going to be illustrating Saving Chupie! What does it mean to you to have a Middle Grade Graphic Novel about Puerto Rican kids that’s being traditionally published in the US?
Honestly, I'm still coming to terms with the fact that this is something I get to do as a job! It's one of those things that sounds too good to be true when you talk to anyone outside of the industry, so it's really an honor to be trusted with this story and to work with such an enthusiastic and hardworking team.
As for the novel itself, I rarely saw characters who shared my experience growing up; I always had to project myself into theirs, and to find a way to relate to situations and ideals that never truly felt like my own. With Chupie, it feels like the kind of story that I craved growing up, and I hope readers will be able to see themselves in this cast's world like I do.
It's a huge deal that there are more diverse stories being published these days because in my experience, kids are eager to learn outside of their point of view. So to allow creators to have control over their own narratives/portrayal in media, it's a great step for kids to see themselves and hopefully share their own stories in the future.
Saving Chupie isn’t your first experience illustrating a comic or working sequential manuscripts. In fact, your piece in Puerto Rico Strong, which won an Eisner Award, was the opening piece of the anthology, in which Amparo [Ortiz] was also a part of. Did that experience help in deciding to work on Saving Chupie?
It did! Not so much for the sequential aspect of it, but more for the confidence Puerto Rico Strong gave me as a Puerto Rican creator that my experience is enough. For years, it felt like one had to qualify as "____ enough" to use any identifier for themself. I don't speak Spanish fluently, I didn't grow up on the island, and I didn't have an extensive community of others like me to relate experiences with. So to be invited to participate in the anthology, and to be told that what I created was relatable, was a catalyst for me diving deeper into #OwnVoices work.
How do you come up with character designs? Do you follow descriptions sent by Amparo or does she give you free rein when it comes to the visuals?
37 Likes, 1 Comments - Ronnie Garcia (@coquiwi) on Instagram: "I want to see my little boy"
Most of the time I'll work with whatever descriptions are given me, but this time I only had the rough script and pitch document to take from. Having that kind of freedom was great because it allowed me to tap into my own experience and draw inspiration from life around me. Each character is an amalgamation of family members and friends I've had throughout my life; where the direction I took their visuals was based on each character's personality, background, and role in the story. The goal was to capture the wide range of Puerto Rican identity within these three kids, so what better way than to pull from every Puerto Rican I knew?
For Chupie himself, our editor Carolina [Ortiz] gave me notes to guide his design. We went back and forth until we wound up with something iconic and unique for the project, which is the floppy-eared, brightly-colored gremlin we have today!
A publisher gives you free reins to collab with another Latinx creative and they’re free and on board as well, who are you picking and what are you making?
Ooo, this is a tough one. I feel like I'm just getting to know the vast community of Latinx creatives in this field, so I haven't really dreamt that far ahead haha! A slice-of-life, road-trip adventure story would be fun with either Maggie Juarez or Rosa Colón. But if I get to dream big and COMPLETELY self-indulgent, I would looove to do some sort of giant glowing monster story with Guillermo del Toro! Especially if the monsters fall into the "giant lizards with horns" or "mermen with amazing butts" category.
How does your identity affect your writing?
I feel like it's impossible for my identity to not leak into my work in some way. Whether it's regarding my race, gender, sexuality, or mental health, these perspectives are crucial in building characters and how they interact with the world around them. I believe there's no such thing as an apolitical work; we as creators have too much to say and no matter how small the work is, it'll say something about yourself, even if you don't intend for it to happen.
Who do you write for?
Primarily, I write for myself; the kid I used to be, the struggling person I am right now, and for the me that doesn't exist yet. But I also write for my family, in the sense that there are things I put into my work that I was never able to clearly convey growing up. I show them all of my work in hopes that by seeing my voice on the page, they'll have a clearer understanding of who I was and who I'm trying to be.
If anyone else happens to relate to my work and finds themselves reflected in it, then I feel like that's icing on the cake!
What movie(s) would you pair your book with?
Lilo & Stitch, The Wild Thornberrys Movie, and Pokémon: The First Movie
Shoutout a Latinx writer or creator whom you admire!
Shoutout to Amparo and Carolina! TEAM CHUPIE FOREVER!
Anything else you can share about your upcoming projects?
Nothing upcoming that's not under NDA, but there are a few other stories in development that I hope to share news of soon!
Follow Ronnie @coquiwi on Twitter and Instagram. Their portfolio can be found at coquiwi.net!
You can grab a copy of Puerto Rico Strong, wherever you get books, today.
Ronnie Garcia
Ronnie Garcia is a Puerto Rican illustrator and comic artist with a background in visual development. With over seven years of experience in independent and collaborative endeavors, they have a diverse range of skills to meet the needs of any project that comes along.
In their free time, Ronnie loves to read fantasy novels and draw sharks until their hands cramp up.
They are currently available for comic and illustration work.
EISNER Award Winner 2019 Best Anthology: PUERTO RICO STRONG, published by Lion Forge.