Meet Crystal Gonzalez

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Crystal Gonzalez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Crystal below.

Crystal, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

My resilience is probably part stubbornness and part passion. The arts in general is a hard field to get into and as a kid it was made very clear that a lot of people don’t think it’s important or something worth pursuing. My early grade school teachers were easy to dismiss art as a lazy activity and something that didn’t even count as an “occupation” during class assignments like “What do you want to be when you grow up?” In high school, the counselors would not consider a career in the arts as a good route either, they always recommended a “real” job and then “arts” as some kind of secondary thing. But as an avid creator and having a passion for the arts, I would resort to my own research and readings. I could see that everything we ingest from movies, to books, music, or even video games required arts and creative minds to make it happen. So even when the nah-sayers said it was a fruitless pursuit, I was stubborn and passionate enough to know my art could thrive and grow as long as I stayed resilient to my love of creating.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am a self-published comic book author and the series I draw is called “In The Dark”. It currently has 4 volumes out and I am working on book 5 now. The basic premise of the story is an epic adventure and dark comedy about a man named Fibble who gets trapped in the underworld and has to get out of there alive. Along the way he meets demons and monster of my own design who act as satirical personifications of social mores and how they have adapted to remain relevant in society. These demons call themselves the “Sins” and carry names that throw back to universal themes of transgression found all over the world and in many religions, but at their core they are social constructs and live on through the pop cultures of today.

Fibble is a very unlucky man and also has to deal with the fact that he is cursed to “SIN” the demon of all evil who is responsible for the creation of this underworld. It’s not easy living in you apartment and trying to have a normal life with this kind of roommate! So far in the story we have run into Gluttony- a demon pig addicted to coffee, Idolatry- a half cat/rat demon of mass consumerism, Promiscuous- a demon of many plugs and the creature of the internet who drains your life away, and Intoxication- a demon who drinks a lot but favors the holy waters of many religions to get himself drunk and blissfully detach from real world issues.

So again, its a twisted crazy adventure full of dark humor and satire, but also a bit of tongue-in-cheek social commentary as well!

In addition to the comic series, I am also an animator and do a cartoon series on Youtube called Skitzo the 1920’s Killer Bear. This character originated from my In The Dark comics as he is introduced in book #2. But along the way, a lot of readers and fans where curious about this character and more of his personal backstory. Basically, the story around Skitzo is that he is a banned 1920s cartoon that had shorts that were too destructive to society and viewers that they were all burned, and he was sent to the underworld to roam there. The animations I draw are meant to play out as “recovered bits” of these lost animations that let the viewer see only a piece of Skitzo’s history, but in watching these shorts, they also see some of the horrors that made his cartoons burned and wiped away to begin with. The cartoon is a horror series and has been ongoing since 2006. Plus the channel has over 26 million views and I am actively working on a new Skitzo short that I hope to release this Halloween.

As a completely independent creator, I run everything on my own. I draw and write all the art, print the books on my own (no publisher), sell the art/comics/merch online myself or in person at comic book conventions, and self-promote all my art online via social media and at panels/workshops. Its a lot of work! But the biggest joy I get is when I get comments from readers/fans that they love my works, anticipate the newest book or that it even inspired them to become comic or cartoon creators themselves! The struggle is real at times, but I am happy to see it reach even more and more readers as the years go on!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

There was an artist I heard years ago who summed it up the best. So I can’t take credit for this advice but still think about it to this day. To be a successful artist you have to have at least 3 things: Passion, Drive and Means.

1. Passion: Because you need to love what you are doing. If you don’t LOVE drawing or making art then its going to be very hard to keep loving it in the future. You are going to be spending a LOT of your time on it, then make sure it’s something you love doing.

2. Drive: Because although you may have the passion or love for it, you need to have the drive to actually do it and stick to it. Make a schedule and stick to it. A lot of artists quit when they start off because they get discouraged if their art isn’t a big hit right out the gate. But they already made the first mistake; don’t make art for others. Make art for yourself first. It will not only be seen as more genuine, but you WILL find an audience for it.

3. Means: Like I said above, I truly believe that anything you create can find an audience that loves it, but you may have to work harder to get it out there and discover that audience. You need the means to give it a larger reach! It may sound like you need money…and this does help a lot in terms of getting the work a larger scope (marketing advertising etc). But means can be a lot of other options. Like finding fellow creators, sharing your work with them, and promoting them back! Supporting the arts and communities in your local areas! There are also online methods like Kickstarter, Patreon, and online art communities and discord channels that can get you more experience on how others are getting their art out there and gain more exposure to your works too. Basically, don’t be shy, reach out there and get the word out by any means!!

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

There were many people in my life that gave me strengths. First, were my parents who were always encouraging and willing to provide me with art supplies and taught me the importance of a strong work ethic. They also bought me the books I needed to learn how to draw and improve my skills. Even in my early years they were loving and supportive of my passions so their words of encouragement was also a big factor that gave me my self-confidence that I could do this. Second strengths were later in my college days while I was getting my BA, the art teachers in my classes were another big step. Their education directed me to art history articles, learning and taking writing classes, philosophy and sociology books which ultimately inspired the story elements used in “In The Dark”, and during my MFA courses my mentors there who really showed me the business side to the word of art, so I could be an independent creator and know how to grow as a creator. I would also say that my art friends and colleagues that I’ve met at comic conventions have been an invaluable source of knowledge, where we swap tips and tricks in art and promote one another in a way that feels less like making the comic and art world a big competition, but rather helping each other rise together and sharing that success.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Art images created by Crystal Gonzalez, gallery photos/images provided by Crystal Gonzalez

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