Art & Life with Fallon Apodaca

Today we’d like to introduce you to Fallon Apodaca.

Fallon, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
When I was a kid, I was really into Pokemon and Neopets. I would say this interest is what really got me into art, as I wanted to draw them. So, my mom gave me some supplies, and as a young kid, I traced images and sold them on the playground for a quarter. This was when I was in elementary here in Arizona; however, I stopped drawing for a while as I got older and we moved to Oklahoma for a period. It was during one summer while we were living there. I was extremely bored because It was hot to go outside and there wasn’t anyone to really play within the small neighborhood we lived in. At that time, I was really into manga and anime, so all day I was either reading a comic or watching some series online. This is when my mom came in and told me “well if you are so bored, why don’t you draw like those comics you read?”. Thus, I have never stopped drawing since then.

We moved again from Oklahoma to northern California. Being in California, I found the comic book industry to be bigger and more inspirational. I was a vendor at my first convention being the University of Davis by my freshman year. There I sold sewn hats, buttons, and charms but not my art yet. Here in California, I learned more what I wanted out of art. The biggest convention I had went to was Fanime in 2011. I met my favorite artist there at the time and realized these were the people I wanted to be around more. However, my time in California was short, and we moved back to Arizona once again.

Here in Arizona while I was still in high school, I got more confident with my art and sold at more conventions. This trend continued until I entered Arizona State University where I am honing my skills to come back to the convention scene. I want to come out of college making my own comic as well as fine art. I now Have a goal to make the comic scene more prominent in the fine art world and bring Arizona forward in comic culture.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
With my own art, the style is heavy inspired by the style of Japanese manga. I use digital art for a lot of my convention works and traditional art for my fine art. The traditional mediums I am a fan of the most are ink, markers, watercolor, and gouache. I learned when I was young these were the main mediums manga artists used so, wanting to be like them I learned how to use them in my every day till now. However, when talking about the subjects of my work, it is where things become more complex. The things I am interested in are animals, world cultures, horror, and stories. I like to make works that are fantastical that make you want to investigate them more to see all the details. What I want people to take away is that my works can range from fun and cute to fierce and scary.

What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
My biggest things are online and in-person interactions. I get that sometimes we have anxiety or something that keeps us from being engaged or we are just in our spaces working on art. I often join art groups online that you can post work and have people critique it, talk about art, or just hang with internet friends. These groups are helpful for when you can’t get away from your studio and can still have an interaction with people who are there for you and what you are doing. It is different from our parents, who said not to talk to strangers online when now and days sometime doing that is the best thing that can happen and can help you get new connections. However, we can forget in-person connections as well. When you can escape the studio, I recommend talking to other art friends and ask them what they are doing or what is the latest happenings around the area. Although, if you do not have that many connections in person, I recommend using your social media skills to see what art events are going on locally and meeting people with similar interests at those events. People are generally nice, and all it takes sometimes is a small conversation to get through the door!

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I go by the name ZelenJackArt on almost all platforms. My twitter and Instagram are the ones that updated the most and where you can see work in progresses more often and also just general discussions I have. I also have a website with my recent contact info, and that will also get a mass update once I graduate ASU.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fallonapodacaart.weebly.com/contact.html
• Email: zelenjackart@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zelenjackart/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZelenJackArt

Image Credit:
Fallon Apodaca

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