Sketching her dreams: Artist creates cartoon characters

Manteca High sophomore Miriam Rodriguez sketches in her notebook during art class on Friday, January 19, 2024. (Nora Hystad/The Tower)

By NORA HYSTAD
The Tower

In the sanctuary of creativity, an artist delved into the enchanting process of crafting characters.

Armed with the vivid palette of imagination, they sculpted individuals from the raw clay of her mind, breathing unique life into every gesture, expression, and nuance. These characters, nameless yet rich in complexity, emerged as silent protagonists of unwritten stories.

With each stroke of her pen, the artist shaped a cast of diverse personas, each carrying a universe of untold emotions and experiences, waiting to be discovered by the eager minds of those who would later encounter them on the pages of an unknown adventure.

Miriam Rodriguez, born in Phoenix and grew up living in an apartment with her family, finds her art influenced by the distractions of a bustling family environment. Her artistic journey began around age 5, initially inspired by YouTube drawing tutorials and her father's interest in art.

“These characters have the coolest, unique traits and qualities about them. And her style is developing like an artist that's been working for years and years and years. Like she is incredible, and super dedicated to the arts.”

Jiana Boudreaux, Manteca High art teacher, on Rodriguez’s cartoon characters

Rodriguez's art style is heavily influenced by various artists she discovers on Pinterest and is guided by her emotions, with music playing a significant role in setting the mood for her creations. She often listens to different genres, mostly straining to more cheery and happy topics, depending on her mood.

“It's a nice coping thing. Like, you can pour emotions into it. And it's nice. It's a nice pastime to make art. There's a lot of emotions that can get through that some people can't express,” Rodriguez said.

Her favorite art form involves heavy or oversaturated colors, and she is particularly interested in character design, aspiring to work in this field in the future. Rodriguez's characters, like Tyler, whom she is fond of for his nerdy aspect, often reflect her changing preferences, with new favorites emerging frequently. Her artistic process includes scrapping and restarting pieces that do not turn out as imagined, often labeling the original page as “cursed.”

While Rodriguez describes herself as chill, she feels her personality does not directly translate into her art. Instead, her art is more a reflection of her emotions, particularly anger, which she channels into her drawings. She has considered animation in the past and may revisit it.

Her dream project is to create a sitcom-style show with a touch of seriousness, based around her characters. Although she has no concrete plot yet, she is filled with ideas and character concepts. This dream reflects her belief that talent is developed over time, not inherent, a philosophy she has embraced since her early days of learning to draw.

“She's amazing. She always comes every day and shows me her sketchbook of like stuff she is working on outside of class, character development, that is just amazing,” said her art teacher Jiana Boudreaux. “And so specific, like these characters have the coolest, unique traits and qualities about them. And her style is developing like an artist that's been working for years and years and years. Like she is incredible, and super dedicated to the arts.”

Rodriguez is captivated by her consistent dedication, as her teacher Boudreaux explains. Her focus on character development stands out, crafting individuals with exceptionally distinctive and appealing traits. What sets her apart is the precision and uniqueness in each character’s personality.

Manteca High sophomore Miriam Rodriguez shares some of her art with The Tower on Friday, January 19, 2024. (Nora Hystad/The Tower)

The Tower caught up with Miriam Rodriguez to chat about her career choice, her home life, and her passion for art.

The Tower: Where are you from? How does it affect your art?

Miriam Rodriguez: I was born in Phoenix, and I live in an apartment. It doesn't really affect the way I draw. It's just that. I don't know, I live with my siblings. I have like a room with all my siblings in there. So, it does affect it sometimes because they're loud. And I'm like, can you like not? Really? A couple of seconds? So, distractions? Yeah, distractions.

TT: What is your biggest influence in your art?

MR: My biggest influence is just random artists. I tend to just scroll on Pinterest. … Some of the (other) influences are mostly music drawing.

TT: Is there a song? Or is there a specific genre?

MR: A lot of them (are) for different moods. Like a cheery (and) happy, I might just go for like, I don't want to say K-pop but something like energetic war; and then anger or anything like that, like rock or metal, at least.

TT: Okay, how important do you think art is to our society?

MR: It's a nice coping thing. Like, you can pour emotions into it. … It's a nice pastime to make art. There's a lot of emotions that (you) can get through that some people can't express, like, now.

TT: And what is your favorite kind of art?

MR: My favorite? I like color coordinated, like, with colors and all that stuff. A lot of my drawings are either colored heavily or oversaturated.

TT: Do you have a job related to art for when you're older?

MR: I was thinking of doing character design for like this character (pointing to a creation in her sketchbook) and all that stuff. That is one of them. I still must work on a lot of stuff. So, they don't end up being the same repeatedly.

TT: Is there a specific character you like? And what's is their personality?

MR: I tend to like Tyler more because I like the nerdy aspect. I can draw them a lot. Also, the thing about my characters is that a favorite one changes like on the daily.

TT: How do you feel when your art doesn't turn out how you imagine it?

MR: I either scrap it or try again on a different page. Whenever I mess up on one page, I call it cursed and I cannot draw on that page forever. So, I must move on immediately.

TT: Do you have a favorite piece that you've made?

MR: I have one in here (pointing to her sketchbook). I have several in my other notebooks. And when it comes to digital pieces, I like all of them the same. I mean, after like a week of looking at them, I tend to start hating them for some reason, because I start to notice errors.

TT: When did you start drawing?

MR: Maybe when I was around 5-ish. … I started with those drawing tutorials on YouTube. So, it went from that and then I saw YouTubers on the internet (and) my dad used to do art but now he can barely hold a pencil.

TT: Do you have a dream project?

MR: I have a show I was thinking of making. There is nothing written, I have no plot. I just have my characters as of right now.