It was both a pleasure and an honor getting a chance to talk to Victor Bizar Gómez about his picture book from late last year We Sing from the Heart, written by Mia Wenjen. This powerful book is stunning brought to life by Gómez's illustrations, and I'm so glad I get a chance to share the inner workings of this book with you all today!
About the book:
Music is a way to transcend cultures and divides. Simon Tam used his band's name, The Slants(R), to make a powerful statement that racist insults could no longer be hurtful to Asian Americans. But then the U.S. Trade and Patent Office tries to stop him. In his eight-year battle to win trademark protection, Simon would go all the way to the Supreme Court in a landmark case to rout out structural racism in our government systems.
Peek underneath the dust jacket:
Let's talk Victor Bizar Gómez!
LTPB: How did you become the illustrator of We Sing from the Heart? What were the first images that popped into your mind when you saw Mia Wenjen’s text?
VBG: I was brought on to the project through by Red Comet’s Press Editorial and Creative Director Michael Yuen-Killick, who was looking for a more editorial approach to the story. He felt like my textural sensibilities and shape language fit with the tone of the story, and once I read the manuscript, I understood where he was coming from. He mentioned to me that it was important to depict a sense of dignity in Simon Tam’s story, one that that doesn’t depict pure helplessness in his struggle but instead a resilience.
When I turned in my first round of sketches, I played it pretty safe, offering a more literal Interpretation of the text. After discussing it with Michael, he suggested that i could still push the images even further and that using more of an editorial visual language would benefit the story more.
In terms of visuals, from the start, the only thing I was sure of was that I wanted to capture a sense of energy and a bit of a punk rock aesthetic. Simon is a Rock Star, so naturally I needed to be sure to add plenty of images of him rockin’ out.
VBG: I was brought on to the project through by Red Comet’s Press Editorial and Creative Director Michael Yuen-Killick, who was looking for a more editorial approach to the story. He felt like my textural sensibilities and shape language fit with the tone of the story, and once I read the manuscript, I understood where he was coming from. He mentioned to me that it was important to depict a sense of dignity in Simon Tam’s story, one that that doesn’t depict pure helplessness in his struggle but instead a resilience.
In terms of visuals, from the start, the only thing I was sure of was that I wanted to capture a sense of energy and a bit of a punk rock aesthetic. Simon is a Rock Star, so naturally I needed to be sure to add plenty of images of him rockin’ out.
LTPB: Can you talk about the visual research you did for this book? What was your process like to ensure the book was as accurate as possible?
VBG: Fortunately, Michael provided me a folder full of photos of Simon through multiple phases of his life, from childhood to modern day. Some of these weren’t publicly available so it helped give me a good foundation to work with. I wanted to make sure regardless of age, hairstyle, or outfit, it was easy for the viewer to know that it was Simon.
LTPB: What did you find most difficult in creating this book? What did you find most rewarding?
VBG: Long term projects are always a bit difficult for me as I struggle with ADHD. My natural momentum is working on an image from sketch to final over a period of a week or so. So a project like this forced me to learn new management strategies to sustain my energy over a period of a year. I had to learn how to run a marathon and not the sprints that I’ve been used to.
But the reward came when I saw the book in its final printed form. Much of what I made only lives digitally, so have something that I can hold in my hands and be like “oh yeah, I help make this thing” is a surreal experience.
VBG: Fortunately, Michael provided me a folder full of photos of Simon through multiple phases of his life, from childhood to modern day. Some of these weren’t publicly available so it helped give me a good foundation to work with. I wanted to make sure regardless of age, hairstyle, or outfit, it was easy for the viewer to know that it was Simon.
VBG: Long term projects are always a bit difficult for me as I struggle with ADHD. My natural momentum is working on an image from sketch to final over a period of a week or so. So a project like this forced me to learn new management strategies to sustain my energy over a period of a year. I had to learn how to run a marathon and not the sprints that I’ve been used to.
LTPB: What did you use to create the illustrations in this book? Is this your preferred medium? How does your process change from book to book?
VBG: I created everything using the app Procreate on a iPad Pro. I used to do a lot work traditionally at the start of my illustration career but found that process to be too time intensive for the speed that the industry requires and shifted working to digital entirely. It took me a few years of playing with the program before I was able to replicate the traditional look that I had before.
VBG: I created everything using the app Procreate on a iPad Pro. I used to do a lot work traditionally at the start of my illustration career but found that process to be too time intensive for the speed that the industry requires and shifted working to digital entirely. It took me a few years of playing with the program before I was able to replicate the traditional look that I had before.
LTPB: What are you working on now? Anything you can show us?
VBG: Nothing particularly exciting at the moment, outside some personal work to help me decompress from my client work. I’ve been working on a series of streetwear illustrations made from some found reference. Creating work from reference is always a lot of fun for me because I can allow my brain to switch to a more intuitive form of art-making.
I did recently make some images for Grist Magazine’s Imagine 2200's climate fiction series. It was a really fun series to work on and I made some images that I feel pretty proud of.
LTPB: If you got the chance to write your own picture book autobiography, who (dead or alive!) would you want to illustrate it, and why?
VBG: Oh man, if given a chance, I would create the most self indulgent picture book, where I would hire all of my favorite illustrators to do their own spread in this book. It would really be a book for an audience of one (Me) but 'm sure any kid with good artistic taste would appreciate it as well.
VBG: Nothing particularly exciting at the moment, outside some personal work to help me decompress from my client work. I’ve been working on a series of streetwear illustrations made from some found reference. Creating work from reference is always a lot of fun for me because I can allow my brain to switch to a more intuitive form of art-making.
I did recently make some images for Grist Magazine’s Imagine 2200's climate fiction series. It was a really fun series to work on and I made some images that I feel pretty proud of.
VBG: Oh man, if given a chance, I would create the most self indulgent picture book, where I would hire all of my favorite illustrators to do their own spread in this book. It would really be a book for an audience of one (Me) but 'm sure any kid with good artistic taste would appreciate it as well.
A big thank you to Victor! We Sing from the Heart published late last year from Red Comet Press.
Special thanks to Victor and Red Comet for use of these images!
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