We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Francisco Salinas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Francisco below.
Francisco, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
“You can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance at doing what you love.” – Jim Carrey
It’s the simplest concept I try to remember everyday. Choosing to pursue something that fulfills my life even though it is not easy.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hello to everyone that may read this!
My name is Francisco Salinas. I typically go by my alias Requiem.
I’ve always have done some type of sketching as kid. From stick figures, to, “interesting,” looking ninja turtles while also letting my imagination run wild with thoughts & ideas for stories.
In my high school years I would meet some fellow creatives, that would later become my friends to this day, that also drew. We would collaborate on stories where I would be the writer for our small comic projects that we would make for fun.
Few years after high school ended, several of my friends moved away while I stayed in my hometown & became a graphic designer for a printing company for a few years. It was a wonderful job, paid decently at the time which led me to be financially stable but I never felt creatively fulfilled as even in my free time my sketching habits had diminished greatly.
Eventually I made the decision to leave my hometown & meet up with friends where they moved to in hopes to continue our collaborations we started when we were younger. While there was an attempt in creating comics as a group, for one reason or another it didn’t pan out as I hoped.
Shortly afterwards I made the decision to simply do everything on my own. I would create my own stories & illustrate them myself for the first time.
Through passion & stubbornness I pushed through to create my first self published preview issue (Boy With The Demon Mask) which would be followed by full page comics in time. Quality of course was all over the place as I was still learning to be better at my craft but I was happy with what I was doing. Along with my traditional comics, I would also create comedic webcomic (No Time For Color) as well that I still do to this day.
My path since has had its ups & downs since with doing various comic/anime conventions, having art showcased in local art galleries, commissioned for various types of projects.
It’s an on going journey that has been met with several struggles along the way but I love creating artwork/comics for others to enjoy & interpret for themselves.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
There has been various times throughout the years where my bank account was drained completely as I tried to buy enough inventory (art prints, stickers, etc), pay for travel, hotel fees, art table fees, when I was doing the convention circuit.
Somehow made it through each time while still keeping my passion intact.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
With how social media is now a days, besides liking an image/post, best thing to do is comment on every piece of artwork you enjoy from the artist, even if it’s just, “I love it,” then sharing/retweeting it in some shape or form. If nothing else, the artist will appreciate the time you took to show your support for their work.
If you go to local art galleries or conventions, please considering buying a print from various artists. There have been several times where artist end up in the negatives after everything is said and done. 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.patreon.com/dreamwardens
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dream_wardens/
- Facebook: facebook.com/dreamwardens
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Requiem956
- Other: https://lnk.bio/Q0CG
Image Credits
Francisco Salinas – Requiem