We recently connected with Andres Labrada and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Andres thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I have not been able to achieve a true full time schedule for my creative work just yet. Unfortunately, I think if you want to make a ton of money you’re better off doing anything else but comics!

The only thing I could have done to speed up my success is to simply make more comics earlier in my life/career and to keep on doing them regardless of whether its for a published project or not.

Andres, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Andres Manuel Labrada. I am a comics and storyboard artist currently based in Miami, FL. I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating in comics doing covers and interior work for Marvel, Boom, Image, Titan, Dynamite, and Z2 Comics. I worked on storyboards for Hulk and the Agents Smash and also have done a few months worth of Daily strips for Blondie and Dagwood. Additionally I do freelance illustration projects for clients like Netflix and Warner Brothers. In-between all that, I publish my creator owned series COSHOHO.

I grew up drawing all my life and really fell in love comics after reading manga in middle school. The story telling touched me in an emotional way that inspired me to want to do the same for others. So I spent my life focused on improving my craft. I Went to a magnet public high school, did two years of community college, then graduated with a major in Illustration from Ringling College of Art in Sarasota.

What makes my style unique comes from adopting manga first at a young age. I did not really get into American style comics until college so my influences are very different. I often get referred to having an “Amerimanga” style haha.
It’s most apparent in my self published comic COSHOHO. Its something I made to just draw all of my favorite things and so I have a blast doing it. Not many people can say they put together a whole comic from scratch, from story to art so I am most proud of that.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

“Just because you have a day job doesn’t mean your not a (comics) artist.” Is a lesson I learned from a phase after college where I was taking any kind of illustration or design job to try and make a full time career. I ended up getting burnt out on other peoples projects I had no passion for. It was mostly doing assets for mobile games when I realized I had forgotten what my dream was. So I finished up my active jobs and took a break, Got a day job to cover my bills and started to draw comics again for myself because that’s what made me happy. This lead to COSHOHO and COSHOHO lead me to all the opportunities I have had thus far.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Funny enough I was huge into the early generations of KPOP. Back between 2007 to about 2020. I only keep up with Red Velvet now, but I used to draw a ton of fanart and fan club merchandise for Girls Generation. Drawing what you like and have fun doing creates a genuine feeling and people pick up on that passion even over the internet.

Contact Info:

• Website: artbylabrada.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreslabrada_art/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noir0083art/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andres-labrada-82b3a724/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/noir0083
• Other: coshoho.com

Image Credits
All art and photos are my own.