Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Angelo Lopez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Angelo , appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
I majored in Illustration in San Jose State University in 1992. Coming out of college, I had no idea as to how to start career. I occasionally got art jobs in the 1990s, like illustrating a children’s book and magazine covers) but I hadn’t yet developed a mature art style and subsequently didn’t have confidence when I undertook the art projects. During that time, probably my most successful art projects were murals that I did for the Berryessa branch of the San Jose Public Library and Lester Shields Elementary School in San Jose. Those were the first freelance art projects I felt proud about.
I sputtered along in my art career until I became an editorial cartoonist, first for the Tri-City Voice and later for the Philippine News Today. The discipline of doing a weekly editorial cartoon helped me to improve my craft. And when I won prizes for my cartoons, it helped lift my self-esteem.
Being an editorial cartoonist helped give me confidence to try out other artistic outlets. I joined a co-op gallery, Gallery Saratoga, and had a few successful one-man art shows. I did murals and public art for utility boxes in the Santa Clara Valley.
Before I could pursue a cartoonist and artist career, I needed the time to grow as a person and develop self-confidence in finding something I was good at. So it was good that my creative career started later in my life.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am an editorial cartoonist, a fine artist and a muralist. I majored in Illustration in San Jose State University with the hopes of being in the freelance illustration profession. It took me a while to establish a career.
I’m most proud of being an editorial cartoonist, first for the Tri-City Voice and later for the Philippine News Today. During my time in the Philippine News Today, I won the 2016 Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Award for Editorial Cartoons, the 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018 Sigma Delta Chi award for editorial cartooning for newspapers with a circulation under 100,000, first prize for the Best of the West contest in 2016 and third prize in 2017.
Those awards gave me the confidence to pursue other artistic avenues. I displayed my art in Gallery Saratoga, the Sunnyvale Art Gallery and Chopsticks Alley Art Gallery in the South Bay Area. I won several awards at art competitions in the annual Sunnyvale Public Library Art Show.
Another artistic venture that I’m proud of is my murals and public art for utility boxes. I created murals for the Berryessa Branch of the San Jose Public Library, The Sunnyvale Art Gallery and Russo McEntee Academy. I did public art for utility boxes in Campbell and Santa Clara.
When someone looks at my editorial cartoons, I want to give voice to those who have no voice and to inform the general public about issues that affected marginalized communities.
I wish my fine art to be nonpolitical. In my fine art, I just want to make people smile.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I feel the most rewarding aspect of doing editorial cartoons is that I can channel my social concerns into a forum that could reach the wider Filipino American community. During my high school and college years, I had several Filipino American friends. But after college, I lost touch with many of my Filipino American friends and felt distant from the Filipino American community.
My time in the Philippine News Today gave me the chance to reconnect with a Filipino American community and to learn about issues in both the Filipino American and the Philippine communities.
In my fine art paintings, I want to channel my love of the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Charlie Chaplin and the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s. I most enjoy making acrylic paintings that make people smile and hopefully laugh.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I think anyone who wants to pursue any art career should remember that being an artist is a marathon and not a sprint. In the 1990s, I was depressed because my art career was going nowhere. I was working 4 part time jobs at the same time, and it was few and far between art projects. But I never stopped painting and drawing and taking any art opportunities that came my way.
I was lucky to work in a library. I would always go to the 740s and 750s section of the library where all the art books and cartoon books were and would learn about new artists and cartoonists.
My friends Jan and Don Lieberman were my closest friends and kept encouraging me when I felt down. I think an artist always needs that friend or family member who will encourage them in their dreams.
When I finally started getting regular art opportunities in the 2000s, I was ready to take advantage of those opportunities. I had to grow as a person in the 1990s to be ready to be an artist in the 2000s.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://angelolopezart.weebly.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelolopezart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngeloLopezIllustration
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelolopezartist/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/angelolopezart
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@angelolopez2481
Image Credits
Artwork by Angelo Lopez