She’s a webtoon artist for the series “Malcolm Flores High”. She loves fashion. She loves baking puff pastries. Long story short, she’s Calena Burrell.
How did you become the artist for this webcomic?
I’ve been doing art for a while now, but I’ve never really committed to doing an actual project. So my friend was like “Hey, since you’re an artist and your friend is a writer, how about you guys work on something together?” We thought Webtoon would be great for that since we’ve been reading webtoons for a few years. Eventually, we decided that’s what we were gonna do!
What is your favorite aspect of illustrating comics?
I love making new characters. It’s really fun to come up with facial expressions and attitudes and outfits. It’s also cool to look on Pinterest to come up with your whole aesthetic.
What kind of work goes into making these illustrations?
A lot. It’s definitely a long process with a lot of coordinating with my writer. We have to ask ourselves “Ok, if this is the summary of the episode, what is gonna happen in this episode and what sort of expressions can we use to convey that this is happening even without the characters saying it?” It involves a lot of sketching out what’s gonna happen for the episode and coming up with if we’re gonna introduce new characters.
What sparked your interest in illustrating?
I did a lot of artsy stuff when I was a kid. I was always that kid who made cards for everybody in my class and would always commit to it the night before. I also have a lot of family members who really like art; I grew up going to a lot of museums and what not, and that definitely influenced the way I started to see my own creativity.
Do you aspire to continue illustrating in the future?
Yes, I’ve actually been accepted to my dream art school, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). So now I get to do graphic design and illustration which means the webtoon will be getting better!
What other hobbies do you have in addition to drawing?
I’m very busy all the time. I play piano, I have singing lessons, I’m learning French and I like to bake a lot outside of school.
What clubs or activities are you involved in?
NAHS, and I’m the Foreign Film Club historian.
Who is your biggest inspiration for art?
Old impressionist artists are my main inspiration. I take a lot of inspiration from Van Gogh’s The Starry Night which I know is very generic. After doing a lot of research, I realized that Van Gogh wasn’t really an artist at the start, but he dropped everything to pursue that passion and learn and teach himself to do art. I feel like that was the same thing with me. I wasn’t on the tract to do art when I was younger; I wanted to really be in culinary school until one day, my mom asked, “Well, you just do art all the time, so why don’t you just commit to that?” So I just decided to do art and stick to it.
In a dash–
Favorite color: Blue
Dream vacation spot: Giverny, France
Favorite webcomic: Gen Z
Favorite brand of gum: Extra
Least favorite sport: Rugby
Fashion hot take: I really don’t like the big, Astro Boy boots
