Episode #8: Following the Thread with Argentinean Illustrator Sebastian Curi

Episode Summary:

In this episode, I chat with Argentinian illustrator, painter, graphic designer Sebastian Curi. Sebastian works in a pop style using cartoonish figures, playful compositions and bright colors to depict every day. Since he recently collaborated on a clothing collection with Zara and has worked with clients like Apple, Spotify and many more. 

Keep on listening to hear him talk about growing up in a working class family in Buenos Aires, dropping out of college not once, but three times, and how he made a name for himself through his personal art practice. 

Episode Links

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🎨 Guest Links: Seb’s Instagram & Website

🍊 Host Links: Follow Fabiola on Instagram, Youtube, & TikTok

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  00;00;10;11 - 00;00;33;15

  Fabiola Lara

  Hey, friends, you're listening to [Draws in Spanish]. If this is your first time listening, a welcome. Welcome to the show. I'm your host, Fabiola Lara. I'm a Chilean American illustrator and podcaster based in Philadelphia. And on this show, I chat with Latinx, visual artists and designers to discuss everything from their identity and culture to their creative work and process.

  00;00;33;24 - 00;00;51;14

  Fabiola Lara

  A quick reminder that today's episode of Draws in Spanish is also available on YouTube as a video podcast. So if you want to watch us talk today instead of just listening, be sure to check out my YouTube channel @fabiolitadraws. Or click the link in the show notes right on your podcast app. I'll see you over there.

  00;00;51;28 - 00;01;15;26

  Fabiola Lara

  Now, today I'm chatting with Chilean Motion Graphics designer and illustrator Cristobal Saez. Cristo was raised in Chile and eventually made his way to New York City to attend city where he studied graphic design. From there, he quickly realized that branding and logo work maybe wasn't for him and started creating illustrated gifs of pop culture moments over on Tumblr on his off time.

  00;01;16;04 - 00;01;43;26

  Fabiola Lara

  And that really led him to his career today. So through this work of creating digital fan art, he was able to land a role at a record label creating content. And now he works at Universal, producing visual content for artists such as Beyoncé, Adele and Lil Nas X. On top of all of this, he's now experimenting with 3D work, which you can check out on his Instagram, which it's beautiful and hilarious and just so fun.

  00;01;43;26 - 00;02;08;15

  Fabiola Lara

  So be sure to check that out. Now keep on listening to hear us talk about why he chose to move to the U.S., his experience creating a viral fan art and his advice for breaking into the music industry today. Okay, let's get into today's show. Hey Cristo welcome to Draws in Spanish. I'm so happy to have you on the show.

  00;02;08;15 - 00;02;11;16

  Fabiola Lara

  Thanks for agreeing to be here. How are you doing today?

  00;02;12;16 - 00;02;17;23

  Cristobal Saez

  Thank you for having me. I'm doing really well today. I'm excited to be talking to you today.

  00;02;18;05 - 00;02;42;25

  Fabiola Lara

  Ooh, I'm. I have so many questions for you. I'm very, very excited to pick your brain. And it's always really nice to have another Chilean in person on this show. It's very rare. There's not. You know, I haven't come across too many established Chilean artists to bring on the show, so it's always really exciting to have another one.

  00;02;42;25 - 00;02;43;06

  Fabiola Lara

  So.

  00;02;44;05 - 00;02;48;03

  Cristobal Saez

  G t la la la la.

  00;02;49;05 - 00;03;10;18

  Fabiola Lara

  Okay, enough nationalism. Okay, So, Chris, one of the first places I ran into your work was actually, if I remember correctly, Tumblr. Right. Because I remember I was interning a bit for the creators team. I think you were working with them a lot at the time. Or like in this couple of years of creators, it's a bit of a blur.

  00;03;11;06 - 00;03;15;09

  Fabiola Lara

  And you were working under the name Pop as the. Am I correct?

  00;03;15;10 - 00;03;29;11

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. And thank you for saying it correctly. It's like no longer my name because it was so hard to say and like, it was just like, annoying to be like people being like, pop and then they just kind of say it and they.

  00;03;29;11 - 00;03;30;05

  Fabiola Lara

  Couldn't say it.

  00;03;30;20 - 00;03;31;00

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah.

  00;03;32;09 - 00;03;34;00

  Fabiola Lara

  Sounds like they're lazy.

  00;03;34;29 - 00;03;52;23

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. Yeah. It's all Google away, but yeah, it is. Um, but yeah, that makes sense. I did. I, I kind of blew up on tumblr because I was making these, like, I mean, it's fan art. Like, I was making a lot of fan art and gif art a lot.

  00;03;54;24 - 00;04;03;15

  Cristobal Saez

  And yeah, I mean, I just work with creators and I was on like the what was it called? The Discover thing?

  00;04;04;10 - 00;04;06;15

  Fabiola Lara

  Tumblr Spotlight. Yeah, yeah.

  00;04;06;15 - 00;04;12;22

  Cristobal Saez

  I was on the spotlight a few times. Yeah, I have like, really good memories of my tumblr too.

  00;04;13;02 - 00;04;31;28

  Fabiola Lara

  Oh, I love it. I love it. I want to talk a lot more about your Tumblr era, right? Because you were you were big on Tumblr. But first, before we get into all of that, tell me a little bit more about Crystal in general before before the creative stuff popped off. So tell me about your life in Chile.

  00;04;32;03 - 00;04;36;08

  Fabiola Lara

  I know you were born and raised there, so give me a little bit more more insight.

  00;04;37;00 - 00;04;53;22

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, I actually was not born there. I was born in. I was born in Falls Church. Oh, so outskirts of D.C., actually. What? Yeah.

  00;04;53;22 - 00;04;54;16

  Fabiola Lara

  Shocking.

  00;04;54;27 - 00;05;15;25

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. We like my family, and I, like, moved around a lot, so I was only there for, like, a year. And then after that, I was in Colombia, Bogota, Colombia, for. Until I was seven. And then I moved to Chile. So I'm like. But I'm 100% Chilean, where my whole family is Chilean. We just, like, moved around a lot.

  00;05;16;10 - 00;05;25;24

  Fabiola Lara

  Yes, yes. Yeah, because you have that everywhere. So I'm like, Oh, it's not on me, really. You you're not putting Colombian or like D.C. Born anywhere or whatever.

  00;05;26;05 - 00;05;37;22

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. Because the details, I mean, I'm like very Chilean, you know, and I like I did I do consider myself like I grew up in, in Santiago. So like, yeah, it's just easier.

  00;05;37;28 - 00;05;52;03

  Fabiola Lara

  It makes it makes a lot of sense. So moving around a lot and stuff. So you were born in the U.S., You had a American national nationality, which is amazing. Did your family as well?

  00;05;53;00 - 00;06;11;02

  Cristobal Saez

  So I'm the sixth in my family. We're a pretty big family. So and we have like a little like we're mostly Chilean. And me and my other brother Sebastian are American. And then I have one brother. I was born in Colombia. So that's that's the mix.

  00;06;11;09 - 00;06;15;09

  Fabiola Lara

  Oh, and can I ask why you guys were moving so much?

  00;06;15;25 - 00;06;21;29

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, it was my dad's job. My dad's a lawyer, and we moved around a lot because of that.

  00;06;22;03 - 00;06;42;23

  Fabiola Lara

  Nice. It makes a lot of sense. No, I just like to get, like, all the little insights because it can be such a mystery. Sometimes you're just like, Wait, what do you mean? How is this all working? Especially when you have had a life where you've moved around in a lot of different places. So it's always like, I'm sure that there's people listening who are like, you know, how is he doing that?

  00;06;42;23 - 00;06;46;04

  Fabiola Lara

  Because there are people who want to move in, can buy it for a million different reasons.

  00;06;46;04 - 00;07;06;09

  Cristobal Saez

  So yeah, I mean, I will say like being a U.S. citizen kind of made moving back here kind of a no brainer for me. Like it was just like, oh, like, yeah, I'm I'm so I went to high school and I mean, I graduated high school in September and I was pretty clear to me that I wanted to be in something creative.

  00;07;07;23 - 00;07;23;18

  Cristobal Saez

  I have always been obsessed of cover art, like album art, and I like had a dream of like being an art director for a record label. And that was kind of like in high school. Yeah.

  00;07;23;25 - 00;07;31;12

  Fabiola Lara

  Wow, I love that. Okay. Yeah. I wasn't even aware that was an option. I was like, I don't know. I don't know who's making that stuff.

  00;07;32;21 - 00;07;38;27

  Cristobal Saez

  Oh, I was like, deep into that, like, world of, like, who's making the cover art? Like, I was just always so obsessed with that.

  00;07;39;03 - 00;07;44;28

  Fabiola Lara

  Give me one. That you were really obsessed with. Do you remember? I feel like everyone had was really passionate in high school.

  00;07;45;12 - 00;08;17;08

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. I mean, I am, as I'm sure you know, from, like, Instagram, I'm a big secure fan. And her focus general voluminous or no cover where she's like, it's like she's doing a little like Adam and Eve like Eve cosplay where she's like holding an apple is just like, it's such a beautiful image. If it's just like it's, it's I still think about it.

  00;08;17;10 - 00;08;20;23

  Fabiola Lara

  You saw that and you are like, Who is doing this and why can't I?

  00;08;21;06 - 00;08;45;20

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. Oh, actually that was volume. Volume two. Sorry, bad stand. I like secure the Shakira cover. Art in general is always like I'm always been really obsessed with. And then in high school, Lady Gaga popped off and that's when I was like, Oh my God. Like, this is someone that's like, actually taking it to the next level. And that was even more inspiring for me.

  00;08;46;22 - 00;08;51;25

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah, because she had a lot of crazy visuals, right? Because there's a lot of artists who maybe the visuals are secondary.

  00;08;51;29 - 00;08;52;15

  Cristobal Saez

  Totally.

  00;08;52;24 - 00;08;58;28

  Fabiola Lara

  But like, it's kind of disconnected. But I feel like Lady Gaga was like, visuals are really important to her.

  00;08;59;19 - 00;09;31;06

  Cristobal Saez

  With that, like, kind of dream in mind of, of becoming an art director at a record label. I got into graffiti in New York City for graphic design, and that was also just an interesting time. I think that the reason why I went for graphic design is because I think that I kind of had to do like it was already pretty wild that I was like doing something designer artsy in my family.

  00;09;31;24 - 00;09;40;11

  Cristobal Saez

  So like the fact that I like, felt like I picked graphic design because it was something that people got paid for, you know?

  00;09;40;27 - 00;10;00;04

  Fabiola Lara

  I mean, that's true. That's true. Especially when you were I mean, you weren't especially when you were leaving Chile to go pursue this, right? Like the stakes are higher just because you're kind of venturing a bit further out on and you don't want to pick something that you're not going to be able to make work like make a living off of.

  00;10;00;13 - 00;10;16;02

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. Um, but sadly is just like was a I mean, I graduated, I did the thing, but it is something that like whenever anyone comes up to me and they're like, Hey, can you make a logo? I'm just like, No, I don't want to just not want to do it.

  00;10;16;12 - 00;10;34;04

  Fabiola Lara

  No. And I don't think that's that uncommon. Like, I feel like a lot. You have to really like making logos to be like, in it for that. You know, it's like people who like typography, like you have to like typography. You can't just like casually make a couple letters here and there and be like, that's it, you know?

  00;10;34;04 - 00;10;52;20

  Fabiola Lara

  So I feel like you have to be dedicated to it and have like a passion for it. Did you have any other major that you were between? Because I feel like when you're getting into school, you're there's always like this tension of like, what am I going to pick? And I always wondering how it happened because now it's like, Oh yeah, I pick that.

  00;10;52;20 - 00;10;53;00

  Fabiola Lara

  But.

  00;10;54;19 - 00;11;35;16

  Cristobal Saez

  Well, I don't think that I was confident enough to know this about myself at the time. But like illustration is there's always something that like was has been calling me forever and yeah, I don't think that there is a world where at that age when I like had to pick what I want to study, that I would have picked the illustration and yeah, that's like more of like that's a different discussion about like just like what it is like be an artist and like, like my, I've had a whole journey with like, like drawing in, like the whole, like question Are you talent?

  00;11;35;16 - 00;11;42;16

  Cristobal Saez

  Like, do you need to have talent in order to draw? Like that whole thing has been a big issue for me.

  00;11;42;16 - 00;12;04;18

  Fabiola Lara

  This Okay, okay. I want to know more about this. What is the what is a what is the like lingering doubts that you have here? Because now that you've come this far, it's like very easy to be like. So you have a ton of talent like, what are you talking about? But what are the things that kind of that you're that you're haunted by?

  00;12;06;02 - 00;12;36;02

  Cristobal Saez

  Well, thank you. I, I have to say, I'm not haunted by them anymore because I've kind of like, learned to live with them a little. But, I mean, I will say that, like, even when I was like, in Tumblr and stuff, like, a lot of the work that I was doing and granted, I like, I don't know, I think it's a lot to do with my confidence and like how I just didn't feel like I was talented enough or like, I don't know, is most about mostly about talent, I think.

  00;12;36;02 - 00;12;56;19

  Cristobal Saez

  But when I was working, when I was doing my Tumblr stuff, a lot of it was Trace and I felt like there was like something inherently wrong with me because I was tracing stuff and like, I would get people telling me like, oh, like it's like a tool, blah blah. And I would just still not believe it.

  00;12;57;29 - 00;13;18;03

  Fabiola Lara

  I mean, this is so this is so common. This is such a such a thing. I think especially when you went to art school, because especially in art school, you have professors being like, No, and you have your peers. You have peers who like are naturally like perfect, realistic draw, like can draw realistically, like out of thin air.

  00;13;18;03 - 00;13;43;13

  Fabiola Lara

  And you're like, what's going on? It really kind of implants that self-doubt in you. But I think like you're saying, when, when you're working on fandom, stuff like creating likeness that has to be exact, right? Like you can't draw Beyoncé and have it look like Beyonce's cousin. Like it has to look exactly like Beyoncé. Tracing is just going to be the sure thing, especially when we're talking about digital media where it's like pretty fast, right?

  00;13;43;13 - 00;14;00;17

  Fabiola Lara

  Like you don't have like 5 hours to like, render Beyoncé by when it's still going to be like a gif, right? Like, it's not like you're creating this, like painting that's like, you know, 20 by 20 or whatever feat. So it's very specific.

  00;14;01;11 - 00;14;21;28

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. And it, it's at some point it's something where like, I like it was it bother me so much that I was like, okay, I'm going to like stop tracing and I'm going to like, learn to draw from scratch. And I took workshops. Then I like and like I, I took like life drawing classes and like, it did help.

  00;14;21;28 - 00;14;25;20

  Cristobal Saez

  I mean, I can do it now. Doesn't mean that I enjoy it more.

  00;14;25;22 - 00;14;38;08

  Fabiola Lara

  But it's not fun. That's not the fun part. The fun part is not like being able to draw Beyoncé like from a photo reference. The fun part is adding your style to it right?

  00;14;38;08 - 00;14;55;06

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. And I think that that was also there was a little bit of a learning curve there as well for me because it was like, is there something bad that someone else can grab that photo and trace it and do something similar to mine? Um.

  00;14;56;09 - 00;15;19;01

  Fabiola Lara

  All fascinating. These are all fascinating questions and things. I've things I've wondered too, Right. Because I also made fan art on Tumblr for a bit because, like, why not? And even like last season of the show, I had guests and I would do portraits of them. And for a while I was like pushing myself to do them. Yeah, like just draw them, like not tracing.

  00;15;19;11 - 00;15;32;26

  Fabiola Lara

  And then eventually I trace them because I'll say, I don't have time for this. And then I didn't trace, you know, I was having a lot of internal conflicts about tracing as well. And so many of my friends were like, just trace it, like, you can do it, but why would you do it?

  00;15;33;26 - 00;15;41;27

  Cristobal Saez

  Hopefully, yeah. And at the end of the day, I do believe that you're not no one is going to trace it the same way. Even.

  00;15;42;08 - 00;15;43;28

  Fabiola Lara

  No, it's just like a tool.

  00;15;43;28 - 00;15;50;03

  Cristobal Saez

  Exactly. But years later, I learned that, you know, like, I know.

  00;15;50;03 - 00;16;01;27

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah, you do go through this whole life cycle of, like, you start tracing and then you're like, tracing is bad, and then you're like, tracing is okay, and then you're back to the beginning. You're like, Why did I do that? How do you feel now seeing people?

  00;16;01;27 - 00;16;23;08

  Cristobal Saez

  Trace Yeah, I mean, I have no issues with that and I do think it's a tool. I think that no, it like, I think that was that, that was the question, right. Like whether if two people were giving the same photo and they were told to trace it and like make art with it. And my question was like, oh like ah, would it look the same?

  00;16;23;08 - 00;16;36;13

  Cristobal Saez

  And is it bad that they're using the same reference? But I just don't think so. I think that everyone is like everyone has their own like stamp in their art that it's going to come through, you know?

  00;16;37;02 - 00;16;44;12

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah, yeah. And then but we're not talking. The other thing that I always am mindful of too, is like copyright.

  00;16;45;02 - 00;16;45;28

  Cristobal Saez

  Oh yeah.

  00;16;46;17 - 00;16;59;02

  Fabiola Lara

  So now these people who are listening, this is not freedom to like go trace everyone's working. Call it your own. You do still have to be mindful of that. And we're not lawyers. Well, your dad is one. Get them on the line, right?

  00;16;59;04 - 00;17;07;14

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. He's not a corporate lawyer. I really. I don't think that that would help. But I have had a cease and desist in the past.

  00;17;08;14 - 00;17;10;15

  Fabiola Lara

  Everyone's biggest fear with tracing.

  00;17;10;19 - 00;17;12;17

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, that happened to me.

  00;17;13;04 - 00;17;14;06

  Fabiola Lara

  Can you tell us about it?

  00;17;14;07 - 00;17;20;17

  Cristobal Saez

  I absolutely can. It is. It is kind of a great story because it was it was a full circle moment for me.

  00;17;20;25 - 00;17;26;18

  Fabiola Lara

  Let's do it. Let's get into tell us about your cease and desist tracing moment, Everything I need to know.

  00;17;26;18 - 00;17;44;19

  Cristobal Saez

  You mentioned Beyoncé, and I'm sure that you did that intentionally because I did do a lot of like Beyoncé gif art and so I was making a lot of gif. Ah, from Beyonce. I mean, this was one lemonade was out and I like I was standing hard.

  00;17;45;07 - 00;17;46;05

  Fabiola Lara

  We all were.

  00;17;46;06 - 00;17;55;19

  Cristobal Saez

  We all were, as you should. And I started making sure and I sort of make can.

  00;17;57;03 - 00;18;01;29

  Fabiola Lara

  You say it with like a side? I like me. I, I mean, okay, okay.

  00;18;02;00 - 00;18;13;12

  Cristobal Saez

  It is, it's I don't know if I don't recommend this really like I because this is yeah, I was kind of like asking for it at this point.

  00;18;13;24 - 00;18;17;22

  Fabiola Lara

  But yeah, because you went from Sanaa to like full on merch.

  00;18;18;02 - 00;18;55;23

  Cristobal Saez

  Absolutely. So yeah, I, my, my Etsy store had pins and shirts and stuff of like different like pop artists and like, like pop culture moments. And I had a Beyonce a t shirt that was the stylist for the show, Insecure on HBO. She reached out to me and asked me for some t shirt and I sent them to her and they Issa Rae, like, wore one of my shirts in one of the scene.

  00;18;56;02 - 00;19;18;11

  Cristobal Saez

  It kind of snowballed into this thing where, like, it was just like I was selling a lot of t shirts and every day I'd wake up with a little bit of angst like was it can happen, is it going to happen? And then it did my cease and desist and I obviously like pulled all the product and like but yeah I mean it's like.

  00;19;18;24 - 00;19;40;24

  Fabiola Lara

  I mean that's that's everyone's fear right. Is like getting caught by the artist and they don't approve of it. And it's not necessarily that they don't even approve of it because maybe, you know, maybe Beyonce's team was down. But it's just like, you know, encroaching on Beyoncé stuff, Right? So it makes her coin. Yeah. You're stealing your working.

  00;19;41;12 - 00;19;59;17

  Fabiola Lara

  The reason people are buying it is for Beyoncé, for the most part, for your interpretation of Beyonce. And Beyonce is like, well, what about the official merch? So I totally get it. What a drag though. What a drag, because how fun. It's so fun to make like fan art and then people want it. Like, that's the thing. Like people do want it.

  00;19;59;24 - 00;20;24;01

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. I mean, I think that that's that is an interesting like dilemma, right? Because I do think that yes, it was her imagery and I do understand the just in that sense because it is her imagery. But it was by design, you know, and I like made a pattern and like it was like it was it was something original and not original.

  00;20;24;25 - 00;20;51;14

  Fabiola Lara

  If you're loving this conversation and so far, I need to remind you that you can listen to the extended version of this episode over on the draws in Spanish Patreon on the draws in Spanish Patreon. You can access exclusive rewards like joining our Discord community, getting to know the next guest for the next episode. In case you want to drop any questions, cards and listening to extended episodes of every single episode of season two.

  00;20;51;23 - 00;21;13;22

  Fabiola Lara

  So if that sounds good to you and you want to get in on that, then head over to Patrick CNN.com. Slash draws in Spanish. And if you don't have the means to join the patriarchy right now, I totally get it. I understand. But remember, you can support the show for free by subscribing to the show on YouTube, following the show over on Spotify or Apple and just sharing an episode with your friends.

  00;21;13;22 - 00;21;33;21

  Fabiola Lara

  That really means so much to me. So thank you again for your support. And let's get back to the show. Right? It's like the reference was an original, right? Because you're referencing her, her world. But the artwork could be argued that it is original and there's actually okay, I mentioned this with somebody else and I'm going to look it up.

  00;21;34;00 - 00;21;55;03

  Fabiola Lara

  The Supreme Court meets Andy Warhol prints and a case like a Threat and Creativity by NPR. I'll leave it linked in the show notes. There's like a court case. I don't know if it's finished yet or not if that has been decided, but about Andy Warhol, like painting a picture of prints based off a photograph that a photographer took of prints and then that photo.

  00;21;55;15 - 00;22;24;13

  Fabiola Lara

  No, not the photo. The painting got put as a Vogue cover recently, and it's like, does the photographer deserve to get paid? Because it's his photo that was reference, but Andy Warhol changed it by 10% or whatever that arbitrary percentage is. I'm not a copyright expert, so it is very like nuanced and confusing and the gray area of it, I'll let you do it, but also like doesn't say that it's totally okay.

  00;22;25;02 - 00;22;42;27

  Cristobal Saez

  Well, yeah, and I think that my kind of take on it at the end was like, I'm grateful to cease and desist, you know, like, I think that it'd be what I was really scared of wasn't the cease and desist the real I was really scared of a lawsuit. Like that's that's a real scary thing because yeah sure I'll, I'll pull it down and it was fine.

  00;22;42;27 - 00;22;45;26

  Cristobal Saez

  You know. But yeah, you should.

  00;22;45;26 - 00;22;47;12

  Fabiola Lara

  Frame that cease and desist.

  00;22;47;23 - 00;22;57;28

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. I mean, it's, it's come full circle now that I work for Beyonce's record label and like, I've made animations for.

  00;22;58;20 - 00;23;01;11

  Fabiola Lara

  Years of creators. It's Beyoncé animations.

  00;23;01;21 - 00;23;06;16

  Cristobal Saez

  I worked on the lyric videos for Renaissance Perfect.

  00;23;06;16 - 00;23;22;26

  Fabiola Lara

  I know. I saw the I saw it on your Instagram. How does it feel for you, having gone like from making Rogue fan art, let's say, and Rogue fan merch to creating and working directly with the labels and with the artists it feels.

  00;23;22;26 - 00;23;43;09

  Cristobal Saez

  Is different in the way that your it's a different intention, right? Because when you're making fan art, I think that for me it comes from like a, like a fangirl inside me. You know, that just wants to be fed and wants like content, you know? And when you're working on the record label side, like you kind of have, it's different.

  00;23;43;09 - 00;23;54;28

  Cristobal Saez

  You like have a brief and you have to think about deadlines and it's, it's just it's not as simple as, as just like a whim of a fan art, you know.

  00;23;55;06 - 00;24;04;26

  Fabiola Lara

  And you have to like, honor the artist's brand and the artist's vision versus with fan art, you can make it as interesting as you want.

  00;24;05;16 - 00;24;15;18

  Cristobal Saez

  Absolutely. And you're at with fan art, you're the only one that's approving the art. Well, with the record label sided, there's many approval, you know.

  00;24;16;00 - 00;24;28;25

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah. Have you ever because or because we're here, have you ever had an artist or an artist team kind of deny something that you really loved and you're like, No, this is perfect. This is perfect for you, and you don't know it.

  00;24;29;27 - 00;24;30;08

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah.

  00;24;31;05 - 00;24;55;22

  Fabiola Lara

  Many times that it takes. Okay, how disheartening. Because with fan art, the thing is that maybe they will never see it. You don't know what they think of it, right? Like you have. No, no connection. So can you tell me about a time where you created a piece of fan art and it was acknowledged by said pop culture person.

  00;24;56;12 - 00;25;42;02

  Cristobal Saez

  It actually just happened today. The most recent example I so I my illustration kind of journey has kind of led me into 3D. It's something that like just makes more sense in my head for some reason, like and I've been like playing around with like more 3D stuff. And I saw this meme on Tik Tok like, like a month ago of someone found a like image that Eminem's did of Lisa Rinna, like in the red carpet with like a microphone and it's like a Lisa Rinna Eminem.

  00;25;42;25 - 00;25;45;05

  Fabiola Lara

  With like Joey Fatone. I think it is, yeah.

  00;25;45;05 - 00;25;45;24

  Cristobal Saez

  There's also.

  00;25;45;24 - 00;25;48;28

  Fabiola Lara

  Just like on the red carpet as evidence.

  00;25;49;04 - 00;25;57;28

  Cristobal Saez

  And it's like it's become like a thing on TikTok and like, I love it. I don't know why I love it, but I love it.

  00;25;58;01 - 00;26;09;25

  Fabiola Lara

  Because it's absurd. It's absurd. It's like capitalism is doing so much. Like, why did you have to make her And I'm an app. Like she couldn't just be eating an Eminem like anybody else. She is the Eminem.

  00;26;11;03 - 00;26;38;04

  Cristobal Saez

  But and I also love Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. So that's the other thing. And yeah, so I like kind of challenge myself to like make a 3D model of this like, uh, Bebe three, Eminem and yeah, yeah. So I like finish yesterday and I post that and she released her in every posted it this morning.

  00;26;38;18 - 00;26;43;09

  Fabiola Lara

  Amazing. How did that feel for you come out and you woke up you opened it?

  00;26;43;23 - 00;26;49;28

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. I mean, I was just like, why are people liking it? And then and.

  00;26;50;00 - 00;26;50;26

  Fabiola Lara

  Oh my God.

  00;26;50;26 - 00;27;10;23

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. I mean, it's like super satisfying. It's not something that like, I don't want, like, my ego to, like, be fed by it because it's like it shouldn't be like something that I want necessarily. Like I feel satisfied just by finishing it. But yeah, it's just like weird.

  00;27;10;23 - 00;27;41;13

  Fabiola Lara

  That is like a really good point to make. Like you are making the fan art for, for the culture for, for, for everyone, right? Like it's, it's for you, right? You get the satisfaction of creating it, right? You were able to use your 3D skills. You had fun like goofing around, playing with it because it's funny. It's a really hilarious, just meme trend and then everyone else enjoys it and is only like the cherry on top that you know, she enjoyed it herself, but you're saying it's not what you're after.

  00;27;41;15 - 00;27;47;29

  Fabiola Lara

  And it like the goal of creating this because then that kind of can put you in like a twisted, like mindset.

  00;27;48;17 - 00;28;04;22

  Cristobal Saez

  And it's, it's a mindset that I think I've been in in the past. Like, I think in my Tumblr days, I feel like that was kind of what I was like, like hungry for. And yeah, it's just like I kind of had to shift priorities there, but I don't know, it's just not healthy, I feel.

  00;28;05;00 - 00;28;06;13

  Fabiola Lara

  Why do you think it's not healthy?

  00;28;07;29 - 00;28;24;03

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, cause I just feel like. I feel like you're first of all, it feels like you're just pumping out content that needs to be. I don't know. It just doesn't feel like the way the intention that it should be that like.

  00;28;24;13 - 00;28;25;23

  Fabiola Lara

  It feels disingenuous.

  00;28;26;08 - 00;28;45;28

  Cristobal Saez

  Kind of. Yeah. A lot of the times, like, these things go unnoticed, you know? Like, it just feels like it feels a lot more satisfying to kind of have the openness be about yourself and about like your journey and like how you kind of grow as you create these things. Because like, I like, learned how to like, make 3D hair doing this.

  00;28;45;29 - 00;28;48;11

  Cristobal Saez

  And I was just like, Oh, I like do this now, you know?

  00;28;48;11 - 00;28;49;07

  Fabiola Lara

  Right, right, right, right.

  00;28;49;24 - 00;28;50;22

  Cristobal Saez

  So, yeah.

  00;28;51;05 - 00;29;04;01

  Fabiola Lara

  And have you ever felt like and I think this is a common thing, just being an artist online nowadays, Have you ever felt like you were letting likes dictate the work that you were making?

  00;29;04;23 - 00;29;29;09

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, absolutely. Telling me. It's like it's like embarrassing to kind of, like, be so open about it. But I like, honestly, it's it was that's why I like I felt even just like it felt nice to get rid of like the pop estate name because that felt like so tied to, like that kind of intention that I had.

  00;29;29;12 - 00;29;35;08

  Fabiola Lara

  Like the work was being validated and dictated by the likes.

  00;29;35;16 - 00;30;03;09

  Cristobal Saez

  By the likes, and I felt like it came to a point where I was kind of like chasing the like a little and I was chasing the virality of things. And that again, it's just not healthy to me anymore. And it even got so bad that it like also became like a money thing, you know, because like I also had my story and I was like, what's going to be a good product to sell?

  00;30;03;09 - 00;30;10;16

  Cristobal Saez

  You know, Like it just became this, like, incredibly capitalistic, kind of like thick thing that I was doing and like.

  00;30;10;26 - 00;30;32;29

  Fabiola Lara

  But I bet that there's people listening who are like, I don't see anything wrong with that. Like, but I think it's a matter of balance, right? Like if you let it skew too much into being like viral chasing and kind of chasing things that are just going to make money, then what are you doing as a to feed yourself as a as an artist?

  00;30;32;29 - 00;30;36;07

  Fabiola Lara

  Right? So that's like the problem.

  00;30;36;17 - 00;31;05;24

  Cristobal Saez

  That was that was like the part of me that I feel like I was completely, like ignoring what was like the artist side of me that like, wanted to, like, feel satisfaction by just completing the work. Yeah, I don't think that there's anything wrong with it. And, and I do miss having a store like it's something that I want to have and in the future again, but I want it to be kind of on my terms and not in like, like in other people's.

  00;31;05;24 - 00;31;23;28

  Fabiola Lara

  Fascinating. That's so interesting. Just because I think you're in a unique position, especially now that we're looking back at it, is like at the time that was new, right at the time that was what was like new to do. And so you kind of didn't know any better. Being an artist online was relatively new.

  00;31;23;28 - 00;31;25;06

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, for sure.

  00;31;25;18 - 00;31;46;16

  Fabiola Lara

  So it was kind of especially creating gift content, which had like was still kind of just new and emerging and creating it by yourself instead of like screenshots or screengrabs from videos and stuff. So it's like you you couldn't have known what you were getting into until you were like sitting there with a cease and desist from Beyonce.

  00;31;47;14 - 00;32;03;22

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, thanks for making me feel better about that, to be honest. Because like that, that is, that is a good perspective that I hadn't thought about. Like, yeah, it was like a very new thing. And yeah, I think I needed some space from it to be like, Oh yeah, that's not what I want.

  00;32;04;23 - 00;32;19;13

  Fabiola Lara

  And so how did it feel to kind of put Papa feet to rest? Because I went to go look for it now and I'm just finding like random reblogged, like it the, the original post, the OP is gone.

  00;32;19;18 - 00;32;38;17

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, I think it's on Tumblr. Instead it was kind of like that, like Taylor Swift when she did her reputation thing, like she's dead. I felt like I did kind of mourn a little, but now I'm just excited for like, what's coming. I don't really think about it.

  00;32;39;00 - 00;32;55;09

  Fabiola Lara

  Fascinating. Yeah. I just feel like people think that they're tied to things that they make and like, that has to be you forever, especially online. And I think you're a really good example of like, you kind of did it for as long as you wanted to, and then you were like, Oh, maybe this isn't for me, and you let it go.

  00;32;55;09 - 00;33;10;13

  Fabiola Lara

  And I think that's rare because, like, you know, a lot of people out there are still pushing through, even though they're like, I don't know why, but I can't let this like Instagram go or I can't let this Tumblr go or I can't let this Twitter go and just kind of never give themselves a chance of of.

  00;33;11;07 - 00;33;24;17

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, I mean, I think that's very true. And I will say though, like at the time, like watching like the follower account go down, I was just like, like I felt like, yes, no, but.

  00;33;25;00 - 00;33;38;15

  Fabiola Lara

  Wow, I know that this is like com and I've heard it from a lot of people. It's like feeling like you need followers to be an artist. Like like to have a career as a commercial artist. How do you feel about that now?

  00;33;39;10 - 00;34;15;29

  Cristobal Saez

  I think it's I think that's true to a certain extent. I think that there's when you have more followers, you just are have more of a chance to be in front of random people's eyeballs. You know? But I also think that the Internet is not everything. And like there is like industries that work entirely without being on Instagram and like, it's like a lot of word of mouth, a lot of like making good impression on like a certain gig and then kind of people thinking about you and yeah, I don't think it's everything.

  00;34;17;02 - 00;34;28;09

  Fabiola Lara

  That's beautiful because I know that there's a lot of artists, especially starting out, who are just like, No one's hiring me because I don't have any followers. And it's like, partially true and partially not true, right?

  00;34;28;14 - 00;34;30;18

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, I feel like it's a little bit of both. Like.

  00;34;31;03 - 00;34;44;05

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah, like you need to get your work in front of more people. So you maybe you need some more followers, but also sometimes your followers aren't the ones hiring you. Yeah, other people just hire you that just found your work on your website or whatever.

  00;34;44;18 - 00;34;49;15

  Cristobal Saez

  A lot of the times they're not like, they're not going to be your client. They just like, want to see your work.

  00;34;50;05 - 00;34;59;29

  Fabiola Lara

  They'll actually. Would you say that the skills you learned in school are the skills that you use for your career today?

  00;35;00;18 - 00;35;45;26

  Cristobal Saez

  No, Like perfect. Flat out, No. Well, actually, there is like a little bit of yes in there because I think graphic design you you get taught layout, you get taught like composition, like those are all things that have stayed with me. But I with like my, like fascination of the gifts. Like I kind of got into the world of animation, like really fast enough and I'm still there, you know, I just like, have it looked back and it's something that like, yeah, as I said, like branding is just not something that falls to me at all and like, animation just does, you know?

  00;35;46;28 - 00;35;54;16

  Cristobal Saez

  So yeah, like it's, it's, uh, it's not a thing that like, that has helped me at all.

  00;35;55;09 - 00;36;16;09

  Fabiola Lara

  It's so funny because I feel like in college it does feel very like this is my degree and so then I have to go work in the It feels very like you're on this track and that's your track. But once you actually graduate, you were able to do whatever you wanted with that degree. And for you that happened to be GIFs in animation, which is great.

  00;36;16;12 - 00;36;27;03

  Fabiola Lara

  And I hope that anyone listening who's like feeling very kind of in a little box with their degree can can see that you can do whatever you want with it because it doesn't feel that way in the moment.

  00;36;27;03 - 00;36;42;22

  Cristobal Saez

  Absolutely. And I think that especially these days where like YouTube is there to like teach you whatever you want to be taught, like it's if I've learned 3D entirely on YouTube and like that's that's just like it's such a great tool.

  00;36;43;05 - 00;37;04;09

  Fabiola Lara

  It's amazing. I know I've learned I went to school for advertising and I was taught like this much graphic design. And I feel like I just see I learned illustration between YouTube videos and like Skillshare classes. This is not an ad for Skillshare. I know. Now, like you said, you've been exploring more 3D work. What made you want to go in that direction?

  00;37;04;09 - 00;37;12;10

  Fabiola Lara

  Because it does feel like a really big jump to go from like Illustrator and Photoshop to 3D animation.

  00;37;12;25 - 00;37;46;18

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, that's a good question. So 3D is also always just like caught my attention. I it's just something that's always been in the back of my mind. It started with like the fact that yes, I wanted to like it actually even started with like gifs because I was like, oh like I want to make gifs. And then I saw that my options were 2D, like frame by frame animation.

  00;37;46;18 - 00;37;54;16

  Cristobal Saez

  And I just don't have the patience for that. Like I have a hard time doing it. I can do it. I just like don't really want to.

  00;37;54;25 - 00;37;56;25

  Fabiola Lara

  It's not that enjoyable.

  00;37;56;25 - 00;38;29;29

  Cristobal Saez

  It's very repetitive. It started becoming more of a thing as I it actually started more in my and my my job at, at the record label because I was like doing a lot of like visualizations and lyric videos and I like felt that it would be really good to have those skills. So it started off there and now I'm kind of taking it back to like my personal work and getting really into like character modeling and stuff like that.

  00;38;30;01 - 00;38;32;13

  Fabiola Lara

  As seen in the Eminem.

  00;38;32;19 - 00;38;33;15

  Cristobal Saez

  Racer. And I'm in.

  00;38;34;12 - 00;39;07;06

  Fabiola Lara

  Perfect, perfect okay. And I know we've been we've been vaguely alluding to the fact that you're working now for a record label, but this is actually a really big deal because it's kind of the moment that you went from creating your own fan art to kind of going to work, going to work for the actual industry itself. Can you tell me a little bit about the about the process from going to like fan art and just like contributing to being kind of like the source of distribution, right?

  00;39;07;06 - 00;39;13;24

  Fabiola Lara

  Because you're like now creating on behalf of these artists and brands. Can you tell me about just that, that era, that moment?

  00;39;13;27 - 00;39;25;11

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, I mean, I say it was kind of like right place, right time, and it was tuition because I was at a job where I was doing Snapchat content.

  00;39;25;22 - 00;39;28;01

  Fabiola Lara

  So of the time, isn't it crazy?

  00;39;28;10 - 00;39;55;17

  Cristobal Saez

  It was a Snapchat Discovery Channel. And during while I had that job, I that's when I started really getting into like the Tumblr things And actually the fan art is what kind of helped me get into the industry because I think that when I interviewed this was at a previous I've been in, this is my second record label job, the one that I'm currently in one.

  00;39;55;17 - 00;40;22;14

  Cristobal Saez

  Before that I when I interviewed there they I feel like they stole the passion that I had for the industry and like it's funny because the art itself didn't really translate because it's fan art and like it was like very like line art driven and like, it's not something that I actually did. It ended up doing in that job at all.

  00;40;22;14 - 00;40;27;28

  Cristobal Saez

  But I think that it helped show how passionate I was about it.

  00;40;28;22 - 00;40;54;21

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Even though it's not like they hired you to create those things for them. Exactly. It's still showed that you knew how the internet worked and knew how to make like a meaningful contribution to a community of of people of of a fandom. Right. Because that is something that I feel like you can't teach like you can't teach people how to be like fandom literate and a lot of people aren't.

  00;40;54;21 - 00;41;13;04

  Fabiola Lara

  And they're like forcing it. And that's when that's where brands need the most help and where artists need the most help is, I would say, like getting that connection and getting it right. So it makes a lot of sense that you were able to make that leap. How did it feel to like, get that? Because it sounds farfetched now, right?

  00;41;13;22 - 00;41;33;10

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, And it was far fetched. Like it just like it did feel like kind of crazy. I was just like you guys. A lot of me do this. And it also was like they were like really wishy washy with me and like in the interview process and it was like three months. I mean, just like questioning and being like, How about now?

  00;41;33;10 - 00;41;45;00

  Cristobal Saez

  How about now? And then? Eventually they're like, Yeah, come in. And then it was like, the final interview is like, I got it, you know, like, so I was insistent and it happened.

  00;41;45;22 - 00;41;55;27

  Fabiola Lara

  And what was the, if you don't mind, what was the title that you got? Because I feel like a lot of people are in going into that. They don't know, like the kinds of jobs that they need to be pursuing.

  00;41;56;26 - 00;42;03;03

  Cristobal Saez

  It was a content creator role, which is like, what does that mean? Yeah.

  00;42;03;17 - 00;42;05;25

  Fabiola Lara

  Vague, vague today. But at the time, yeah.

  00;42;06;11 - 00;42;11;07

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. At the time it was even more vague. I will say. Yeah.

  00;42;12;08 - 00;42;34;10

  Fabiola Lara

  Fascinating. So yeah, this just goes to show like you can make that jump. We just have to be persistent. And I do think it speaks volumes that you were still creating that kind of content on your own, right, because you had a full time job where you didn't have to be making gifs on the side, right? It was just your pure drive as a fan.

  00;42;35;09 - 00;42;47;17

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. And it's something that I really enjoy having like that kind of like side life, you know? I'm a Gemini, so I like. I hope you are.

  00;42;47;18 - 00;42;54;26

  Fabiola Lara

  Yes, I am. I think actually our birthdays are really close together. I think ours is like June 18th. Is that 19th? Mine's the eighth.

  00;42;55;23 - 00;42;57;07

  Cristobal Saez

  Okay. All right.

  00;42;57;14 - 00;43;19;08

  Fabiola Lara

  Similar Geminis don't tell anyone, but I share a birthday with Kanye. Oh, it's sad. Now I know I'm the new favorite. Yeah, and I love it. I also love fandom, and I feel like. I feel like there hasn't been a really good place for fandom in. In a minute, I guess maybe Twitter. And how do you feel about that?

  00;43;20;03 - 00;43;25;05

  Cristobal Saez

  I think that's that's a great point. I mean, I feel like I, I missed Tumblr sometimes.

  00;43;25;14 - 00;43;41;16

  Fabiola Lara

  Tumblr was so good for fandom. It really helped. I feel like maybe Tik Tok could be it, but the barrier to entry to join the fandom to create content is really high. So like, you don't get like discourse as much as you maybe could on on Tumblr. Maybe I'm just being old and.

  00;43;42;04 - 00;44;11;20

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, I don't know if I'm also in that like vote of like, am I too old for her TikTok? But I will say like the humor of like Tik Tok is like really funny and that's something that is really cool to see. But I do miss how Tumblr was so like, like still image and like gif heavy that like, I just like, I don't want to always have to make video content, you know, even though I'm an animator like so.

  00;44;12;06 - 00;44;30;16

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah, yeah. It just feels like more it takes more work, it takes a little bit more work, but maybe this is why I think maybe we are old. I say because I think I think the youth is is a suspicion I have. They don't probably think making video content is that hard like probably like making an Instagram story.

  00;44;30;16 - 00;44;53;29

  Fabiola Lara

  Like it's just like whatever you just just record whatever and and add your contribution. Add your the little thing you wanted to say. I don't know, maybe the the young kids could enlighten us, but I do I do miss Tumblr and like the way that you could connect really quickly with people and have like a threaded conversation with nuance and like that would break off a lot.

  00;44;54;05 - 00;45;15;01

  Fabiola Lara

  It was different than comments because comments like just like comment and reply, comment, reply. But threads were like really insane. So I fully agree with you. What was one fandom that you remember just being really passionate about? Because I still like love to join a fandom. It like brings me. I really feel like it enriches my life.

  00;45;15;26 - 00;45;19;01

  Cristobal Saez

  Well, I'm still deep in the Shakira fandom.

  00;45;19;25 - 00;45;22;27

  Fabiola Lara

  I love that. So.

  00;45;22;27 - 00;45;50;26

  Cristobal Saez

  And yeah, I mean, I think that and I am still also deep in Beyonce's fandom. I feel like those are my two of my two fandoms that I'm a part of and that I was a part of in the Tumblr days. I do feel like the these days, like kids will like come in the space so much that like if you're not like a tennis fan or a Beatles fan, then like, you're kind of like, not, not part of it, right?

  00;45;51;11 - 00;46;05;03

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah. I mean, I feel like those are the dominating fandoms. So maybe, maybe because they're the dominating fandoms with the youth, we're getting the most content. And so like, they're just the most active fandoms maybe. So they're more in our faces.

  00;46;05;12 - 00;46;07;16

  Cristobal Saez

  That's what I actively seek it out.

  00;46;07;19 - 00;46;25;09

  Fabiola Lara

  You have to seek out your fandom maybe a little bit more, which if it's not being fed, I'm really into midnights this this week. But I wouldn't say that I'm like a swifty, but I'm really into minutes. But now Tick Tock has decided that I am a swifty and it's like I can't escape it. I've become one. I can't help it.

  00;46;25;09 - 00;46;26;04

  Fabiola Lara

  I know too much.

  00;46;26;10 - 00;46;36;20

  Cristobal Saez

  Well, and that's the thing. That's that that's another reason why I also miss Tumblr is that like you were able to like pick who you follow like on your for you page this year at the whim of an algorithm.

  00;46;37;09 - 00;46;39;23

  Fabiola Lara

  I know it's it's twisted, it's.

  00;46;39;29 - 00;46;41;04

  Cristobal Saez

  Great, but it's also bad.

  00;46;41;13 - 00;46;55;25

  Fabiola Lara

  It's great, but it's also bad when you get the perfect video. It's amazing when you were just like, Yeah, but I can't say ever. When Taylor Swift are being shoved down my throat, I just have to succumb. I can't do anything about it. But no, no, I don't want to. Suppose they come after me somewhere. Yeah.

  00;46;56;10 - 00;46;57;10

  Cristobal Saez

  We love midnight.

  00;46;57;16 - 00;47;11;17

  Fabiola Lara

  I love midnight. I really do love when it's okay Now, would you still recommend getting into the music industry through creating fan art? Do you still think that's viable?

  00;47;11;17 - 00;47;30;28

  Cristobal Saez

  Yes, I will say yes, but there is a little bit of a caveat there where sometimes like you kind of have to be like, lie about it. Like, I just feel like sometimes if it's there's too much of it, like it just comes off a little too fan girly and it kind of like.

  00;47;31;11 - 00;47;32;26

  Fabiola Lara

  So you can't be too thirsty.

  00;47;33;13 - 00;47;47;03

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, I think there's something there's something there. And I think that I've seen in like we've hired some intern that, like, have like a lot of, like, fan art content and like, yeah, there's like a balance there, right?

  00;47;47;20 - 00;47;58;26

  Fabiola Lara

  Mm hmm. And what would be your piece of advice for a graphic designer or an animator or an illustrator who's trying to get into the music industry? Like the creative side?

  00;47;58;26 - 00;48;29;11

  Cristobal Saez

  I mean, this is like not great advice, but like, be creative. Like, I guess I just like, like kind of take, take what you see and kind of like, make it your own. Because I feel like that's what is exciting to me when I see like if you are making fan art, if you're like doing like a twist on something or you're like, I don't know, making a series of like album covers is horror movie post.

  00;48;29;17 - 00;48;33;05

  Cristobal Saez

  Like stuff like that where you're just like, Oh, like, that's interesting. You know, like.

  00;48;33;12 - 00;48;37;20

  Fabiola Lara

  Thought it put like a more conceptual spin to it. Maybe.

  00;48;37;20 - 00;49;04;11

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. I mean, I do think like, concepts and like esthetics are, are like being in the music industry, like, and I, I, I mean that's always like what I'm looking for and like, what I'm trying, like striving for in my job is like having whatever I'm working on be part of a consistent with like the album cover and like everything, like everything should be like wrapped up nice.

  00;49;04;25 - 00;49;15;13

  Cristobal Saez

  And so if you can do that, but also do you do like your own spin on it and like, show what you've got, then I feel like that that's something like, Oh.

  00;49;16;02 - 00;49;34;23

  Fabiola Lara

  Perfect. Yeah, I mean, you're asking for a lot, but it does make sense that it's necessary. Like if I heard that advice, I'd be, like, discouraged. But I feel you. I think it's just really tough to, like, add something to You have to really, like, bring something besides being purely a fan girl.

  00;49;35;22 - 00;49;44;26

  Cristobal Saez

  Yes, exactly. Yeah. Sorry to everyone that I've discovered. Like, I don't really know. Not going to.

  00;49;44;27 - 00;50;04;11

  Fabiola Lara

  No, no, it's just the truth. Because I'm sure you're seeing a lot of stuff all the time, I'm sure, from different people. So you can't just like especially when you're talking about big artists like Beyoncé, it's like a lot of people are making fan art, so you have to really go the extra mile to stand out. But it's not it's not surprising.

  00;50;04;11 - 00;50;29;18

  Fabiola Lara

  And then would you say, you know, now with Tik Tok, with reals, we have all this video content like we're saying, it's like feels like videos everywhere. Would you say that having motion design skills really important, not so important as a teachable? Like where are we at with this? Because, you know, there are people who are probably in graphic design programs that are maybe not learning so much of this.

  00;50;30;12 - 00;51;03;12

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, I mean, I would say it's unfortunately becoming a thing. But like, there is so much again, like on YouTube, like there's so much that you can look out for and there's so many portrayals out there that I feel like it's it's something that's doable and something you can teach yourself. But it sadly is a thing where like even in my team, when we're like looking for people, it is like if you're just if you're an expert at stills, that's great.

  00;51;03;12 - 00;51;04;01

  Cristobal Saez

  But there is.

  00;51;04;08 - 00;51;27;05

  Fabiola Lara

  So how did it so how did it right? Yeah. I mean, especially because everything ends up getting translated to video like every single concept eventually has to be made into some sort of video. And maybe if you don't have those skills, you're, you know, maybe you can't support the team as much as you could otherwise, right?

  00;51;27;16 - 00;51;28;28

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. There's like a limit there.

  00;51;28;28 - 00;51;52;18

  Fabiola Lara

  There's a limit there. Yeah. And how big are these teams that you're working with? Because, you know, as consumers we just see like the rollout and it's like very tight, but we have no idea how long it's been in the works or how many people are working on it. So can you paint a little bit of a picture there for for all of us that are just fans?

  00;51;53;25 - 00;52;10;19

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, it kind of depends, though, in terms of like a timeline. It depends on like how lucky we are. Like and like if we have a lot of time to like, kind of sit with things, I'm like, That's great. But a lot of think like sometimes are just like it's done and we just want to put it out.

  00;52;11;24 - 00;52;37;20

  Cristobal Saez

  And in terms of like how many people are in my team, I'm part of the digital team and we're like 15 people. I want to say 15. Yeah. And there and the roster of artists is like split between those people. So like, not everyone is working on everything like us, people that are doing content stuff are working on everything.

  00;52;37;20 - 00;52;50;07

  Cristobal Saez

  Mostly. And then there's the marketing team, there is the radio team, there is like it's a lot. I don't even yeah, there's a team for everything. I don't think that I even understand the scope of it.

  00;52;50;21 - 00;53;05;00

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Especially when you're working at a big label. Okay. And then one of the things I wanted to ask you here, this is the final, final couple questions here. What would you say is your favorite to Lansing?

  00;53;06;19 - 00;53;36;13

  Cristobal Saez

  So my mom is like from like the farm in Chile from where? From like even it's like close to Santa maria ish. Like the year I think is the actual name. That's where she grew up. And so I know like a lot of, like details of the camp for like a lot of, like, like things and there's one that's really long and it don't really think it makes a lot of sense.

  00;53;36;13 - 00;53;46;07

  Cristobal Saez

  But I love saying it and it's got I don't know, love, you know, Elmer Flour the ultimate in El Monte clientele. Our the.

  00;53;46;15 - 00;53;48;13

  Fabiola Lara

  I don't know what it means to me what I mean.

  00;53;49;01 - 00;53;55;08

  Cristobal Saez

  It literally means like it's like got a beat that Vanessa too and.

  00;53;55;20 - 00;53;56;21

  Fabiola Lara

  Like the tongue twister.

  00;53;57;04 - 00;54;06;27

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah. It's like it just means that like is to each their own kind of. But it's just like, so long and unnecessary and, like, I love it.

  00;54;06;27 - 00;54;07;21

  Fabiola Lara

  It's just fun.

  00;54;08;06 - 00;54;08;16

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah.

  00;54;08;28 - 00;54;14;18

  Fabiola Lara

  I love it. I love it. Thank you for teaching me a new one there. And then what would you say is your favorite Chilean food?

  00;54;15;24 - 00;54;29;05

  Cristobal Saez

  Oh, okay. So I feel like especially like Chilean food is like, kind of like a tough thing because it's like we're not really known for our foods. Like, let's be honest, I agree.

  00;54;29;05 - 00;54;39;11

  Fabiola Lara

  And I feel like, you know, people ask me this and I'm like, I'm not sure I don't know what you're talking about. But there's a few things, though. There's a few notable things, but they're not like super original.

  00;54;39;11 - 00;54;46;11

  Cristobal Saez

  We're not I mean, this is like controversial to say, but like, we're not really like, Peruvian. Like they really know what to do in like.

  00;54;47;00 - 00;54;50;18

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah, we haven't cornered like, a market, Like, we don't have like, our own anything.

  00;54;51;03 - 00;54;53;15

  Cristobal Saez

  Empanadas. I mean, our the thing.

  00;54;55;02 - 00;55;04;19

  Fabiola Lara

  Some people say the Chilean empanadas are like a lot of people in Latin America really like the are type of bananas. But the Argentinian bananas are also good. But don't tell anyone.

  00;55;05;04 - 00;55;20;10

  Cristobal Saez

  They're really good. The beef empanadas from Argentina are amazing, but I love like and banana peanut, you know, like, I really it's very nostalgic for me. I love like Chilean sweets a lot. Like a super nacho. Really goes a long way.

  00;55;20;10 - 00;55;32;13

  Fabiola Lara

  Mm. Yeah, I like Vizio's. They're just chocolate covered almonds. And then. Okay, is there anything culturally from Chile that you wish was more common in the U.S.?

  00;55;33;14 - 00;56;02;23

  Cristobal Saez

  I do feel like there is. I do feel like life is more perhaps more relaxed over there, like you have. And I don't know if I really like this more than dinner, but in Chile they have Lao on set, which is like, you know, as you know like it's it's instead of they don't have dinner pretty much so they have like a small dinner and at like five or 6 p.m. you like have like kind of like it's, like a second breakfast.

  00;56;02;23 - 00;56;09;28

  Cristobal Saez

  The, like doesn't actually make any sense. And you're like randomly carb loading towards the end of the day.

  00;56;10;02 - 00;56;12;05

  Fabiola Lara

  It's like the opposite of intermittent fasting.

  00;56;12;13 - 00;56;21;19

  Cristobal Saez

  Absolutely. Yeah. So it's not something that, like, I like would want to add to my my day, but it's something that I think about fondly. Perhaps.

  00;56;21;19 - 00;56;31;19

  Fabiola Lara

  Yes, it is really nice. Like it is homely, right? You're just like, Oh, that's kind of nice. And, and the bread add ons is really good and we don't have that kind of bread here.

  00;56;32;06 - 00;56;32;23

  Cristobal Saez

  Yeah, yeah.

  00;56;33;25 - 00;56;57;17

  Fabiola Lara

  In también I think that Chile might have like some of the top bread, maybe bread is the thing Now. Maybe bread is the thing we want to find. And boulder, too. Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much, Lisa, for your time, for your energy, for giving me all this amazing wisdom about the music industry and for just sharing about your career.

  00;56;57;17 - 00;56;58;12

  Fabiola Lara

  Thank you so much.

  00;56;58;23 - 00;57;01;02

  Cristobal Saez

  Thank you. This has was so fun.

  00;57;01;02 - 00;57;28;04

  Fabiola Lara

  That's a wrap for this chat with Jillian, a motion graphics designer. Krista says be sure to follow his work on Instagram at xt0 essays or click the link in the show notes to find his Instagram so you can view his work and follow it over there. Now, before you go, before you ex out of this, I have to remind you to subscribe to the show if you like this episode subscribing is free and really helps me out to keep making the show for you.

  00;57;28;14 - 00;57;48;18

  Fabiola Lara

  Now if you want to connect with other Latin X artists in our drawers and Spanish community, head over to my Patreon so you can join our Discord Channel Access Extended episodes of every single episode of season two and a ton of other perks. That's all I have for you. Thanks for listening to this episode. Hasta la proxima amigos!

  00;57;48;18 - 00;57;58;10

  Fabiola Lara

  Nos vemos el proximo martes, chao!