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11.11.25

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DON’T THINK I CAN FORGET YOU


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11.19.25

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11.23.25

MY PHONE IS A PORTAL


My phone is a portal, a dark portal like the obsidian mirror of Tezcatlipoca, where specters of the past, present and future manifest as distorted shadows, where some energies enter this world and others are absorbed. My phone is a work tool, dirty from daily use, like a hammer or a wrench. My phone is a false medium for entertainment, because in truth, it’s just another medium for brands and ideologists to try to sell me stuff or convince me of shit, like a TV but more engaging. My phone is an object of perverse design, intentionally addictive like a slot machine, it tickles the part of my brain that thinks there’s always something better at the next swipe, that the golden nugget shall appear at the bottom of the infinite scroll. My phone was made by people who want my mind to be asleep, but not my body– they want my eyes to be always open, forever gorging on the blue light of the devices which obscure our dreams.


This is how I think of my phone, and that’s why I don’t like to have it in my room when I sleep or take it with me to the bathroom. I feel like it’s disruptive to my intimacy, a self-inflicted violence to my personal world. Sometimes I like to turn off my phone or let its battery die, and if it isn’t left with the screen facing down, I get a little anxious. Also phones  are literally tools of surveillance, they’re absorbing information even when you don’t use them, I don’t want to have it close to me all the time. I think mirrors are portals too, and books also. But because mirrors have a more limited use than phones, and books are each a portal to a specific, the power of their presence is more easily controlled.  Does this make sense to you? I don’t care if it doesn’t, because it does to me, but I’m curious about how do you perceive your phone? 

I’ve heard some people say that they LOVE social media, but more often I hear people say that they HATE it–– and they don’t just say it, they go on and on about it. I think we need to stop talking about it and just do it. Being on social media is partly my job, and I couldn’t say that I hate it, but I do hate how it mediates relationships. It’s truly perverse and destructive to society. It’s not just a “waste of time” kind of numbing entertainment like the TV, it’s also got that personal aspect, so it’s emotionally draining in ways that feel unnecessary and even avoidable. I wish the situations it provokes, like someone unfollowing you or not following you wasn’t something we ever had to care or think about. Human relations are too complex to be flattened to this quantification of status and validation. We don’t need to know as much about other people as we do. And we are not capable of knowing as many people as we supposedly do. Most connections should be more ephemerous than social media allows them to be. There is something magical about meeting someone and knowing you’ll never see them or know about them again. There’s a mental sickness being provoked in our minds, that having everything and everyone at the tip of your fingertips is comforting. But the truth is that it isn’t, because that is not possible, it is an illusion and everything about it that shows us a glimpse of its truth makes us sicker. Accepting that things, relationships and moments are fleeting, that we ourselves are mortal, makes you value the present and cherish what exists in it more deeply. I want to be more present in my life for the people that are in it. More present with myself, my body and my thoughts.

12.11.25

ALIENATION: FINAL CUT TOUR


I just got back from finishing my book tour for Alienation! It started on September 20 and since then there had only been 1 weekend that I wasn’t at an event related to it! It was tiring but super satisfying : ) Since the first time my Alienation book was published (2019) I was in the hospital and wasn’t able to enjoy anything about its release so I really wanted to do a tour for this second edition to promote it and celebrate having made it. I travelled to various places in Mexico, from north to south, doing presentations in various independent spaces, all run by or recommended by friends. It was a lot of fun, I got to travel, see old friends and meet new ones and take my husband on various work / vacation trips. It was all paid by me (with some support from my publishers!) and it wasn’t profitable, but I wanted to do it and I could, so I did it... ha!


  1. 2.It took me about 1 day of work per page, some pages more, some less, but mostly that. So most pages (about 200) I drew in that 2016-2017 period, but I had like, no life and was also pretty depressed (and it comes out in how dark the story is). Then I did some extra pages in 2018 and then another 30 or so more pages in 2025. The new pages I did this year were mostly because I felt the story needed some updating, since it talks about AI and now it’s completely embedded in our every day lives unlike ten years ago, I had more ideas related to it that I wanted to explore in the story. It’s not a huge change, more like stuff that gives it more depth. And also to have something extra for those who already have the first version : )


  1. 3.I drew everything in graphite with a mechanical pencil on Fabrianno paper and added the halftones digitally. I like making comics with just graphite because I like the texture it gives and feel like it’s faster as I can skip a step by not inking. I do not like drawing digitally
    (I like the limitations of paper, if I can undo infinitely I can never finish) but I do like using Photoshop to make minor edits and colour drawings.


  1. 4.I think most people read comics way too fast, so when I’m doing the sketches for the pages I like to draw them very fast too, thinking that that’s the speed at which they will be read so that the pacing feels good. I also like doing “filler” pages to emphasize ideas and to slow readers down and force them to pause and process what they’ve just read.


  1. 5.My writing process combines drawings and text, I plan the story using both at the same time. I do not write like, a script or a screenplay, but I do think of my comic as the lowest budget film I could make. Regardless of how you want to plan your comic, I do think it’s very important to have at least an idea of the ending before you start. That way you have a finishing point and the rest is just planning how to get there. Build the story like a puzzle piece by piece but knowing the final outcome. Otherwise you can start strong and then just meander around pointlessly until you get tired and rush to finish or just quit. Another cartoonist (Sammy Harkham) once told me he drew his comics not in the order the story should be read, but by prioritizing scenes he was most excited he was to draw. I personally could never do that, I draw each page in the order it should be read and I feel that helps me a lot with developing a coherent story and giving it a good read flow. I do add or edit pages here and there after I’m done but that’s it.

  1. 6.I like using a 6 panel grid, and will do a little variations on it if required, but I try make my comics easy to read for non-comic readers. I think of the panels as the frame on the TV.
    I love comics that utilize panels in creative ways but I think comics like that end up being hard to read for non-comics fans so I’d rather focus my creativity in the story.


  1. 7.I studied design in a public school in Mexico City but quit in the middle of it. I started making comics in high school so this was not the first comic I ever made. I actually had already made another graphic novel before (Lapsos, in 2013). I started making comics in 2006 and the first I did were autobiographical strips and short comics based on dreams. Then I started making longer stories of 12, 30 pages. Again, don’t try to start with something super complicated. Start small, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t try to make anything perfect. The idea in your head is less than half of the work, once you start putting it to paper it will come to life and a magical feedback will happen between what’s taking shape on the paper (or screen) and you. Don’t think about “your style”, the more things you make, the more it will develop and refine. And once you feel ready for something longer, start doing your story in parts. Comics is one of the most solitary and laborious creative medium, and one of the worst paid artistic endeavors. The only good reason to make a comic is just because you want to, so make the task as enjoyable as possible for yourself.



8. My main inspirations are comics, mostly Japanese (artists like Suehiro Maruo and CLAMP) some alternative cartoonists like CF (and my friends <3), and as much, if not more than comics, movies! Also I’m curious about many other things and like doing my own research on various things, mostly nature, animals and technology. Lately I’ve been getting really into Chinese fashion brands (like Hashtag DDD, c-fierce, personsoul). I think that if you’re only taking inspiration from comics, then you’re not going to make very interesting comics... Alienation has a full list on at the end with all references that I used, from videos to books and PDFs. My intention is not to assert or prove anything but to question the reality we live in and spark curiosity in others to do their own research and make their own conclusions.




  1. 9.Another question I got a lot was how did I get Fantagraphics to publish me. The answer is,
    I didn’t. Simon Hanselmann was already working with them and he recommended my work to them. I had already finished the whole comic by then, so it wasn’t like pitching an idea but a complete book ready to be printed. So I guess, asides from having made comics already, knowing people is a good way to get published, and to do that, you need to start going to festivals and conventions, or live somewhere where more comics people live. But if that’s not something you can or want to do, there’s also just posting your work online and meeting other comics people there. But honestly, nowadays it feels like that’s something almost impossible to do, just with how shitty social media is. So my best suggestion is... self-publish! It doesn’t have to be anything super expensive and it doesn’t even have to be riso. Find somewhere you can print cheap photocopies, or someone who works at an office or school that can get access to a free printer and go at it! That way you have full control of your publications and all profits go to you... which is something no publisher can ever offer you. There’s pros and cons to being published vs self-publishing but I guess that’s a topic for another post... Thank you for reading and MAKE COMICS!!!!! If you want...



During the tour there was one question that always came up: “How did you make this book and how long did it take you?” So I’m sharing my process here in case you’re curious too...



HOW TO MAKE A GRAPHIC NOVEL
(OR HOW I MADE A COMIC OF 250+ PAGES)


  1. 1.I did not sit down one day and decided I was going to make a 250+ pages book. I wasn’t like, “This is page 1 of 250!”. I did the book in parts and self-published it in issues. Each issue was 32 pages and I made 6 issues during 2016 and 2017 printed as black and white xerox zines (not even the covers had colour). Then in 2018 I worked on the first book edition that collected all the issues, I did the covers, some new pages and added halftones to all the pages since the original version from the zines had lineart only.
    The first edition of this book came out from Fantagraphics in the USA, 2019. By 2022 those first 1,000 copies had already sold out and people kept asking me where to get more. I wasn’t happy with that first version because, for one, the colours of the covers and the interiors were too light (it looked weirdly washed out and I was super specific about what Pantone ink colours I wanted...) also I wasn’t satisfied with some of the drawings and dialogues that I felt I had to change or rush for it, so I didn’t want to just reprint it as it was. For various reasons (personal and work) it wasn’t until May this year 2025 that I was able to work on fixing those things to print a new edition, and coincidentally (or by destiny) both Teie from Ediciones Hungría and Jason from Floating World wrote to me around that time with interest in publishing, so we all got to work on making this the best version of Alienation ever!