Here in Italy, "Ambo" is the name of one of the prizes of the National Lottery, and you can be sure that Ambo, a comic artist from Andalusia in Spain, is an absolute prize for the community altogether
“I’m 29 years old and I’ve been drawing my whole life except for some
years I stopped drawing because of someone who told me my art was shit
so I’m gonna throw in some advice and tell you never stop drawing
regardless of what anyone tells you.”
This was quite literally the way she decided to introduce herself to this interview, we don’t even need to start talking about her art, her story, to understand how sensible she is while being so passionate about what She loves.
A bit of Ambo’s story
She started drawing like a lot of us, as children, drawing our beloved favourite animes fanart, and slowly started to draw her original characters!
“That went like that in my teenage years too , at that time I was more
serious about my stories and had a bunch of projects that I really
wanted to publish someday. I think that was when I first thought of
being a professional artist. Then the aforementioned asshole appeared
and told me I was useless as an artist and I stopped drawing
altogether.”
But then the worst evil for an artist, when someone very influential on us, take us down, draining the desire to do our art happened.
As the nft community has established time and time again, a community is what every artist needs, to grow and start again to communicate, after falling.
" I didn’t get back on it until I was 19 and made a Tumblr account
where I started shyly posting fanart and found a super welcoming and
nice community where I grew and evolved a lot as an artist, and it’s
here when I finally come up with a big comic project that I knew I had
to publish, for real this time."
There we have another example of how much community is important, but we can as well start seeing more through the story into what is her actual project and how it links with her works in our nft community
“It’s called Snuff and you can see the main characters in a lot of my
illustrations.”
I wanted to add, that I’m so moved by the love that she has for the art, and the desire to do nfts, even if the economical situation of her and her family seems to drive away from the possibility to dedicate totally and with a free mind to them
“I feel like being an artist full-time is not possible for me because
I come from a poor background and I’m the only one in my family with a
degree. Now I just think I will find a way to mix my work as a teacher
and as an artist.”
Because yes, our Ambo, is a teacher, she is working for her family stability, while cultivating art and preparing a lot of nice little future projects, including the nft ones!
“I’m a Spanish and English teacher at a language academy, but I’m
also studying for the oppositions (it’s an official exam you gotta do
in Spain to work at public schools). It’s really hard but it’s my only
chance for stability”
Comics Assemble!
The idea of her comic “Snuff” came in 2013, She started working on it and posting it on Tumblr. But was very inconsistent and didn’t think the script thoroughly before She published it. eventually, she dropped it in 2017 because She fell out of love with it.
“I wasn’t drawing too much at that time so I kinda left it behind, but
then, in 2019 I decided I wanted to give it a chance cause I held the
characters in a special place in my heart. I rewrote the whole script,
making sure it wasn’t lazy work. I sketched the comic and prepared a
project book to send to a bunch of publisher houses. It was turned
down every time, but more than bringing me down it only made me take
it to the public even more so I decided I will put it on an online
comic platform when it’s done.”
Back To The Nfts!
Let’s continue our exploration of Ambo’s characters, representing part of her life, or just being there to take the punches, but now, let’s see them in her pieces.
november air
“So you can find Carlos and Unai both on my Foundation and Hic et
Nunc. Unai is the blond that's always hurt. As I said the poor kid
represents my own wounds and the way I feel in my depressive spells,
Carlos on the other hand represents my mental illness. Drawing them is
the best kind of vent.”
something horrible
“Then you can see other characters. Some are just part of a random
study, like the ones in 'something horrible'. More than the characters
what's important here is the story behind the door.”
janitor joe
“Others I gave more thought, like 'janitor joe', who was the first old
gross guy I drew exploring the ideas of fragile masculinity in a
subtle and kinda fun way. But always with my depressive vibe.”
sorry about everything
“'sorry about everything' is also very dear to me because the
characters are from a story I was very invested in some time ago. I
dropped it but I'm developing some scenes from it in the future
because I was really happy with the vibe it had. They’re a couple of
rough guys that do wrestling and finally allow themselves to be
vulnerable in front of the other."
"It's a scene I like a lot because I love exploring concepts like
sickness and weakness. And how they taint masculinity.”
I loved the logic within the pieces, the narrative and the way you can understand a piece even without an explanation, the recurrence of colours, and the incredible consistency that Ambo gives us.
You could realize that a piece is one of hers, even without knowing anything about her.
Before talking with her about how her works come to life, i wanted to talk a moment about his last piece.
In 'i'm yours' her last @WithFnd drop, she was able to show in a majestic way how this phrase can be so internally conflicted, romantic as well as problematic, cute as well as possessive.
i'm yours
'i'm yours' seen as a very disturbing scene of imbalanced power
between two human beings.'
With this one, I wanted to depict a situation in which you need what's
hurting you to make you feel alive, with all its consequences. As I
said Carlos usually speaks about my mental illness, and Unai is my
weakness, but this illness I need because it's what makes me strong at
the same time.
Behind the MAKING!
Almost every piece of our Ambo is based on art that she made over the years, and this makes so evident how much her art is consistent about style!
“They're drawings that I worked my ass off when doing, like the best
of the best. Then you can find some illustrations I really like but
didn't animate on my HeN. “
The dedication is so evident and eloquent just thinking about the fact that even if she has not enough time to create completely new drawings to make as nfts, she still keeps creating content learning principles of animation, redrawing the best drawing from her past, and adding details to the old ones to get us, the observers of her pieces, a way to get more into her art!
“I'm doing this because I don't have time to work on NFTs from scratch
because of work and studies, the little time I have I invest in
animating or working on my comics.”
Is so good and inspiring to see an artist in our community try even with the little time the have to improve and expand their art, continuously challenging themselves
“Making NFTs for me it's like a challenge, taking my art further and
see what I can do with it to make it the best version it can be. For
this, I explore the works I consider are the best and add little
details to them that enhance the story. Most of the time with small
animations. They're small but since I'm new to this they're a pain in
the ass most of the time!”
Almost hard to believe that her stunning works came from a pretty straightforward workflow, at least as she says, simple to understand for an artist
“ I do a little brainstorm and will write down a scene or an evocative
sentence. And start working from there. I usually stick to the first
idea I have for a sketch, not doing various of them unless it's a
pretty complicated scene and will take a bunch of reference pictures
and that's pretty much it! The rest, if you're an artist, you can
guess how it works. ”
Some ending routine Questions:
How the community has impacted you?
"it definitely has made me realize my art actually has a real value,
and that all the hard work I've been putting into it all over these
years it's finally paying off. I finally feel like my art has a place
and somewhere to go, someone to talk to. And that's I think the
biggest impact art has had in my life and the way I see it."
What was your impact and how do you feel about the nft community?
" I'm not sure I've had an impact on the community yet, I sure am trying
to participate and promote the small niche of comics artists. And my
feelings about it are of gratitude and family. It's been a very long
time since I last felt like this among artists, with the selfless
support and continuous creativeness. Basically last time I felt like
this was at the golden age of tumblr haha"
Two colours that you love?
" I love blue and yellow"
What particular type of food do you like the most?
" So I have a bad relationship with food, but I think I'll go and say my
favourite is my father's couscous."
And tv show?
"My favourite TV show is Mr. Robot."
Now the complex one, most beloved comic series?
"Ahhh don't do this to me, there are so many to choose from. But I'm
gonna say Endless World by Jaryuu Dokuro cause it influenced me so
much in art style, narrative, and themes"
Ambo in Some words.
A great artist, with deep conflicts inside of her, fighting for being
better every day while helping her family.
I would grab every piece of this incredible artist if I could.
Can’t wait for more “Snuff” material from her!
Some of the link to her art:
https://www.instagram.com/artbotas/
https://www.twitch.tv/artbotas
https://foundation.app/@artbotas
https://www.hicetnunc.xyz/tz/tz1MffApTGinaqtHMPVo4iC433RkxEpegBxj
Just a little ending note
Dear reader, I wanted just to say that during the writing of this piece, I found one of her pieces on hicetnunc and I felt the necessity to get one, I love the style of her sketching!
grocery boy / I just wanted to get some milk https://www.hicetnunc.xyz/objkt/107018
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