Artist Ant Interviews People Summer Series #12: Tarik El the Comic Artist 7/14/19

Interviewer: Anthony Andujar Jr

Interviewee: Tarik El

Left to Right: Tarik El, (Artist) Austin St. John (Red Ranger), Johnny Yong Bosh (Black Ranger), Gerard Riley (Writer). Promoting Virtue Wars: The Alliance Thieves at Eternal Con.

       Hello and welcome to the Artist Ant Interviews People Summer Series! Today we have a special guest that is coming off the heels of his latest project that he has worked with writer Gerard Riley on Virtue Wars. Despite his busy schedule from his day job and other pursuits, he made time to join us on this digital landscape to chat and pick his brains. So without further ado, ladies, gents, robots, I present to you the Queens, NY artist, the one, the lonely, Tarik El!

Q0. What are your inspirations?

TE:  Wow, lets see, I would say story wise, Grant Morrison, his vision and ideas of how the audience interacts with media is something as a creator makes me conscious of how I present my stuff. Scott Snyder is also up there, because a lot of the ideas that he ran with originated or were inspired from Morrison, so it's great to see that metatext no matter what iteration of the multiverse we’re in. Brian K Vaughn is a beast too.

    I love Latin American writers such as Isabelle Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez for their incredible depth and imagination. For artist, well all of them inspire me. If you are grinding then yes, that is an inspiration in itself, right? Ones that have influenced my current styles are Masakazu Katsura, Rumiko Takashashi, Butch Guice, an American artist who I think is probably one of the best out there who doesn’t get enough work IMHO. Frank Quitely, Moebius, Adam Kubert.. just a lot of amazing talent.

Q1. How did you get into art?

TE: I probably picked it up from my parents who drew. I remember my mom being just a little bit better than my dad, but I’m sure its imprinted in my genes, lol. But my parents have always been supportive and I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today without them.

Q2. When did you take art seriously?

TE: Honestly it comes in waves. I probably first looked at art seriously when I was attending college, and SVA is this huge prestigious school, but that environment totally swallowed me up. I’ve worked on projects, but I haven’t taken art seriously as much as I have since last year when I started working on Gerard Riley’s Virtue Wars; now I want to be amazing in all aspects of being an artist, especially the business part.

Q3. What drives you in your daily life?

TE: Well my heart belongs to Carmen Soto the love of my life, so that firstly, but I guess the urge to emote to be creative, it’s a calling, and I know I have been putting him on hold for too long

Q4. What made you the person that you are today?

TE: Probably the last ten years of being an adult has taken me to this point. All the stuff your parents teach you or you read about don’t come to life until you actually put them to the test, and then from there you become your own person, I think.

Q5. If you could speak to any living creator or inspiration, who would it be, why, and what would talk to them about?

TE: Definitely I could see myself having a conversation about metaphysics with guys like Morrison, Sadhguru, Ekert Tolle. The science of the mind is a real big thing for me, so I enjoy topics like that.

Q6.  If there were any deceased creators , actors, singers, writers, etc that you would want to speak to, who would it be, and why?

TE: Dead creators? Well Bob Marley, Stan Lee come to mind.

Q7. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?

TE: Man, lots of places. I want to see the world now than I did before. London, France, Japan. Hopefully I can experience these places soon.

Q8. What is one thing that you fear?

TE: Fear, I think I am afraid of a lot of things, but probably with less intensity than I have before. Getting sick mentally or physically would suck since my art depends of myself being vital, you know? But I don’t have any particular fear that I obsess over anymore. Life’s nature is transitory so I try to have that mind set.

Q9. If you had a superpower what would it be and why?

TE:  Time manipulation, so I can slow down the moments that I know I would treasure the most

Q10. What catches your attention when you meet people?

TE: I’m a very visual person, so eyes, their clothing, things such as that, but also I feel their vibe right away too, I try to pay attention to that, because the real person is in the vibe you know?

Q11. What is one word of advice that you would impart to your younger self?

TE: Probably tell the younger me to keep doing the things you doing but more intensely, with more awareness? Like I don’t think I would want to say anything to change the person I have become, because I love the person I am now, but I would liked to have lived life back then more consciously and more joyously with less prejudices.

Q12. What are three books that you always remember or return to, and why? How did they shape you?

TE:  Hmm, 100 Years of Solitude probably because how spanning it is through many generations. In fact it would make a good format for a comic miniseries. Joseph Campbell’s Myths to Live By is an amazing study of how images and ideas shape our culture and our thinking. Campbell is great for seeing the connections that humanity has through the shared experience we have together. Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism by Yogi Ramacharaka is just this book that makes you try to get to the center of what is truly real in our lives. I totally recommend reading and then re-reading it.

Q13. If you could continue or remake a movie, or franchise, what would be your film of choice ?

 TE:  I’m not fond of the remake culture, but probably Star Trek, only because I felt that they could have done something better with the reboots, instead of aping Star Trek 2. I did enjoy Star Trek Beyond, so hopefully they will continue with movies in that vein.

Q14. If you were to make a film, novel, or comic book based on an album, what album or artist would you pick?

TE:  The Backstreet Boys actually. They have a lot of drama from when their band started, definitely would make a good book or movie

Q15. Who In this life, has motivated you to stay true to what makes you who are?

TE: I would say it's me who is my motivation; I mean before it was like my parents, my girl, famous people, but I choose the type of person who I am, and look at myself and say “wow, I am actually kind of cool” Not to say that I can do no wrong, but to realize your own awesomeness, is really life affirming.

Virtue Wars written by Gerard Riley, Art by Tarik El

Q16. Where do you hope to see yourself in five years?

TE: Definitely still creating in some capacity; I just want myself to grow and branch out into other fields, such as writing, music, maybe even acting. I definitely want to be a stronger better, more alive me.

Q 17.  If you were to make a film, novel, or comic book based on an album, what album or artist would you pick?

TE: Definitely haven’t really listened to an album like that, but I can say the three artists I have on repeat lately is Al Green, Earth,Wind and Fire and Stevie Wonder

Q 18. What color speaks to you the most and why?

TE: I definitely resonate with Blue the strongest, it's just a powerful calming quality to it.

Q19. What's the one thing that you're proud of?

TE: Publishing a comic this year even on such a small scale is a large achievement. I feel like there is no limit when you dive head first.

Q 20. What is a mantra that you tell yourself?

TE: You are worth it <3

You can follow Tarik's work on these sites: https://cooltarik1.wixsite.com/elstudios
IG: https://www.instagram.com/dotsonaline/, FB: https://www.facebook.com/thecreativelement?ref=hl, Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/creativeelement