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EP. 119 C.G Esperanza on never being a reader and one of six siblings
8 Plays1 year ago
Born the second of six cool kids. The South Bronx is where he first opened his eyelids. A land shrouded in bright-colored decay, the birthplace of graffiti and the hip-hop DJ! He paints fantasy worlds of elephants, and castles too! Accompanying this wonder is some whimsical truth. Charles has a voice that is seldom heard. A fusion of jazz, distorted guitars, and chirping birds.
C.G chats never being a reader, and starting to draw in kindergarten. He also talks closely about his family, and growing up with very little during the 90s. School was not great, but his family found ways to figure it out.
Author and Illustrator of "Red, Yellow,Blue and a dash of White too!"(Skypony Press) And “Boogie Boogie, Y’all”(Harper Collins)
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Transcript
Introduction to 'It's Personal' Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey, what's up, everyone? Welcome to It's Personal, a podcast about creators and their stories.
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of It's Personal. I have an amazing creative friend on the pod today. Can you introduce yourself?
Meet Charles: Author and Artist
00:00:36
Speaker
Hello, everyone. My name is CG Esperanza. Y'all can call me Charles. And I am a picture book author, illustrator, as well as a teaching artist and just an all around creator.
00:00:49
Speaker
I am curious. We talked about this a little bit before we came on.
Air Quality and Community Action
00:00:52
Speaker
New York right now is, you know, going through a little bit in regards to air quality because of the East Coast. How are things going? Well, things are going pretty well. I'm actually very impressed by everyone because as soon as they saw that, you know, the air was toxic, everyone
00:01:14
Speaker
started canceling events and making sure that people didn't have to subject themselves to the toxic air. So I think that's a lesson we learned from the pandemic and everyone, you know, follows suit. And it's interesting because, like, as I'm listening to people, it sounds like their instincts are to quickly know what to do based on the pandemic, which is amazing. But it does look, I mean, I watched some videos yesterday just from some other creators online and it doesn't look
00:01:44
Speaker
Very good. We deal with air quality and AQI and stuff in Vietnam a lot. The point where kids in school are being asked to like stay inside. It doesn't feel good when the quality of air isn't, you know, what you're, what you're used to. So sending all the best vibes to you guys. I'm hoping things, you know, work out as fast as possible because it's not fun. It's not fun at all. Yeah. We, we have the Puerto Rican day parade on Sundays that, uh,
00:02:09
Speaker
I'm supposed to be marching in for the first time. So I'm hoping things clear up by then. I hope so too. I hope so too.
Influences: Biggie Smalls and Eminem
00:02:18
Speaker
Charles, as a creator, you're obviously someone that I love using your books in my classroom. And not only as, I mean, you are
00:02:27
Speaker
a phenomenal illustrator, but I feel as though you're just as phenomenal as a writer. I want to know if that has been something, I mean, you've probably had this question like a thousand times, but I'm curious anyway. Where did those, where did that influence? Definitely rap music. Just been listening to hip hop my entire life and rappers like Biggie Smalls, amazing storyteller.
00:02:55
Speaker
also Eminem, amazing storyteller. So, you know, I was never a reader, so hip-hop definitely just made me a lot more comfortable with expressing my feelings and using words and, you know, that type of thing. So, yeah, and of course that's how I use my books as well, how I orchestrate my books.
00:03:18
Speaker
Uh-huh. And I guess I have to ask you, so are you like a, for me, I'm, I'm 35, so I'm very, but I'm very much like an old soul. So I do like older hip hop, older R&B. Are you a new school listener now, or are you still very much listening to the old school rap, R&B, et cetera?
Embracing Trends and Collaboration
00:03:40
Speaker
Well, I just turned 36 in April. I would say I think the most important part of being an artist is to embrace newness. I think some of my favorite artists are just the ones who are always working with the newer generation and keeping up with trends.
00:04:01
Speaker
I really can't say that I have a favorite era because the 90s, everybody once says, oh, the 90s were great. The 90s were great. I remember being 12 year old in the 90s and just not hating Ricky Martin.
00:04:17
Speaker
all of these corny songs that I heard in the 90s. And I remember like early 2000s, not liking Dipset and all of these different groups. So I think, you know, once time is passed, everything is cherry-picked. So yeah, and nostalgia is the best spice, right?
00:04:37
Speaker
I agree. I feel like that is what your art is. I feel like it is a mixture of old school with like a fresh take, which allows kids today to really see vibrant colors, long, short movements and lines and structure and what you do. Because I feel like I love your work so much because it looks like to me graffiti, but in a very nuanced way.
00:05:04
Speaker
and kids are allowed to see it in a way that really is accessible for them. How did art happen for you? And is it something that has also kind of run in your
Family Support and Financial Struggles
00:05:14
Speaker
family? And what made you stick with art? Oh, for sure. Yeah, no, I've been drawing. I think most people, or a lot of people, have been drawing since they were little kids. I definitely, since I was in kindergarten,
00:05:27
Speaker
far back as I remember, I love to draw. I think the only difference with me is my parents were just like, yeah, you can be an artist, go ahead and do it. And when I said I wanted to go to college, they were like, yeah, go ahead, go ahead and do it. I don't know what possessed them to make that decision. And I know, at least with my father, a year after I graduated college and he saw that I wasn't really doing much,
00:05:54
Speaker
I know he uh had some uh regrets about sending me some words some words exactly my mom always you know she even even in the darkest times in my career where things were just weren't moving my mom has always been someone who's just like it'll happen for you one day it'll happen for you one day so I think that any to be an artist basically you just um have to have that
00:06:18
Speaker
support, you know, from friends and family to just do it. Anybody can do it when they got that, I think. Yeah, I totally agree with you and I think it's so true. Growing up, everyone, not everyone, but I say majority of kids and I speak specifically about third graders because that's what I'm teaching and have been teaching for a very long time now. They love putting pencil to paper and creating drawings. Like that is, like if I go in the classroom today and I say, we're going to draw all day,
00:06:47
Speaker
Like they are going to be so excited about the experience because it allows them to speak freely about themselves and just be creative. And that's hard to hold on to because like you said, it's not the easiest thing to transition into a quote unquote grown up into a professional world where, you know, jobs and isn't as smooth as other jobs. So I sound, it sounds like your parents have done an amazing job.
00:07:14
Speaker
um yeah i know that you i think i read that you are one of six is that correct or one of six one of six wow wow uh what was like what was that what where are you on the are you in the middle are you the youngest
00:07:31
Speaker
I'm the second born oldest boy. What was it like growing up being an older sibling to a lot of your brothers and sisters? I mean, the most honest answer is it wasn't easy.
00:07:47
Speaker
We were a very, very poor family in a two bedroom apartment with six kids. And it was tough, but I had a lot of great memories just having, I didn't have to go find friends outside. I didn't have to make friends at school. Cause I knew when I came home, I would have a whole bunch of people to talk to.
00:08:12
Speaker
And now as an adult, I really appreciate that I have so many people that I can just relate to on such a deep level.
00:08:24
Speaker
And what was it like in school for
Teaching Motivation in the Bronx
00:08:26
Speaker
you? Yeah, so we all started off in public school. Public school in the 90s was just pretty horrible. So we got taken out and put into Catholic school. And it wasn't much better, but it had the facade of order.
00:08:47
Speaker
And so, yeah, I think just my whole school experience just hasn't been a very good one. And I definitely, part of the reason why I wanted to get into education and after school teaching
00:09:03
Speaker
was because I wanted to give kids in the Bronx the kind of attention that I wish that I would have had in school. So I feel like I've done that so far. This is my going on 10 years being an after-school teaching artist. And some of my students are already contacting me saying that they're going to college for animation and stuff like, hey, awesome.
00:09:29
Speaker
That's amazing. That's amazing. And I love, I see that you often give back and you love to do events. Like one of my favorite images and you can correct me if I'm wrong. I remember seeing you, I look like a, like a park or even a basketball court. And I can just see like the, kind of like the cage in the background or the fence in the background. And there's a table and you're set up with like your books and there's like a bunch of kids around you.
00:09:56
Speaker
It's one of my favorite images that I've seen you post and it just like warms my heart because thinking about like my home and like what my home looks like. I grew up in an all-black community and it was sacred to be in areas where it's a running, playing, there's basketball, music, etc. It really seems like that's
Art as Identity Exploration
00:10:17
Speaker
what your work is about and you tend to always want to give back to that. What is it like to draw, to create, to write about
00:10:26
Speaker
your experiences, the Black experience in literature today. I feel like it's definitely given me a reason to just explore my own identity. I think as an artist exploring your own identity and learning more about yourself and your own experience and your family only gives you more inspiration to create something that's going to help you put food on the table.
00:10:52
Speaker
So, you know, I can use this as an excuse to just go to go to my uncles and go to my mom, ask about her past, go to my, you know, around the community and just really, really observe it in a way that I don't think I would have in any other career. And, you know, I've learned so much about myself just through this research. And if
00:11:13
Speaker
It feels really good to have people be able to relate to it and read it and be like, this is like, you know, I've had graffiti artists read Boogie Boogie y'all and hit me up and be like, yo, thank you so much for my friend in this book. You know, he passed away three years ago.
00:11:32
Speaker
and you put his tag up in this book like that's amazing and I'm just like I had no idea that that people would react to it in that way and you know I would be having that sort of impact so definitely happy about that.
00:11:48
Speaker
That's amazing. Are you a rapper? I mean, I love music. Every day of my life, I'm always just listening to music while I'm walking, while I'm working. And I consider myself to be a creator. So if I have an idea, I don't care about the medium, I'm going to put it out. I'm going to make it for myself.
00:12:08
Speaker
sometimes I'll put it out in the world. And I think with Boogie Boogie, y'all, I just had that idea that I was going to make a book that used hip hop because, you know, as a kid, I loved crisscross and that was one of the things that connected with me. So I'm just like, what if I had
00:12:25
Speaker
some sort of crisscross vibe and I put that with a book. Like, I feel like that would be to me as a kid. So, and I did have happened and I just put it out there. If I have an idea of doing a rock song, I play guitar too. So maybe that'll be the next move.
00:12:42
Speaker
Fire. Fire. I don't have any restrictions on my creation. Fire. Fire. And I love the, I don't know what the process was, but I love the, I think it was like, it kind of was like an animated short kind of, but I love the animated version. And I believe it was your voice, I believe. Right?
00:12:58
Speaker
Was it your voice, the audio? Yeah, so I was so impressed with the audio version and just like the music. What was that process like for you? Because that must have, I mean, for me listening to it, I was like, wow, like, I mean, I loved reading the book and looking at the book, but it took my
00:13:19
Speaker
you know my senses on a whole other journey being able to hear your voice and then have the music with it as well because the words flow so well in regards to the rhyming, the wordplay, etc. What was that process like? I mean I've never professionally recorded any sort of music so I just went in there and um just dropped it.
00:13:44
Speaker
Yeah. And, and you know, it felt somewhat natural. I didn't, I don't feel like I had to, you know, uh, come out of any sort of comfort zone too much. Um, and my nephew Ian is on the audio book as well. He did a great job. And I mean, the, the reception had been really well, we got the, um, Odyssey award from the, uh, American library associate. And also you were nominated for an Audi.
00:14:13
Speaker
which is like the Grammys for audiobooks. So I'm that putting even more of a battery in my back to do it even more. I'm just like, all right. Let's go, let's go. No, I loved every version of it. Because again, as it was coming out, I just love hearing snippets of it. And then the illustrations with the animations, like I just thought it was so, I thought it was rolled out so well. Like I'm slowly in the process of just like my book coming out.
00:14:43
Speaker
and just seeing how some things work. And I know it's a slow process, but I love seeing the snippets and the anticipation of that book come out. And I appreciate it so much. It's a book I use very often in the cloud. I'm such a, I'm a poetry, I always say I'm a poet first. So having kids explore wordplay, specifically the work that you do is fun because you write, I feel like you write so freely. And I think that's what kids, kids need to see more of that. So I appreciate you so much.
00:15:13
Speaker
When I was writing Boogie Boogie Y'all, my thought process was, if ODB were to write a children's book, how would it sound? And so Boogie Boogie Y'all was actually supposed to be shimmy shimmy y'all. But then I was like, let me change this up a little bit.
00:15:30
Speaker
That is amazing. It is so good. I mean, I would have, I would have loved that as well. That's so good. You got to do a part two. You got to do a part two. I might have to do that, make little ODBs via main character.
00:15:47
Speaker
That is amazing that some of your influences in regards to art and it doesn't, I mean, this could be a family member or a sibling or friend, or it could be someone who's already in that like creative field as well.
00:16:02
Speaker
Well, definitely the biggest artistic influence. I'm a huge anime head, loved to animate my entire life. So Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball Z, just like everything he's done just inspired me so much.
00:16:20
Speaker
to want to keep drawing. And then as an adult, Spike Lee, do the right thing. That movie pretty much just changed my whole kind of mind frame, you know, making something that's visually stunning, but also as, you know, it challenges the status quo.
00:16:40
Speaker
And so every project that I work on, I'm just like, who is this for? How does this challenge the status quo? So I would say those are two. Of course, I have so many different influences, but those two I can say. I love that. And Mike, it's so interesting because I wasn't, I mean, Dragon Ball Z was in the 90s. So Dragon Ball Z has been around for such a long time, and it has had such an influence on a lot of the artists.
00:17:07
Speaker
My kids love anime, like that is literally what they draw all the time. And I love when they asked me, can I use the iPad to, to draw? I love when they asked me that question because consistently researching anime characters settings to include into their own comics or their own pictures and Dragon Ball Z comes up.
00:17:32
Speaker
all the time still to this day. They love Pokemon. It's crazy. They still love the things that we loved back years ago, which is so mind-blowing to me, but I love the influence that artists can have on kids.
00:17:49
Speaker
And my hope is that kids continue to look at artists like you and see that the possibility of being a creator outside of the more traditional jobs is something they can truly explore.
Social Media and Online Presence
00:18:03
Speaker
So where can people find you online?
00:18:06
Speaker
You can find me at cgsperanza on Twitter, Instagram, and also my website, cgsperanza.com. Yeah, across all platforms. And yeah, also in the Bronx. Also in the Bronx. Awesome. And is there anything you'd like to share in regards to, I hate asking this question, but I want to give you the opportunity if it's there. In regards to what's next, anything on the horizon.
New Projects: Book and Marvel Comic
00:18:34
Speaker
So September 9th, I have my next book. This is the cover actually right here. Kicks in the Sky. It's dropping September 9th. And I did a comic for Marvel, a Marvel anthology. I did a Miles Morales story that's coming out October 10th. And yeah, those are the two things coming up this fall.
00:19:00
Speaker
I'm assuming you've already seen the movie. Have you already seen the movie? I have not. I'm waiting for my nephew and his family to clear up their schedule so I can see it with them. I keep hearing so many amazing things about just the creative mindset around that movie and I haven't seen it yet either.
00:19:23
Speaker
But if it's anything like, I mean, I love the first one. If it's anything like the first one, which I keep hearing, I keep hearing that it's better than the first one, I will be very impressed. I'm very, very excited. So I appreciate you. Thank you so much. This was amazing. Same. Appreciate you. Thank you so much. And thank you to your listeners for checking out my life story. Awesome.