Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexandria Lueders.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
When I was in middle school, I walked into a bookstore and saw a familiar title, Yu-Gi-Oh! A show I had often watched on television in its original comic form. It was the very first manga I ever purchased and from there I fell in love with the different stories and art styles of various genres. These books would cause me to feel a wide range of emotions that I was still exploring as a teenager. I wanted to learn to capture these emotions just like the artists of so many of my favorite manga. From then on, I began to practice, with art, as well as story-telling, becoming a key tool in learning how to express myself. As I got older, it became apparent that most of the art and stories that I consumed reflected very little about the world I lived in. There was so much diversity in my life with people from all sorts of backgrounds. Where were they? At that point, I knew I wanted to continue to capture those same feelings and emotions we all have from the community and people I had known and loved my entire life.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There were, and still are, a lot of struggles when it pertains to creating art. While everyone was breaking into digital art, I was still on traditional pencil and paper. Not that there’s anything wrong with traditional art, but rather it seemed like everyone was able to afford the computers and software it takes to break into that particular medium. I spent a good while drawing on my phone with just the tip of my finger and a stylus that I always seemed to be losing even though there was a convenient place for it built right into the phone. I would look at so many different artists and all of the wonderful things they would create on their iPad and other devices and often feel inferior because I just simply could not afford those same tools at the time. There’s also the added challenge of artist/writer’s block. There would sometimes be weeks at a time where it seemed like every idea would hit me at once. If I didn’t get them out, at least a rough sketch to remember them for later, the thoughts would consume my mind until I was able to do so.
Unfortunately, the opposite was also true and there would be times that no ideas would come, or the ones that did often seemed half-baked. It seemed like these spells would never end, as they often came after pouring so much time and emotion into a single piece that it often felt like I had lost my sense of self after the art was finished. These bigger projects were draining, but with time (and a little therapy), I was able to learn to work through the emotions in a much healthier way.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I create digital art and while I am known mostly for portrait pieces, I specifically enjoy capturing emotions and moments from various types of people. Being able to look at a photo and go, “that looks like me” is a special feeling. I love being able to give that to others. The first time I even noticed what I was doing was after creating a drawing for a friend with their favorite Pokémon. The word spread and suddenly everyone wanted one. As I would create these drawings and see the diversity between so many different people all interested in the same thing and how happy they were with the completed product it was apparent that I was truly doing something special. I didn’t want to stop with ethnicity. Different body types, sexual orientations, and disabilities, all of these things seemed to need to be more represented in the art and comic world. I wanted to help shine a light on all of it.
What are your plans for the future?
Sometimes it seems like I have so many ideas that I can hardly keep up. There are a lot of big plans moving forward, one of which is a coloring book bringing awareness to different diagnoses and disabilities. This one is extremely important to me because my husband and are often in and out of doctors’ offices and hospitals due to our daughter’s genetic disorder and its various effects on her life. I want her to see herself represented in the everyday world. I want that for other children like her, regardless of whether their disability is visible or not. Another is my debut comic. I don’t want to share too much detail, but I’m excited to have so many different kinds of characters where the story doesn’t necessarily revolve around what makes them diverse. The characters get to be the heroes (or villains) without their gender or sexuality being exploited for the sake of the plot. They are who they are and the world needs saving.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ahl.draws/
