Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Abreu.
Michelle, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I suppose my story started during my senior year of high school when I decided to go to college for art. My art and English teacher helped me get over my depression and anxiety to apply to college. I had to go to a community college for a year to increase my GPA before being admitted to MassArt, which was actually a great idea overall because it helped my class load even though it added an extra year to my time in college. Finally, during my junior year, I learned about comics and the making of comics and quickly realized that was to be my life’s calling.
Now, I want to create my own comics for a living, and I am tabling at a couple of comic conventions such as Flamecon and MICExpo.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I consider myself lucky. I have a mother that has been there for me, even if she is not the most understanding and great friends that helped me along the way. School was mostly very stressful. I did have some financial struggles, like paying for art supplies or even the tuition itself.
The most trouble moment was during the fall semester of my junior year. My grandma wanted to visit our native country, The Dominican Republic, and she needed someone to go with her. Of course, the mantle fell to me because I lived with her. She decided the best time to go was during the month of August. We had also been planning on moving, and because of some issues with the paperwork, we had to move out of our old apartment before the first of September. So, overall, I had to pack everything up, fly my grandma to DR, stay with her for half a month, return on the last day of August, move everything to our new apartment, and get ready for school. During those few days, I got food poisoning from cookies covered in rat poison, I had a migraine from the stress that left me blind for an hour and with a headache that lasted three days, and was left penniless to start my fall classes.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I specialize in logos and posters, but I want to make a name for myself in indie comics. I’ve done a couple of logos for schools and groups connected to them, and I’m most proud of the school emblem I did for East Boston High School, the school I went to. I started my career with that.
I am now focusing on creating comics to sell at conventions and local Boston comic book shops. I’ve only just started, so for now, I’m mostly known for being the teaching assistant and media mentor for the late Adobe Youth Voices program, which no longer exists.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I believe if I can be more outspoken and sociable, I would have been further out in life. Had I not spoken to a local comic group, I would not have found the friend who needed a tablemate for Flamecon.
Contact Info:
- Website: abreuillustration.com
- Phone: 617-843-4460
- Email: AbreuIllustration@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/abreu_illustration
- Facebook: facebook.com/michelle.abreu.161214
- Twitter: twitter.com/AbreuIllustrate
Image Credit:
Michelle Abreu
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