Laredo-born illustrator Ricardo Guerrero is a long way from his days doodling on Denny’s napkins as a waiter. Now, his artwork is featured in Little Golden Book’s The X-Files: Is the Truth Out There? and Boooo Fantasma: A Spooky Bilingual Halloween Book.
His distinct style, a childlike spookiness mixed with a mid-century aesthetic, was influenced by 90s staples like Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark, 60s animations like The Pink Panther, and by artists like Mary Blair (Alice in Wonderland), Tim Jacobus (Goosebumps), Mab Graves, and Lorelay Bove.
“I don’t do art as a career. People just give me money for it,” he joked. But his message is simple: do what you love, and maybe you’ll get paid. What Ricardo gets out of his art goes beyond money, however. He connects with people who “[find] comfort in [his] art.” Showing people what’s possible is more satisfying than money.
As a child Guerrero drew a lot, even on walls before his father covered them with sheetrock at his construction job. He never considered art could be a career. “Art’s always been a part of my identity, never something to make money,” he said.
After graduating with a BA in Art from TAMIU, Guerrero worked regular jobs until a line from Frozen 2’s “Show Yourself” inspired him to focus on art. “Are you the one you’re looking for?” he asked himself before eventually quitting. He said the comfort of a day-to-day job, “stifled his] desire to produce art.”
His parents worried about his art career, but he understood that though art was risky, “it felt right.” Overworked and underpaid, working odd jobs and making art, Guerrero is “surprised [he] didn’t give up.”
He applied to the Scholastic Mentorship Program seeking minority artists off a Twitter ad never thinking he’d get in, but Scholastic was so impressed with Guerrero’s blend of vintage styles and the “cultural subtexts” of places like Nuevo Laredo and the border that he was accepted.
In 2023, Guerrero tabled at the Light Box Expo (LBE), which hosts heavy-hitters like Disney, Sony, and DreamWorks in Pasadena, California. There, he wanted “sharper validation” from the industry, and after meeting the likes of Wayne Unten (Frozen), Laura Price (K-Pop Demon Hunters), and Meg Park (Encanto) as a fellow artist, Guerrero felt his artistic journey had come full circle. He was once just an admirer. Now he was a peer.
Scholastic eventually passed his name to the talent agency Shannon Associates, who signed him and connected him with his first big job: illustrating a Little Golden Book (LGB) about The X-Files. Guerrero had always joked that he “wouldn’t mind doing [a Little Golden Book],” but when he saw the project budget, he nearly broke into a cold sweat. Despite his anxieties, he used his signature style to introduce the franchise to a new generation.
Like many artists, he quickly went on to the next project. His mother and grandmother were the most emotional about The X-Files: Is the Truth Out There? Not until Guerrero found a copy at Barnes & Nobles in San Antonio (Laredo doesn’t carry copies?!?) among the “abundance” of books did he think, “I deserve this. I worked so hard.”
Guerrero’s next project was Boooo Fantasma: A Spooky Bilingual Halloween Book, in which from cover to cover, he textured blends of whimsical characters and bright colors to perfectly present a story about a friendly fantasma floating “through a fun-filled Halloween night.”
Guerrero is currently coloring for the upcoming Cosmic Threats (Skibidi Toilet Original Graphic Novel), which is available for preorder, while also working on The Day I Became a Pheonix by Marissa Bejarano-Fernbaugh, a story about a Latina navigating the country’s harsh social climate.
When asked about Laredo, Guerrero sighed, thinking of fellow Laredoans who can’t believe someone “from here” can be contracted by a company like Disney. “It diminishes our home,” he said. “Not everyone’s going to leave Laredo, but that doesn’t mean you can’t succeed if you put in the effort.”
(Mario E. Martinez is a novelist and short story writer from Laredo. He is the author of Ashtree, NEO-Laredo, and The Chickens That Are Not Her Chickens. To find more of his work, go to marioemartinez.squarespace.com)
