On September 29th, I attended my very first networking event which was the “Meet The Pros” the special guest was Alitha Martinez who is an Eisner award-winning artist of “Black Panther” and she’s a current artist for the DC comic “Nubia”. This event caught my full attention considering that another comic book artist was coming to our campus. The event was open to all City Tech students, along with faculty and alumni. It was a Q&A event where the interviewer who was one of the COMD professors was asking a bunch of questions asking Alitha about her career and how she started as a comic book artist. She brought up some interesting answers. One of the things that she mention was how she grew up in Florida where her parents didn’t believe in her and they would expect her to pursue more into a nursing or doctor career. Hearing what she had to go through as a comic artist made me relate so much considering coming from a Filipino family where everyone is going toward a nursing or doctor career. She even mentions how there aren’t many females who are working in the comic book industry considering the comic book was made for males. She even gives tips and tricks on how to improve your art style and how you could save a lot of time when it comes to drawing backgrounds. Honestly, I did enjoy the interactions she had with the students and the professors. It feels like we just having a normal conversation. It was very inspiring for me, especially for someone who doesn’t have any drawing skills.Â
