Artist Feature: Ale
Friend of Muppets and Pokémon, and purveyor of the "Cool S" in unexpected places!
I ran into Ale (pronounced “Ay-el”, they/them pronouns) on Bluesky, and I immediately loved their fantastic Muppets. Their use of pink, especially, adds an incredible glow to their work and their style is just so playful and fun. When I saw Ale’s version of Animal, I asked if we could trade and was thrilled to add his delighted face to my collection. Ale’s style is unmistakable, whether they are drawing Muppets, Pokémon, the Cool S, or anything else they put their mind to. I’m super excited to have Ale join us today!
Welcome, Ale! Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I wish I had a clever and silly way to say, “I am neurodivergent, observe Taoism and live my life a day at a time,” but I am neurodivergent, observe Taoism and live my life on day at a time! 😅 Whimsy included!
How long have you been creating?
I’ve been into it my whole life, but I think more specifically artist trading cards (ATCs) became an interesting thing for me a couple years back (in maybe 2022ish) when I found a pack in a little tourist attraction type store I found around Sonora, CA. It was a pack of Bristol board paper. I still probably have a lot of papers from it since I don’t work with Bristol board as much as I think I will when I buy them 😅
I would say I *really* got into ATCs when I was focused on smaller paintings for my Pokémon art zine. They were maybe 5x7 inches, but I went to a different store in Turlock one day and found the same ATC-sized paper. This time it was watercolor, and I thought “Oh, that’s cute!” And started to work even smaller! I cut my own 2.5” x 3.5” cards now since I have *quite* a lot of watercolor paper that had been sitting unused. I think seeing it in a store after working on relatively smaller works was basically a good motivator to go twice as small.
What art supplies do you use?
I think I found I like to go mixed media a lot, but sometimes that mixed media is “watercolor and enough paint pens that maybe it’s officially an acrylic painting now.”
What is it about ATCs that gives you joy?
I think I like that I have a card binder that I can put my artwork into! Pieces kinda come and go due to selling and trading, but I’ve started to fill what I make from the front of the binder and what I receive from the back unless someone has a card in a really fancy sleeve that won’t fit! I want to frame those ones in specific!
How do you create connection and community through ATCs?
It’s still a thing I’m digging into in my area, where I host the queer art.
Is there anything you wish your audience better understood about your art?
Honestly? I’m not sure, I think sometimes I find new understandings from people’s thoughts about it and maybe that’s because there are a lot of things I put into it that aren’t quite conscious — like color choices — but I do assign a lot of my works songs. I am much better sharing that detail with Instagram since there’s a feature to add music to posts, but I do think the world of music rights and licenses means I sometimes compromise on posts.
Jenivieve: That’s a lovely idea! Do you listen to the assigned song on loop while you’re creating the art?
Yes, and no. I think I listen to a song frequently, but some of that time is outside the actual painting. Usually a segment of a song will play out in the back of my head and the audio I’m listening to will be an autoplay list that followed that song or I’ll be singing it in the car on errands between painting sessions.
What are you learning in life, right now?
I think it’s a step-by-step, case-by-case process. I try to be patient, because nothing really goes the way you plan, and I’m not pressed for that much control over my life.
What are some of your artistic influences and inspirations?
I think over the years fashion and music have really done it for me; I’ve had all sorts of phases, like:
OutKast,
Tegan and Sara, and
Steely Dan.
I’d have a hard time singling out genres, but I used to thrift for CDs and I guess what I’d like from the album art and I think that sorta visual to the sound really helped me sniff out what I liked unless they were top hits CDs (not the best album art in those 😅).
Jenivieve: I love Steely Dan! It would be cool to list the song you listened to for each of your ATCs, on the back of them. I love the added context of listening to the matching music when I’m admiring one of them! Do you remember which one you listened to when you painted Animal?
I really need to do that more, but for Animal funny enough I was thinking a mix of two songs, Jungle by Electric Light Orchestra and Do Ya Wanna Taste It by the Norwegian band Wig Wam.
Jenivieve: I 100% can believe this, when I look at your Animal illustration. 😆 AWESOME.
(S)unrise
This one is part of a running theme I go back to every once in a while. My older brother used to do graffiti art and I didn’t quite have the same upbringing as an artist to fall into the genre as deeply as him, but I found myself really into the way of painting letters. I have terrible handwriting, so I’m a little surprised with myself, with what I do with letters sometimes. I have an Instagram side project I’ve on-and-off re-explored called @SugmaPaintings. SugmaPaintings was born from noticing the different ways people engage with things like the “S” thing. It has so many different names and meanings* to different people. I kinda liked the idea that maybe I can distort things so far that it feels like there’s a joke, but the punchline is not quite what you’re expecting.
*Editor’s note: The geometric “S thing” is also called the “Cool S,” “Stussy S,” “Super S,” “Universal S,” “Pointy S,” or “Graffiti S.” Millennials like myself can vividly remember admiring students who could draw a Cool S, but it’s been around since at least the 1970s.
(S)mile
This is another @SugmaPainting. For this one, I was really fixated on this part of a Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s song called, “Children’s Crusade on Acid”. There’s a part where the song simmers down to the bridge I think about it a lot — I definitely thought about it here, haha!
Rainbow Connection
This one was the first of a few in a series of Muppets cards. I started rewatching the 70’s series and found myself realizing that this thing I grew up with was actually a lot more of a labor of love than I realized as a kid. I think that, much like my Pokemon series, I am probably going to keep coming back to painting these guys.
Machop
This one was interesting since it’s a “draw this in your style” of one of the first Pokémon cards I received as a kid. I don’t have that card currently, cause it was maybe 25 years ago and unfortunately kids aren’t good at taking care of things made of paper! A lot of my Pokemon art is more, “I’ve placed them in this place I visited in the mountains or this distant city for work, like this is where they live,” but I think nothing was more fitting as my first Pokémon ATC than to recreate a Pokémon card!
The referenced original Pokémon card:
Ale’s version of Machop:
Animal
One of the bigger things I got into following my Muppets binge was wanting to paint the entire Doctor Teeth and the Electric Mayhems band. I wanted to save Animal for last, of course! I think it’s hard to have favorites, but it’s a hard pick between Animal and Janice for me — especially while painting them!
Jenivieve: Animal is my favorite, too, along with the Yip Yips. I love how you use hot pink in your art. Is it an underpainting layer? It makes your art just glow!
I think it’s kinda layers of pink; I like to kind of use different shades in the highlights and shadows. I’m also a big fan of getting a marker spray gun and just softening the contrast before going back in, using neons and pastels.
Thank you so much, Ale!
Your creations are so fun to look at! You harness nostalgia and make it sparkle in new ways unique to your style and personality. I’ve enjoyed seeing how you translate favorite characters like Animal through your personal creative lens, and introduce the Cool S into surprising locations. Keep it up, we look forward to seeing what you create next!
Follow Ale’s creativity:
BlueSky • Instagram SugmaPainting • Instagram YRAleMint