More About Raissa Figueroa

Raissa is a full-time children’s book illustrator, formerly based out of San Diego, CA who uprooted herself from family and friends to embark on a new adventure on the east coast (no, not New York). She stumbled into the world of picture books (rizzyfig.com/bio) and has been fortunate enough to continue diving deeper into its depths, trying out new methods and techniques to navigate the art and business side of things. She’s an introverted ambivert, pretty easy going, super informal, loves a good pun, the smell of gasoline, would easily accept waffles over pancakes, and has almost the same level of disrespect for people who don’t return their shopping carts, recline their seat on airplanes, and bite, instead of peel, their string cheese. She’s clearly an adult and not a kid masquerading as one.

You can find Raissa online at:

rizzyfig.com

Instagram

Raissa’s strengths are…

Exploring compositions that help emphasize the storytelling, analyzing manuscripts and breaking them down into scenes that flow, using color and light to set the mood/tone of an image and utilizing traditional textures to liven up the uniformity that can plague digital media.

Illustrators who’d also like to incorporate traditional media into their digital work or that are interested in storyboarding or creating their own wordless picture book can benefit as well.

What Raissa is looking for…

Raissa is looking for a mentee that has a passion for storytelling, especially as it relates to the arts. Beyond that she asks for patience and a general open-mind when it comes to relating to the world around you. Someone with clear goals or that at least knows specifically what they want to get out of the mentorship is preferred.

Also someone that can bond over their disdain for the last season of Game of Thrones wouldn’t hurt (especially if you’ve got a better ending!)

Raissa describes her style as:

Traditional textures meet digital art. She works in watercolor, mixed media, Procreate on the iPad.

Prepare for these fun extra questions on Raissa’s application:

• Would you prefer a stranger or a friend to tell you if you have something in your teeth?

• What project are you working on that you’re passionate about? (doesn’t have to be art-related)

• Would you take the red pill or blue pill and why?

• When was the last time you failed at something?

• What album can you listen to from front to back?

• Would you still make art if no one saw it?

Get to know Raissa with some of her favorite childhood TV shows

**Note: These are NOT a reflection of the illustration style Raissa is looking for. She is very open to most styles.

Raissa’s Picture Books

Raissa is very open to all illustrators!

Art styles that are expressive in texture and color would be ideal, but she’s comfortable with anything relevant to children’s books and any medium except for oil paints, pastels, and charcoal.

Raissa is a good fit for:

• Illustrators who work primarily in Procreate

• Illustrators familiar with the Adobe Creative Suite (PS, AI , ID)

• Illustrators with a love of 2D animation

• Illustrators who are curious about wordless picture books

• Digital illustrators who have an interest in traditional media

Raissa is not a good fit for…

• Oil/Pastels

• Charcoal

A Note from Raissa:

“I definitely can’t be a replacement for diligent practice over months, years even, if technical skills are all you need to work on, but if you have a passion for storytelling and the self-discipline to inquire and to learn, I can help nurture that or at the very least point you in the right direction and help you avoid many of the pitfalls I encountered when first starting out.”

Who can apply to Raissa? Unagented AND Agented illustrators.

*You will need a gmail account to access the google form. After clicking the button above, you will be able to sign in or create a new account.