The Conversation S3 - Aria Villafranca on Art, Comics, WEBTOON & Finding Her Creative Voice

🎨 From creating her own art to helping other creators bring their stories to life, Aria Villafranca has experienced the world of comics from both sides of the page.On this episode of The Conversation with Philip Cooper, I’m joined by Aria Villafranca — a Filipino-American comic artist, illustrator, writer, and editor whose creative journey has taken her from Hawaiʻi to SCAD and into the professional world of comics and webcomics.We go back to the beginning and explore how growing up in Hawaiʻi helped shape Aria’s perspective as an artist, how her Filipino-American heritage has influenced her storytelling, and how she discovered the artistic voice that would eventually become her own.We also dive into her journey through Sequential Art at SCAD, the difference between creating a single piece of artwork and telling an entire story through images, and the lessons that come from the sketches, revisions, mistakes, and unfinished ideas audiences rarely get to see.📚 We also talk comics.Aria discusses her work on In the Shadow of Giants, a graphic novel exploring Filipino-American history and Filipino veterans of World War II, and what it means to visually tell stories connected to real history, culture, and sacrifice.We explore her own creative projects, including Paint Nothing!!, and what happens when Aria gets to build characters and worlds entirely from her own imagination.Then we head behind the scenes of WEBTOON, where Aria went from intern to Managing Editor and spent years helping creators develop their stories. We discuss what an editor actually brings to a comic, how you give creators constructive feedback without taking away their individual voice, and how editing other artists can completely change the way you approach your own work.Finally, we talk about Aria’s next chapter: stepping forward as an artist and writer, betting on her own creativity, and deciding what kind of storyteller she ultimately wants to become.This isn't only a conversation about drawing.It's about identity, culture, storytelling, creative growth, taking chances, and discovering what you want your art to say. 👍 Like the episode💬 Leave a comment🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with artists, creators, actors, performers, and incredible people from across the creative world.#ComicArtist #WEBTOON #ArtistInterview