Full name

Cristina de Lara Stockler

Where were you born?  Where did you grow up?
I was born and grew up in Rio de Janeiro

Schooling?  Art training?
I graduated in Administration (it would have been more profitable if I had studied something related with drawing or painting).

 

When I was in high school I studied drawing for publishing and advertising. I also took up drawing and painting courses to learn different techniques (oil, charcoal and crayon for painting, human anatomy, perspectives, portraits).

What things -- both in art and otherwise -- have you worked on, besides comics?  Are comics a full-time gig for you or part-time?
My goal is to work only in comics. It would be very nice!

How did your parents take to the idea of working in comics?
My parents are also artists. My father is a TV actor and my mother is an artist that makes little sculptures, painted portraits, decorates interiors of houses and so on....They always admired my drawings although they don't know how to draw.

I started doing caricatures watching my dad's face that is very expressive, so I liked drawing him and some of his friends.

How would you describe your workspace? Is it part of your home, or do you go "to the studio"?
I work in the house. That is, in fact an apartment so the space is very small.  

With time my work was "trespassing" every space available in the house, so today I can say that I live in my work/studio. My home is an unusual home.

What job are you the proudest of?  What's your most embarrassing?
I am very proud of the paintings I have done on Adriana Melo's drawing. In my opinion, they are very beautiful. But the most I appreciate is my painting on her Zatana's Pinup.

Do you always draw and paint? What are you currently working on?
Yes! I am always drawing and painting.  

I think even being a colorist, I must exercise my drawing abilities because drawing and painting complements each other and my work will improve doing this. I like to draw human anatomies very much.

 

When I am painting or just studying, I love to test different skin tones over the human muscles drawings, so I spend hours drawing human anatomy and trying the skin tones on the characters I do. I am always very anxious to know the results of my "experiments". At the moment I am starting a personal project, a painted pin-up series of sexy women. So I can study more anatomy and improve my skin tone techniques.

What projects do you hope to work on in the future
Well, every project that's possible.

What's 1 thing you'll always find in your refrigerator?
Diet Coke 

What's your favorite food?
Caesars Salad and Chicken. 

What are your favorite interests --Movies?  Music?  TV?  Any hobbies?  Sports?
I love Movies; some of my favorites are The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. When I am working all night, I put the DVD into the player and I spend my time painting while I listen to the movie running.

 

The atmosphere of the movie, the soundtrack, the images, plays through the silence of the night and everything contributes to make a better job.

I don't like sports much; I don't do any kind of sport. But I do like walking on the shore on mornings before my kids wake up. I live near a beach; 15 minutes walk from our place.  

 

I like new age and soul music and I like to work listening to Enya, Loreena McKennitt, Phil Collins and James Taylor. From my country I like very much to listen Ed Mota and Flavio Venturini.

One hobby I'd like to pursue is, well, it will sound a little different, but I would like to learn how to play the violin.

 

Have you ever thought of writing your own stories?
Yes!! I have some stories for children (I am not sure if I have already told but I used to draw and paint for children), that are very nice and I hope one day I can to find a publisher to publish them.

I have a special one that is about some "monsters of decay" and the cares children must have in their mouths. This story is about the concepts of hygiene for children.

 

What's an average day in your life like?  Walk us through a typical day
I wake up around 4:30 AM to enjoy the silence of the early morning to study and work.

 

My husband wakes up around 06:00AM to go to work. He is a teacher and his work is near our home. He teaches morning and night time, he arrives at home before lunch and at afternoons he is usually at home.  

 

We have breakfast together. By 08:00AM I wake up my kids, after having breakfast they do their school homework and after that they can play to spend their time until its time to go to school.

My husband and me share duties in home according our availability, he usually cooks while I am working. We are lucky because he cooks very well. We have lunch by 12:00h and by 13:00h I leave the boys in school that is near our home.

In the afternoon I can work alone.... by 18:00 I take the boys back at school. After having shower, dinner and so on they are free to read comics, play videogames, computer games, draw, paint and other things. Unfortunately during this time I can't work very well.

At the end of the night, after my husband arrives at home (around 21:30h) from his work, we finish the night reading some book.

 

This is a very pleasant moment, because he plays soundtracks to improve the atmosphere. While he is reading the stories the boys are drawing and painting and their drawings are very nice. Sometimes it's very funny, especially when my husband starts to sleep while reading because he is very tired. The boys start laughing and teasing him.

 

We are finishing the book: "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix".

If you weren't a comic-book artist today, what would you be?
Well I have tried to work in some areas before in some private companies in administrative departments. But I was always unhappy; in the end I was always fired from the jobs after more or less 6 months.  

 

This is why I am sure that I am a colorist and artist, no chance to be anything else.