Meet Albert Acosta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Albert Acosta.

Albert, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve been in love with art since I can remember, as a child growing up in Juárez, México I loved coloring books, I would go through them pretty quickly then I would trace the drawing and recolor it, and I believe thats what sparked my interest in drawing and painting, I haven’t stopped since. My other influence was Comic Books, I admit I loved getting them more for the visuals than the reading part. My other love is my Mexican culture, I grew up watching “El Santo and Blue Demon” Mexican luchadores fighting monsters on the screen or listening to My parents Mexican Music while smelling moms Mexican home cooking. My other influence was American Sci-Fi movies, such as Star Wars, and the list goes on. The one thing that all these movies have in common was the vintage posters you would see in the theaters, I loved the Art on those posters that’s always been an influence and inspiration in my art. At around 12 years of age, we moved to California where I finished my 6th grade and learned to speak English. I remember reading “The Peanuts” Hardcover books and really loving the art, which later on inspired my love for animation.

As time went on I got better at drawing I didn’t have to trace anymore I could freehand my drawings. When I started Junior High in Orange County, CA. I took an actual art class for the first time and really fell in love with using chalks and pastels, I had a really sweet teacher, Ms. Abell and she saw my interest in Art so she took me under her wing and thought me how to use the materials, in High School I continued to take Art Classes and finally found my calling when I fell into Mr Fox’s Painting Class. Mr Fox was a tough older gentleman who didn’t put up with a lot of crap from the students, he was a though Art Teacher because most of the students in his class took it for a free “A” so he made it hard to get an “A”. While taking both Painting and Art History, I had to do a painting in Painting Class and in Art History I had to do a project that would really have to impress Mr Fox in order to get a good grade. So for my first Painting I decide I would do a painting of Bugs Bunny and I painted it as best as I could, I was really impressed with myself, when I showed it to my classmate Joe, he laughed and he said “You big dummy you painted on the wrong side of the canvas” I was pretty embarrassed but that gave me and idea for my Art History project.

When the time came to do my Art History project in class, Mr Fox called me up to the front of the class, now mind you I was a very shy kid who feared the thought of getting in front of the whole class and doing this, but I had to do it to get a grade in the class. I got up there with my beautiful well painted Bugs Bunny on the wrong side of the canvas, but Mr Fox didn’t know that, he said, “Oh God child this is your Art Project?” with his arms crossed, I knew thats how he was gonna react because on his guidelines for the project he said “No cute shit” so I let everybody in the class see it they all thought it was awesome because it was a really good painting of Bugs, then I took some paint and a brush and smeared paint all over it and completely destroyed that painting. Everybody was shocked I looked over to look at Mr Fox’s expression and he was wide-eyed surprised and then completely started laughing with arms still crossed and said “YES child” and gave me an A on my project.

After this, I earned his respect and he took me under his wing. Going back a few years earlier my dad passed away of a heart attack so I had to move in with my sister and her family in Riverside because my mom couldn’t afford to take care of me and her, I was the youngest of 6 kids so I moved in with my sister, That is how I ended up in Riverside and met Mr Fox, who seeing my love and interest in Art, recommended I visit CAL ARTS in Santa Clarita, CA. and look into their Animation Dept. he felt I would do well there. I went for a tour of the school and immediately fell in love with it. It took me about three years to get into CAL ARTS, in the meantime I took general ed classes and as many Art classes that I could while attending Riverside Community College where I met Dayna Mason my Art Instructor there. I spent about four years there and learned everything I could from Dayna, whether it was Life Drawing, Painting, Design, Art, I did it all. I finally got accepted to CAL ARTS where I was at for three years and graduated with a BA in Film and Video, Right out of CAL ARTS I started working on FOX’s “The Simpsons” then moved on to work on “king of the Hill” then Family Guy and now working on “American Dad” I’ve been lucky enough to have worked on Fox Animated shows for the last 22 years.

While working in Animation, I’ve always missed painting, stopped painting for at least ten years and felt like I was missing something in my life, so I started painting again and haven’t stopped since. The subject matter in my paintings is my Mexican Heritage and background, a lot of what I paint has to do with Mexican Folklore, Music, love, traditions, the Mexican Culture, Dia de los Muertos, Lucha Libre. I also love painting the human figure, most of my paintings are of strong females,” Pistolera” based on the strong women that raised me and that I’ve come across in my life, I have a daughter so I wanted to paint a Mexican Female Superhero for her to admire, I’ve always thought boys always had cool superheroes, so I created this “Pistolera” idea for her. Some of my paintings are based on Mexican Folkloric Music, the stories that some of them tell are pretty interesting and inspirational. I’m a huge fan of Robert Rodriguez so some of my paintings have a little Robert Rodriguez flair in them. I hope that by the time I retire from Animation, I can be a successful Painter and retire doing that.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The struggles to get to where I am now are quite a few, a few years after moving to California my dad past away I was about 14 and was pretty depressed for a while, my mom and I moved to El Paso Texas because we couldn’t afford living in California while living there I got in trouble with a gang and was assaulted with a pipe and ended in the hospital for a few days, after that my mom decided it would be best for me to go live with my sister and her family in California and she would stay in El Paso with relatives. Living with my sister wasn’t easy I had to work and go to school, which is what drove me to wanna get an education and get out. I finally got out and got my own place with my girlfriend, while I was in College I got accepted to CAL ARTS and moved to Valencia, there we got married and moved into an apartment while going to school, we were broke all the time, we lived on scholarships, grants and student loans.

School wasn’t easy, either I was at school all day doing homework at night and working part-time to make ends meet. School work wasn’t easy either it took me some time to understand the concept of Animation and Design, Self-doubt was also a huge obstacle, I felt I wasn’t as good as other artists and it made me doubt myself but I never gave up. After three years at CAL ARTS, I graduated and got a job on “The Simpsons” that made things easier financially, I went from making part-time money to making studio money so that helped. I was finally in. Now the last 22 years since I’ve started working in animation is been a learning experience it hasn’t been easy but the struggles I’ve had in life to get to where I am now have taught me to not give up.

Please tell us more about your art.
I am an Artist/Animator/Painter/Photographer. I started my Animation career 22 years ago on “The Simpsons”, there I was a Layout Artist for two seasons then moved on to “King of the Hill” for nine seasons where I started as a Layout Artist then became storyboard Artist, Layout Supervisor, then became an Assistant Director, I then moved on to “American Dad” as an Assistant Director then got promoted to Retakes Director which is my current position there. On my free time I paint oil paintings with Mexican themes, a lot of it has to do with Mexican Folklore. Some of the Subjects are Dia De Los Muertos related, some are based on Mexican songs that tell stories that have inspired me to paint. My favorite subject is “Pistolera” I created this image for my daughter I wanted to create a Mexican Female Superhero. The idea of Pistolera is of a strong female figure with pistols in a Robert Rodriguez style who is confident and strong in a beautiful way who doesn’t take crap from anybody.

I like working from photographic reference and like having complete control of what I’m gonna paint because I want my work to be unique and to be what I want it to be. I usually come up with a concept, for example while I was working one day I heard a Mexican song called “La Bruja” The Witch, I had never really paid attention to the lyrics because it’s such a beautiful song, that I always just listened to the music, anyways the song tells about a witch that flies around at night looking for victims to eat and suck their blood, and it’s very dreamlike, like a fairy tale, so that inspired the series of paintings I’m working on now. After coming up with the concept I’ll start designing the look of the paintings, my wife will help me design headpieces, costumes then I’ll hire a model that a have in mind for that specific look and a makeup artist to do make up for my Photo Shoot. After the photography, I’ll go over the pictures and pick the ones that inspire what I’m going for. Most of my Photo Shoots have a theme that I’m going for and it ties into “Dia de los Muertos”. I try to be as original as I can be and that is why I go thru this whole process.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success for me is never giving up, no matter how hard something is. For example when I started painting again, I decided I wanted to paint my own subjects, but for that I had to do my own photography, I didn’t know anything about photography, it was intimidating to me, I bought a camera and pretended to know what I was doing until I really learned how to use it, now I’ll do my own photoshoots or I’ll get invited by friends to go out and shoot and its a lot of fun. One of the many things I’ve learned in this life is that we don’t live forever so you just gotta do what makes you happy and learn from that.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: albertacosta_art

Image Credit:
Albert Acosta

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