Bringing Characters to Life: An Interview with Cover Artist Caroline Santos

A look into her inspirations, creative process, and passion for comics and fine art.

Written by Screaming Eye Press

Caroline Santos is a talented visual artist and dedicated teacher hailing from Taubaté, nestled in the heart of São Paulo’s interior. With a decade of professional experience under her belt, Caroline has forged direct connections with art enthusiasts worldwide. Her passion lies in capturing the innate beauty of women and animals, a mission she fulfills through her vibrant creations.

Hi Caroline. Thank you for doing this interview. Is there a huge market for comic books in Brazil? What’s the tradition of comics there?

Hello Mark, I’m very happy for the invitation! Yes, there has been a great variety of comic artists in Brazil for a long time, but with few readers. In Brazil we have strong and traditional names like Mauricio de Souza with his work A Turma da Mônica, which represents almost 80% of all comics sold in the country. It is currently growing due to comic book events, such as the Comic Con Experience, which give visibility to comic artists in the country, and which encourage the geek public. However, despite having large publishers and many authorial comic artists, this comic book market competes with games, music, cinema and netflix.

What is your background? Where did you grow up?

My history in art begins there in childhood, at the age of 4 I already really liked drawing female figures. At the age of 11, I was approved at an Arts School in my city and since then I have never stopped drawing and painting. There I studied for 6 years and had experience with different artistic techniques, such as drawing, watercolor, painting, engraving, sculpture in stone, wood and clay. After my training, I started my artistic career working only with national commissions, always with a portrait theme. In 2018 I found myself in the world of comics and started to love painting characters from Marvel, DC comics and others.

What inspired you to be an artist?

My parents always encouraged my artistic training, so in a way they inspired me. My second inspiration was my painting teacher, Angélica Ferreira. Over the years several other artists have inspired me, as well as music, movies, American and Japanese comics.

I feel like there’s nothing in life that would make me happy like art does, it’s something that’s always been a part of my life, in a way I feel like it was born with me.

What got you into comics?

I’ve always loved watching movies and drawings of characters from the world of American and Japanese comics. I remember that at the age of 12 I created a comic book on improvised sheets in manga style, inspired by the tale Inuyasha.

However, what led me to comics was an Artist Studio that I joined in 2018, where we worked painting Marvel and DC Comics characters to sell at auctions and receive commissions.

It was an important experience to work with something I like.

What books, or comics for that matter, did you like to read as a youth?

Most of the comics were Brazilian, such as A Turma da Mônica by Mauricio de Souza.

My crush at first sight is Inuyasha, a Feudal Fairy Tale, a shonen manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was part of practically all of my childhood and adolescence and also inspired me to enter the world of comics.

What was your first published work?

I haven’t published any work yet, but it’s a dream that I intend to realize in the future.

What’s your method for creating your art?

I use a lot of authorial and cosplay photographic references from the internet. Usually in just one female figure there are about 6 to 7 references.

Many ideas for poses or scenes come up at dawn, my creative high point. After creating the character sketch, I start the first layer of painting with oil paint.

Who are your influences as far as music, film, books?

My musical influences are diverse, ranging from Madonna and Michael Jackson to Lana del Rey, Guns n’ Roses, System of a Down and music from the 70s, 80s and 90s.

I like adventure books, Peter Pan, Harry Potter, but my favorite and that I always read is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, it inspired me in life in general. I love Tim Burton movies, suspense and fantasy movies.

Some artists are obsessive getting their drawings right. Are you like that?

I always try to do my best, I like them to be well done and I’m always looking to improve my knowledge and artistic ability.

What other areas of art are you involved in?

I currently work with international commissions for characters and portraits, and I am a teacher at an art school. I teach painting, drawing, sculpture and art history classes.

What projects are you working on now?

I’m not working on projects at the moment because I’m dedicating myself to teaching, but I’d really like to delve deeper into the world of comics in the future.