Cayetano Garza
Encyclopedia
Cayetano 'Cat' Garza is a comic
artist
, cartoonist
, illustrator
, and musician in the United States
. He is best known for his experiments with webcomics.
Garza has been published in various anthologies and publications. He is considered by Scott McCloud
, author of Understanding Comics
, as a pioneer in the area of web design
and interface for online comics. Garza is featured in McCloud's sequel to Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics
, and on his website. He has also been featured in Toon Art: The Graphic Art of Digital Cartooning by Steven Withrow.
in the city of Harlingen, Texas
on October 15, 1972. His interest in comics stems from a day in his early youth when, as a six year old child, his mother bought him his first comic, an issue of The Flash. In second grade he sold homemade comics with a cast characters that included the likes of "Glue Man" to his classmates for a quarter or their lunch ticket. As a child he typically read superhero
comics, but what really caught his attention was the humor comic Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew
. He also read a number of comic strips, including Peanuts
and Ripley's Believe It or Not.
Garza's formal artistic training started with a few high school art courses. He went on to get his Bachelor of Fine Arts
at UTPA, concentrating on studio art
. He started grad school, dropped out after only one year.
Creating strips throughout high school and college Garza was heavily influenced by the comic scene in Austin
, Texas
, including artists who had strips in The Daily Texan
, such as Chris Ware
, Walt Holcombe, Shannon Wheeler
, Robert Rodriguez
, Tom King
, Lance Myers, and Korey Coleman
. Many of the his comics during this period contain reflections of youthful righteous indignation directed at the atrocities of the world.
As a student at UTPA, Garza had access to a free website
provided by the university. This was the catalyst for the idea of publishing strips online. In 1996, he put samples of his work online for publishers to see when he sent them submissions packages. Soon after it occurred to him that using the web he could self-publish
. To create his comics he hand codes HTML
in combination with GIF
and JPEG
images.
After college he spent a while in Austin as a street artist
.
He now lives in White River Junction, Vermont
and can be found hanging around the Center for Cartoon Studies.
In addition to his work as a comic artist, Garza is also a musician.He played guitar in the Vermont band,The Wheelers before returning to Texas in 2011.
Garza's current comic strip, Whimville, runs daily. His other ongoing comic strip for Modern Tales
, Cuentos De La Frontera, has been featured in articles in news outlets such as Wired, Playboy
, Austin American Statesman, and The Austin Chronicle.
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
, illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
, and musician in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He is best known for his experiments with webcomics.
Garza has been published in various anthologies and publications. He is considered by Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud is an American cartoonist and theorist on comics as a distinct literary and artistic medium...
, author of Understanding Comics
Understanding Comics
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art is a 215-page non-fiction comic book, written and drawn by Scott McCloud and originally published in 1993. It explores the definition of comics, the historical development of the medium, its fundamental vocabulary, and various ways in which these elements...
, as a pioneer in the area of web design
Web design
Web design is the process of planning and creating a website. Text, images, digital media and interactive elements are used by web designers to produce the page seen on the web browser...
and interface for online comics. Garza is featured in McCloud's sequel to Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics
Reinventing Comics
Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art Form is a 2000 book written by comic book writer and artist Scott McCloud...
, and on his website. He has also been featured in Toon Art: The Graphic Art of Digital Cartooning by Steven Withrow.
Biography
Garza was born and raised in the Rio Grande ValleyRio Grande Valley
The Rio Grande Valley or the Lower Rio Grande Valley, informally called The Valley, is an area located in the southernmost tip of South Texas...
in the city of Harlingen, Texas
Harlingen, Texas
Harlingen is a city in Cameron County in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, United States, about from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The city covers more than , and is the second largest city in Cameron County and the sixth largest in the Rio Grande Valley...
on October 15, 1972. His interest in comics stems from a day in his early youth when, as a six year old child, his mother bought him his first comic, an issue of The Flash. In second grade he sold homemade comics with a cast characters that included the likes of "Glue Man" to his classmates for a quarter or their lunch ticket. As a child he typically read superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
comics, but what really caught his attention was the humor comic Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew
Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew
Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! is a DC Comics comic book about a team of funny animal superheroes called the Zoo Crew. The characters first appeared in a special insert in The New Teen Titans #16 , followed by a series published from 1982 to 1983. The Zoo Crew characters were created by...
. He also read a number of comic strips, including Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
and Ripley's Believe It or Not.
Garza's formal artistic training started with a few high school art courses. He went on to get his Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
at UTPA, concentrating on studio art
Studio art
Studio art is made of art and studio, and the term has several implications depending on the context used. The term encompasses all art forms, be they performing or visual.-Definition:...
. He started grad school, dropped out after only one year.
Creating strips throughout high school and college Garza was heavily influenced by the comic scene in Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, including artists who had strips in The Daily Texan
The Daily Texan
The Daily Texan is the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. It is entirely student-run and independent from the university. It is one of the largest college newspapers in the United States with a daily circulation of roughly 30,000 during the fall and spring semesters and bills...
, such as Chris Ware
Chris Ware
Franklin Christenson Ware , is an American comic book artist and cartoonist, widely known for his Acme Novelty Library series and the graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he resides in the Chicago area, Illinois...
, Walt Holcombe, Shannon Wheeler
Shannon Wheeler
Shannon Wheeler is an American cartoonist best known for creating the satirical superhero Too Much Coffee Man, and as a cartoonist for The New Yorker.-Career:...
, Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
, Tom King
Tom King
Thomas King or Tom King may refer to:* Tom King, Baron King of Bridgwater , British Conservative politician* Thomas King , English boxer, Heavyweight Champion of England...
, Lance Myers, and Korey Coleman
Korey Coleman
Korey Coleman is an American film critic, director, graphic artist and animator from Austin, Texas. He is the director of the independent film 2 A.M.. He is currently working at Spill.com, a film review website...
. Many of the his comics during this period contain reflections of youthful righteous indignation directed at the atrocities of the world.
As a student at UTPA, Garza had access to a free website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
provided by the university. This was the catalyst for the idea of publishing strips online. In 1996, he put samples of his work online for publishers to see when he sent them submissions packages. Soon after it occurred to him that using the web he could self-publish
Self-publishing
Self-publishing is the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher. The author is responsible and in control of entire process including design , formats, price, distribution, marketing & PR...
. To create his comics he hand codes HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
in combination with GIF
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability....
and JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
images.
After college he spent a while in Austin as a street artist
Street artist
A street artist is someone who creates and/or sells their art or craft in public for the pleasure of passers-by.Some people use the term 'street artist' more broadly and also refer to people involved in busking, such as musicians who sing and/or play instruments, acrobats, jugglers, living statues,...
.
He now lives in White River Junction, Vermont
White River Junction, Vermont
White River Junction is an unincorporated village and census-designated place in the town of Hartford in Windsor County, Vermont, United States...
and can be found hanging around the Center for Cartoon Studies.
In addition to his work as a comic artist, Garza is also a musician.He played guitar in the Vermont band,The Wheelers before returning to Texas in 2011.
Garza's current comic strip, Whimville, runs daily. His other ongoing comic strip for Modern Tales
Modern Tales
Modern Tales is a webcomics site launched on March 2, 2002 by Joey Manley, the Modern Tales publisher, and approximately 30 professional cartoonists, such as Dorothy Gambrell, author of the popular webcomic Cat and Girl and James Kochalka, the award-winning creator of Fancy Froglin...
, Cuentos De La Frontera, has been featured in articles in news outlets such as Wired, Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, Austin American Statesman, and The Austin Chronicle.
Notable Publications
- Rampage Anthology, Slapp Happy Comics,1997, designer/contributor
- Magic Inkwell presents Cosmic Carrot #1, Magic Inkwell Studios, 1998, creator/writer
- Love in Tights #1, Slave Labor GraphicsSlave Labor GraphicsSlave Labor Graphics is an independent American comic book publisher, well-known for publishing darkly humorous, offbeat comics.-Company history:...
, 1998, cover/contributor - Magic Inkwell Comic Strip Theatre Minicomics #'s 1-4, Magic Inkwell Studios, 1998, creator/writer
- World's Funnest Comics #1, Moordam Comics, 1998, contributor
- SPX '99 Anthology, Small Press ExpoSmall Press ExpoThe Small Press Expo is an alternative comics convention that takes place every September or October in Bethesda, Maryland. It rivals the Alternative Press Expo as the premiere convention for alternative comics creators and fans. SPX is the home of the Ignatz Awards, which have been presented...
, 1999, contributor - Moordam Christmas Special #1, Moordam Comics, 1999, contributor
- BrainBomb #1, Behemoth Books, 1999, cover/contributor
- Certified Cool #1, Moordam Comics/Slapp Happy, 1999, contributor
- Magic Inkwell weekly strip, Magic Inkwell Online, 1999, creator/writer
- Magic Inkwell Comic Strip Theatre Minicomic #5, Magic Inkwell Studios, 1999, creator/writer
- Syndicated strip, South Texas Entertainment, 1999–2000, South Texas Entertainment Magazine (STEM)