Howdy! My name is Miriam Ximil and I was born in Puebla, Mexico in 1987. The following year, my family and I immigrated to the United States. I grew up in Queens, New York and was influenced by the variety of art and culture in my environment. At the age of 13 my family decided to move to the then small town of Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. This event triggered an identity crisis because I was now a city girl growing up in the deep south and one of the very few Mexican students in my school. During my mid twenties I decided to venture off to the world of art by moving to the west coast. I lived in Van Nuys, California for a few years but truth be told my heart belonged to North Carolina. Thus, I am currently based out of North Carolina, United States.

 

     I specialize in traditional and digital illustration. I also use mixed media to achieve the desired outcome of an idea. I’m constantly learning new techniques to expand my art "toolbox". Through my art work, I focus on sharing my experiences as a first generation Mexican immigrant/DACA recipient living in the United States. My art is also inspired by a variety of elements such as dreams, film (It's a Wonderful Life, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind, The Dark Knight), music (Vince Guaraldi, Bill Evans, A Tribe Called Quest, Earth Wind and Fire, Sade, Bjork, Chavela Vargas, Dick Dale, Jeff Buckley, Rober Glasper, Suicidal Tendencies), visual artists such as Jose Posada, Todd McFarlane, Vincent Van Gogh, Robert Crumb, Jamie Hewlett, Peggy Rathman, Ron Barrett, Raymond Briggs, Dirk Zimmer, the list goes on and on. :) 

 

     I graduated high school from Fuquay-Varina High school in 2005. From 2011 to 2013, I studied Simulation and Game Development at Wake Technical Community College. I did not finish college and completed 21 credits towards the Art and Modeling Degree and ultimately pursued a Player Support experience career in the game industry from 2014 until 2022 working for Ubisoft, Activision and Epic Games.

 

     In July 2022 I decided to pursue my art career full time and it has been one of the hardest but best decisions of my life. I love to illustrate characters and stories I would have liked to see when I was a child or a teenager. In addition to illustrating relatable characters' external features, my focus for character development is bringing awareness to the importance of creativity, education as a form of empowerment, and mental health within my community. I look forward to continuing my journey in sharing my artwork with others. 

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Materials | Here’s a list of the tools I normally use: 

• Acrylic Paint (Premiere acrylic color, Liquitex)

• Ink (India ink, Sakura, Pentel)

• Pencils (Artist’s loft, Tombow)

• Color pencils (Prisma color pencils, Crayola)

• Watercolors (Lukas Aquarell Studio, Crayola) 

• Coffee (Any type)

• Blueberry juice

• Moss, Tree bark

• Air Dry Clay, Paper Mache, Plaster of Paris, 

• Photoshop, Procreate, SketchUp