Meet Marion Parajes

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marion Parajes and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marion, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I pursued a creative career because I love taking on a variety of different projects. I describe myself as a multidisciplinary visual artist as my personal work includes drawings, animation, printmaking, and ceramics, while my professional work consists of illustrations, murals and zines mainly for advocacy based nonprofits or grassroots orgs. Through the different projects I’ve worked on I also step into roles as an educator, teaching on concepts such as climate change, sustainability, urban design, and creating activist art.

Being in a creative career has also been a means of survival, as for the past few years I’ve only been able to pursue jobs that greatly vary in requirements. Despite the challenges, it’s been a great way to stay flexible and pick up a lot of new skills. One of the most unique projects I’ve ever worked on was redesigning a Filipino restaurant, providing in-depth visual mockups and inventory list within their budget in the span of a week. I look forward to transferring my skills between jobs and challenging myself to deliver any idea. I recently started a Patreon (patreon.com/marion_draws) as well to start an archive of the different disciplines I’m working in.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Art is something that has connected me to the world around me for as long as I could remember. I love exploring different mediums and expressing myself through video, art, and music. When I was eight years old, I wanted to do fashion design. I picked up watercolors and figured out a way to make my own magazines in Microsoft Word. At ten years old I had my early experiences with film, compiling as many images as I could find of my favorite movies on Google images, plugging them into Powerpoint, and timing the slides so that it would run through an offbeat version of the movie when I hit play. Eventually I discovered a love for animation, attending LCAD and Calarts as a character animation student.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic was my catalyst to becoming the artist I am today. Along with the financial instability I already faced, I had to drop out of school and leave any hopes of a degree behind me. All my work opportunities in animation had fallen through and it truly felt like I was back at square one. However, it didn’t take long for me to find purpose for the skills I trained for by creating art for grassroots movements. At the time I was making posters, small murals, and infographics. When I was home, I started experimenting with some art materials I had lying around and started a small online shop where people could purchase my upcycled clothing and jewelry.

Today I have developed my portfolio in visual art for grassroots orgs and nonprofits, making large scale collaborative murals, illustrations, zines, as well as teaching a range of workshops. The subjects I have spoken on range from environmental health, sustainability, immigrant justice and what it means to make art for social change. Throughout each medium, I continue to emphasize an importance in visual storytelling for my designs to help my audience understand the narrative that runs through these themes.

All the while I’m slowly growing my online shop called Building Press Co (BPCo), a collaborative art project where I sell my artwork as well as bring other artists on to feature their work through my platform. Through BPCo I’ve been able to make solid connections from SoCal to the midwest, vending at Historic Filipinotown’s longest running open mic Sunday Jump and organizing an animation festival in Chicago with longtime friends. I have also been able to show at Gallery Nucleus as I produced screen prints for my friend Dorian Scar who was invited to be part of an Adventure Time exhibit. BPCo is a way for me to sell my artwork as prints, zines, stickers, and stationery, while offering my skills to serve others in the community.

I’m grateful to be able to create in different ways for my career because the work excites me. I never know what I’ll pick up next but it’s always a great experience. My hope for my artwork remains the same throughout anything I do, which is to make things that encourage people to live intentionally and to be a positive change for their community.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Since I live on the east end of LA county, I would start by taking them to Claremont Village to have breakfast and coffee at Créme Bakery. If we’re there on Sunday then we would go to the farmers market on Harvard Street. Then we could walk around downtown, check out the Benton Art Gallery and browse comics at Shop Called Quest. I would also take them to one of my favorite hidden gems, which is the J. Brown Violin Maker shop just to look at the beautiful handmade violins in their wood shop connected to the store. Then we would get lunch at Menkoi Ya for ramen or rice bowls, and finally Ei Tea House for their almond oolong tea!

Further west, I would take them to Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra to check out any new exhibits, followed by teppanyaki at Pepper Lunch. Sightseeing would include the Hollyhock House on Hollywood Blvd for a chill strolling day looking at some beautiful midcentury architecture while overlooking the hills and downtown. Then up the street on Vermont is Skylight Books, where we can browse their selection of independently published novels, comics, and art books. Finally, I would finish off the trip by going to Campsite Brewing in Covina for some craft beer while sitting around a campfire!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to shoutout my family – Mom, Pops, Ange and Jason – as well as my wife, Rebecca, for supporting me on my journey, through all of the good and bad that comes with it. An incredibly special mention is my mural mentor Juan Carlos Perez, from whom I learned about what it truly takes to make art for the community. Finally, I would like to thank Eddy Gana and the Sunday Jump staff for consistently uplifting my work for the past couple of years!

Website: https://mariondraws.site

Instagram: @marion_draws

Other: Patreon: patreon.com/marion_draws

Store: buildingpress.co

Image Credits
Image of a class in a studio space is by Aleksa Kirkus.