Edna artist gets national award

by Millie Diaz
Staff Writer
    Some people can’t find the time to do very much after a 40-hour work week, aside from spending time with family and friends.
    Other people, like in Christopher Tupa’s case, can fit in numerous jobs to feed their passion, such as Tupa’s illustrating kid’s books and comics. In April, the Ganado resident was one of a group of nine illustrators and writers that won a gold medal for Best Humor Graphic Novel in the 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards for their collaborative efforts in a comic book/graphic novel, Monster Elementary.
    The book focuses on five monster children that are forced to attend a human public school after their monsters-only school is raided, and the adventures that follow. It is compiled of short stories, four of which Tupa illustrated.
    The authors and artists accepted their gold medal in New York at the end of May, and originally Tupa was not going to go. What makes his story even better is his employer, Jackson County Electric Cooperative, matched the amount his co-workers collected so he could go to New York and accept the award.
    “Some people knew about my illustrating so I told those people when I learned of the award. It was a week before the awards,  we were having lunch at work for someone and we started joking about other reasons to have a party. The passing of the hat happened during that same lunch.
    Jackson Electric ended up donating more than enough money to cover the airline ticket, hotel and taxi fare.
    “I flew up on a Wednesday and was back by Thursday afternoon. Total, I was in New York total for about 21 hours,” he said. “It was an honor to be there. I got to meet the creators of the book and other artists in person.”
    Tupa has his own kid’s books under his belt, Hi There Mr. Moon, Mr. Waffle Gets a New Hat, and Weegi and Gang, printed in 2013. The writer of Monster Elementary saw Tupa’s work online and contacted him to see if he’d be interested in illustrating for their book. After a Kickstarter campaign in the middle of 2013, the book was more than funded in less than a month. Tupa completed his work for Monster Elementary in 2014 and the book was published at the end of the year.
    Tupa has been drawing since he was a kid, and realized in junior high and high school that he wanted to so something with art in comics or cartoons for a career. He went to the University of Texas and stayed in Austin for 10 years doing graphic design, such as logos and t-shirts. About seven years ago he moved to Edna with his wife, Sarah, and their daughter Ariana, who was a year-old at the time. She is now nine years old and has a brother, Rylan, who turns six next month. Tupa acquired the job he has currently with Jackson Electric after his move to Edna and has been with them since, and works on his art projects in his free time.
    “It’s like a second job, and I don’t sleep much, or watch too much television,” he said. “I try to work on a few projects at a time and am always working on a personal project, like a painting. I do commissions as well. This type of work can be a waiting game so it gives me time to work on other things.”
    Currently, Tupa is working on a kid’s book for a publisher about monks in a monastery and also on a graphic novel he’s writing and illustrating himself. He recently took a vacation with his family to Oregon where he’d designed a t-shirt for a 5K walk/run called the Truffle Shuffle for the Goonies 30th anniversary.
    “The most important thing is getting your name out there and to keep doing what you’re doing. Whatever the medium – writing, illustrating, anything creative – you have to create the art and put it out there. Some people make their work but don’t put it out there, you have to be ready for the outcome and have the perseverance to stick with it,” Tupa said. “For every person that has said my work is ‘okay,’ there are 100 people I haven’t met who like it.”
    He went on to stress putting faith in oneself and to realize if you do what you like instead of what will sell it will make you happier in the long run.
    “I may make more money doing superhero work, but my work is cartoon fun and it’s what drives me,” he added. “Don’t lose your creative spirit.”
    Tupa was at Victoria’s first Comic-Con and said it was very refreshing to see young kids excited about showing him their art.
    “There were so many young girls too, and it was great to see that,” he said. “It’s a reason to keep doing what I’m doing, to remind kids what you do doesn’t have to be a career, as long as it enriches your life.”
    You can find more of Tupa’s cartoon work and order his books on ctupa.com. He also has some still-life sketches and paintings at the technology museum in Wharton.
    Tupa’s illustrations in Monster Elementary can be found on the website, monsterelementary.com.