[Story] I’m a professional illustrator, and even though I lost my left eye and deal with chronic illness, i’ve been building my dreams up. Here’s my story- and some eyepatched I’ve made to cope!

Time for a new pinned post.
Maybe you've seen my work, or a picture of my eye patches, or you're here because you are wondering what happened to my eye- regardless, I'm glad we found each other!

Here's my story.

I'm a Mexican-Canadian illustrator, writer, and multidisciplinary artist based in Vancouver, BC, and I lost my eye last year.

My path has been a really chaotic one. I studied illustration and animation in the Netherlands, where I began my journey into children’s literature and developed Yuka’s Way Home, a book created through firsthand collaboration with Indigenous Sámi reindeer herders in Northern Norway.
Then, when I graduated, things took a weird and unfortunate turn. When I finished university in 2021, everything I had planned for my future was suddenly thrown into chaos. I became ill with a long-term condition that we still don’t fully understand, and the pain never stopped.

Like many people with chronic pain, I began to grieve the version of myself I thought I’d lost- the one who could work endlessly, travel freely, and keep up with a world that never slows down. I was also so young, and didn't know how to cope with the loss of so much. I began to feel resentful sometimes when I saw people my age not having to worry about their health constantly.

My career changed, too. The pandemic had rewritten everything, the creative job market had collapsed, and then came the rise of AI- an industry I had just found stability in was now being reshaped overnight.
After I became disabled, everything in my life changed. Illness, chronic pain, and a severe medical error that left me blind in my left eye – each upheaval reshaped me.

Then 2025 was when I lost the sight in my left eye to glaucoma- this was something caused by medical error, a combination of a wrong prescription and not knowing the underlying issue with my health, after many misdiagnisis issues. I had a stroke last year, and was still working on creating my project despite all this….
I am having the eye removed February 27th, 2026.
There’s a kind of rage that comes with that- my entire world has now changed, even more than when I had to grieve the version of myself I lost to chronic pain. I don't know how to explain the rage and grief you feel with losing a part of yourself like this, losing half of your sight as a visual artist, and remembering what life before being sick used to be like.
Rage can be a fire that never really goes out.

As a disabled artist, I had to grieve the version of myself who could work endlessly, travel freely, and move through the world without thinking about access, limitations, or fragility.
And just when I thought I’d adapted, life demanded more.
I tried to cope with the grief and make a new life with what I had, and with how things had changed. But I had to abruptly leave Europe last year, move to Canada, and start over again.

Out of my resilience came The Sixth Sun , my pride and joy, the story I've been working on through all these challenges- a story I began writing back in 2021, and kept revisiting as a way to create hope for myself- and hope, when you feed it, grows. Now, we have an animation studio wanting to work with my team and elevate this story further! This is my historical fantasy story set in Mexico City, where two musicians cross paths with the trickster god Huehuecóyotl. It uses the framework of Mesoamerican cosmology to tell a story about defiance in the face of multi-systemic collapse: ecological, social, and spiritual. The heroes are not fighting to return to a golden age, but to earn a new one through unbearable sacrifice and unwavering hope against the void.

It’s my response to climate grief, disability, defeatism, and global uncertainty: a story about survival through creativity, and the courage to imagine a future even when the world feels dark. The Sixth Sun is a story about hope, challenging doom, and asking ourselves what it means to keep going and create something just to say "we were here, and we mattered".

Alongside this project, I’ve continued my work in children’s storytelling and environmental education. I collaborate with the Caribou Conservation Alliance, designing engaging visual materials that help communities understand caribou ecology, conservation, and land stewardship. My work with them bridges art and science, helping young learners and families connect with wildlife through accessible, emotionally resonant visuals.

I also collaborate with the Vancouver Aquarium, where I teach illustration workshops and create educational content for kids. My classes are designed to spark curiosity, increase accessibility, and help young learners make meaningful connections with marine life and local ecosystems- from axolotls and caribou to Pacific coastal species. Bringing art and environmental education together is one of my favorite things!

My work has been exhibited internationally, including a feature exhibition in Bern, Switzerland, where I showcased pieces exploring dreams, mythology, and grief.

My next children’s book, The Grand Arctic Inn, teaches about Arctic ecology through an imaginative hotel run by animals, where migratory species check in as guests and local residents keep everything running. When one worker goes missing, the balance of the whole Arctic begins to unravel. It’s a story about ecosystems, interdependence, and what happens when even one voice goes silent.

Anyways , my work with children and community stuff is centered around my wish to create more compassionate, hopeful futures through intersectional approaches.

Thank you for your support!