For one indigenous animation student, opportunity is just around the corner
For Liliana Gonzales, each piece of animation she creates tells a different story. It’s a reminder that her heritage is not forgotten.
Liliana is a member of the Gila River Indian Community. Growing up, she always felt closer to her mom’s side of the family who is Pima and lives on the reservation.
She is a sophomore pursuing a digital art degree in animation at Mesa Community College. She is currently featured in the current indigenous art exhibition at the MCC Art Gallery.
Liliana grew up in a small, crammed apartment in Chandler. Her family struggled. Growing up, life was mundane. She began drawing animals and characters of her own creation to pass the time.
Finding success in art, however, was a rocky road for her.
Overcoming rejection
“I failed in junior high arts and it looked like people didn’t like my art at all,” she said, pausing for a moment. “So I was kind of like, maybe it’s just not my thing.”
Liliana created art in her own style. Her middle school art teacher told her that she needed to use realism and didn’t use the right techniques. The “F” she got in art class devastated her.
By the time Liliana arrived at Hamilton High School in July of 2020, she knew she needed to take an art credit. She took a theater class during her freshman year before failing that too. She started to believe she wasn’t meant to be a student of the arts at all.
By junior year, she was running out of options for an art credit. She chose a painting and drawing class, expecting the same kind of rejection from middle school.
Only it never came.
“I don’t think she ever thought that she could do art,” said Karen Tabor, art teacher at Hamilton High School, “and then she started here and she did a really remarkable job.”
Liliana ended up skipping the introductory art courses.
“She could do anything artistically with mediums and then digitally too. That makes her far superior than most,” Tabor stated.
Liliana credits Tabor’s encouragement for her achievement in fine arts.
“The savior is my art teacher during high school,” she said. “She encouraged my art and saw my potential. She saw so much potential that I went straight to AP art, which was fantastic!”
Liliana experimented with mixed media. She meshed different types of materials into pieces of art. Then she submitted them to several art shows, including her high school’s district art show where she won best in show.
Her teacher saw a shy artist overcome her insecurities to become quite talented.
“But it’s not just talent—it’s creativity and thinking outside the box to use various forms of art,” Tabor said.
As a former MCC student herself, Tabor hopes that community college will help Liliana “find her wings.”
Tabor pushed Liliana to submit artwork to the CHROMA24, an annual high school exhibition during the summer of 2024 at the MCC Art Gallery. Her student ended up winning best in show and landed a foundation scholarship to attend MCC as an art student.
After graduating high school in May 2024, she went straight to Mesa Community College. She began submitting art for various events on campus.
“I’m really proud of Lily,” said Brenden Bannon, animation residential instructor at MCC. “I know that she’s got a really bright future ahead of her because she’s so dedicated.”
“She animates all the time,” Bannon said, recalling how he’s seen her outside of class sitting by the library with her sketchbook. “If you want to succeed, you have to make it your life. And she does that, you know?”
To be an independent animator takes a lot of self-motivation. Bannon says no matter what he teaches Liliana in class, she always does her best.
“She’s dedicated. I mean, she’s almost obsessive about it,” he emphasized.
Liliana knows she needs to show off her work. That means being able to express her work and engage with others.
“I gotta learn to be more open,” she admitted.
Finding identity in art
Liliana likes to incorporate her indigenous heritage in her art.
“The passion started for my need of representation,” said Liliana.
She didn’t often see indigenous characters on screen or in the work of major animation studios. Most indigenous characters portrayed on TV were never given main roles.
“It was kind of hard for me to connect with any main character or anything because I was really nothing like them,” she said. “Like I never lived in a suburban house and never felt too related to my Mexican heritage entirely.”
Liliana’s father is of Mexican Italian descent. But she feels closer to her mom’s indigenous heritage. That’s reflected in a project she’s been working on since she was in 4th grade.
It’s an animated film titled “The Mask Watches.” The main characters are siblings, but one of them is an indigenous girl who grows up unaware of her own heritage due to being an orphan.
“Unfortunately since I’m a one woman job, it’s a bit of a struggle for one person to make the whole entire thing,” Liliana said.
She plans on revising her script and character designs before pitching it to a studio.
Working for Sony Pictures Animation in the future “sounds like a dream” to her because of the studio’s creative reputation.
To build her portfolio, Liliana posts her animation works and projects on her YouTube and Instagram accounts under the username @King_Derp0.
Bringing her characters to life
At the MCC Art Gallery, the current exhibition “Rooted in Relations” showcases the works of various indigenous artists from across Arizona. Liliana is one of two student artists featured in the exhibit amongst professional artists.
“In animation, you can see more than just the dialogue. You can see how color impacts the scene and set of movements, like how backgrounds can foreshadow future events,” Liliana added.
This is her second time being featured at the gallery since the CHROMA24 event took place in 2024.
“Liliana is an artist who has a very active imagination. She is always animating and it’s a real pleasure to see her characters come to life,” said Tracey Blocker, art gallery coordinator at MCC.
She worked on two pieces for the exhibition: a pen and ink drawing of her own characters and a reel of various 2D animations looping on an iPad.
The pen and ink drawing, titled “Culturally Cluttered,” shows two characters sitting back to back with indigenous weapons over their shoulders.
The character on the right is wearing an animal skull headdress and traditional tribal clothes. The one on the left has modern attire and accessories with a smartphone in hand.
There are tiny symbols from pop culture and everyday life embedded in their clothes.
“Seeing my work in a gallery full of native artists feels accomplishing,” Liliana exclaimed. “It was a great feeling—an honorable feeling, too.”
