10 questions: Meet artist Roland Becerra

Roland Becerra grew up in Miami, Florida. He studied art at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Yale University, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and The Cleveland Institute of Art. His visual art and films have been exhibited and screened across the U.S. and beyond.

Despite that geographic range, the associate professor of illustration in Boise State's Department of Art, Design and Visual Studies had never spent time in the American West before coming to teach at Boise State.

Roland Becerra. Photo by Priscilla Grover

"I felt a connection to nature right away, the scale of the landscape, the open skies," Becerra said. "I really do like creepy things; that's why I liked New England. But the alienness of Idaho attracted me, the vastness."

"Little Things Everyday," acrylic on canvas, 2025, provided by Roland Becerra

Along with film and painting, Becerra works in animation and comics. His work has won many accolades, most recently a fellowship award from the Idaho Commission on the Arts. In announcing the award, the commission highlighted Becerra's feature-length film "AGATHA." According to Becerra's artist statement, the film explores themes of witchcraft, madness, guilt and terror through experimental animation techniques. This creates a hybrid of film and painting. The folk tale is atmospheric, unsettling, and persistently beautiful, with a color palette that can only be described as haunted.

Film still from "AGATHA," provided by Roland Becerra

The film's companion graphic novel, which Becerra created using a combination of hand-drawn and digital illustration techniques, earned recognition from Creative Quarterly, 3×3, American Illustration, and The Society of Illustrators. His first animated short, "Dear Beautiful," premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009.

Film still from "Dear Beautiful," an experimental horror short created with flash animation and stop motion animation techniques. Still provided by Roland Becerra

Becerra shared more about his life and work.

When did you first become fascinated by your field?

I don't know a time when I wasn't fascinated by visual art. As a kid, I loved Mad magazine. I'm an '80s kid; I grew up analog. I had to rely on comics for entertainment or Saturday morning cartoons. I spent many hours copying the drawing I saw in Mad. Mort Drucker was my favorite illustrator. And I loved Spy vs. Spy. As a kid, a lot of Mad's juvenile humor appealed to me. That form of entertainment became what I wanted to do: tell stories.

Gen Alpha has missed out on the joy of those thick magazines, waiting a month before a new one came, and the satisfaction of finally having it in your hands. Now, everything is so immediate, the access to information.

Who was the first person who made you feel seen and heard in visual art?

I did my first drawing, of a witch on a broom, when I was 3. My mom was proud of it. Any drawing I made, she put in a scrapbook. I still have multiple scrapbooks of those terrible drawings, but she was really impressed. So, my honest answer is, yeah, it's gotta be my mother. Even though my wife (Willow Wells, a visiting lecturer of drawing and painting at Boise State) said that's a corny answer.

You've described AI in art as "impressive but hollow and dead." In a world where your students are growing up with these tools, how do you teach them to find the human presence in their work?

Roland Becerra works in his studio. Photo by Priscilla Grover

I encourage them to work hands-on. In a recent BFA show, multiple illustration students showed their work. They are doing printmaking, painting and sculpture. There's an understanding that what makes these pieces special is the imperfection of the human hand, the process.

The dishes that we eat on here at home are made by ceramics students. Our dining room table is handmade. That connection to something that is artisanal makes us feel more connected.

I like to go to those booths at comic cons or book readings. People go because they want the autograph of the human being who made something. Those artists have these fan bases, cult followings, because we're attracted to and respect hard work. AI can't give us that, can't connect with a viewer in a personal way.

I do get these requests from authors or publishers who contact the university looking for an illustrator. There's still something about working with a human being, collaboration. The work is one-of-a-kind. I have also known authors who went to AI for illustrations. They ended up with work that was so uninspired. It doesn't resonate in the same way. So I encourage students to work as much as possible to learn traditional materials, watercolor, pen and ink. That will make them stand out.

AI is still just an expensive printer. It won't ever be a human. All that angst, all the things you survive to get that far in your learning, it's all in the work. Perfection isn't the goal. The goal is to communicate something that isn't only heartfelt but authentic.

What's a principle you try to live by?

Do a little bit each day. There's so much going on each day, so I say, 'OK, if I can't exercise for an hour, get a little in. If I can't answer every email, just answer a few.' It will eventually add up, as opposed to cramming everything in each minute. A book, "Atomic Habits," resonated with me. It's the only self-help book I've read, but it's been really helpful.

You tell students to "tell a story nobody else has told, no matter how small an audience it impacts." What's the smallest audience you've ever created for?

I hand-make birthday cards and holiday cards for people in my life. They are the only audience. The cards will have imagery, innuendo, or references that only the recipient will understand. I put as much effort into these cards as I do my own work. They're for an audience of one.

A birthday card made by Becerra for his wife, Willow Wells. Wells also makes cards for him, he said. "I tried to capture Willow's love of goth culture and creepy art." Image provided by Roland Becerra Another customized birthday card for Wells. Image provided by Roland Becerra

Did you face a significant barrier in your career path?

I have worked with the wrong people in my life, where it has sabotaged projects from moving forward, or sometimes you have contracts in place, you think people are trustworthy, but they're not. But the biggest barrier is my own lack of confidence at times in taking on something that may or may not work out. Most times, when I've bit the bullet, it has worked out.

A lot of barriers may be more internal, not being prepared for certain opportunities. I have had to learn a lot of lessons about showing up. Sometimes, I didn't and I missed out. I try not to make those mistakes anymore.

What is one thing about you that would surprise your colleagues and students?

I'm an open book, not a lot of secrets. I have nothing to hide.

With its multiple awards and festival screenings (30+ and 50, respectively) "AGATHA" has clearly resonated, even internationally. What do you think makes this New England folktale so appealing to such diverse audiences?

One thing is, the movie deals with how history affects our present lives. I was living in New England when I came up with the project. The place I was living had so much history. I became interested in the idea that we are all a product of what came before us and we can't escape our past or our ancestry. Whenever I do talks about "AGATHA," that's what people are interested in, the history that influenced the modern story.

Still from "AGATHA," provided by Roland Becerra

What is the best thing you learned this year?

I took a workshop on stop motion animation from the Idaho Film Society. I had never done this kind of animation and it really inspired me. It was taught by Lars C. Larson, an animator living here in Boise, whose stop motion credits include "Coraline" and other films. I'm going on sabbatical in fall 2026 and want to use that time to make my first stop motion film. It's a whole new direction for me, animation-wise.

What is your favorite workspace and what must it always contain?

My home studio. It must have canvas and some paints, a laptop and Adobe. I like audiobooks and listen to them when I work. I'm not a big music person. I find music fun if I'm driving in a car, but when I'm trying to work, stories take my brain and put it in another world. They make time fly by differently. I'm looking forward to listening to "Stranger Idaho: True Paranormal Stories from Idaho" by John Olsen.

Bonus: What's a book, or film, or work of art, or piece of music you want everyone to read, watch, see, or listen to?

Roland Becerra painting in his home studio. Photo by Priscilla Grover

Bookwise, "House of Leaves" by Mark Danielewski. It's the closest thing I know to a book that feels like a movie. There are times when the text starts to fall apart. You're not sure you can trust the narrative. It's like a graphic novel, very experimental. Different fonts and colors of fonts, a structure that's always changing. I have never seen another book like it. You can't find it as an audiobook. It can only exist as a printed book.

As far as graphic novels, I would say "Here" by Richard McGuire. It all takes place in one room, telling all of the stories that have taken place in that space. I always wonder when I'm sitting in a classroom: What was this place 10,000 years ago?

If you ever get to the Prado Museum in Madrid, go see "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymus Bosch.

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