Five questions with Alegra Figeroid
Get to know CCA alum Alegra Figeroid (BFA Illustration/Minor in Writing and Literature 2018).
Alegra Figeroid. Courtesy of the artist.
Alegra ‘Al’ Figeroid is a two-time Emmy Award-winning illustrator and comics writer from Oakland, California. She enjoys telling emotionally cathartic stories about gay people, fantastical creatures, and death—often all three simultaneously in various permutations.
1. What is your current practice/business?
I’m a freelance illustrator working from home, and I take on a wide variety of projects—everything from illustration and comics to graphic design and surface design. My main focus is comics, but I’ll pretty much try anything. For example, I design posters for the Oakland Gay Men’s Chorus, where I’m a member. I’ve also had the privilege of working with Cascade Public Media, based in Seattle, where I worked on a short-form educational show called Mossbacks Northwest, providing illustrations and artist depictions for 14 episodes over the past three years. I’ve won two Northwest Regional Emmys for my work on this show: the first in 2023 with an episode about Wyatt Earp, and the second in 2024 for an episode about German sabotage in pre-WWI Seattle.
Alegra Figeroid, Champion, Chapter 2 (cover). Courtesy of the artist.
2. Why did you choose CCA?
Geography, and I got a pretty sizable scholarship. The Oakland campus was within walking distance from where I grew up, so I didn’t have to live in the dorms. I also took painting and drawing in a Pre-College summer program in 2013 at CCA. I attended Oakland School for the Arts for high school, so art school was a logical next step, and CCA was on my radar already.
3. If you could share one piece of advice with current or future students, what would it be?
My biggest advice is to make the most of what’s available to you. When I was at CCA, there was no dedicated comics BFA program, so I kind of jerry-rigged it. I had known since I was 11 that I wanted to do comics. So, I started as a painting major, but I switched to illustration and made the most of the courses available to me. I also minored in Writing and Literature to address the writing portion of comics.
You’re here. You’ve made it into this school. You’re going to put a tremendous amount of work into this education—so remember that you’re ultimately in charge of your own track and trajectory. I also would advise students to work hard, be nice, and build a good rapport with their teachers. They might be your contemporaries or pass your name on to people who then pass your name on to people who may make an Emmy-Award-winning show!
“You’re here. You’ve made it into this school. You’re going to put a tremendous amount of work into this education—so remember that you’re ultimately in charge of your own track and trajectory.”
(BFA Illustration/Minor in Writing and Literature 2018)
Alegra Figeroid, De Zoektocht: The Search For The Man On The Bike. Courtesy of the artist.
4. What's your secret to staying inspired and creative?
I do a lot of interdisciplinary things not directly related to illustration. I participate in a community chorus doing outreach and engaging in more musical practice, so I’m not limiting myself to what I feel like I have to do. I can write prose, I can write poetry, I can attempt to compose music. There’s a whole world of art out there, and so many interesting things to consume. I like to read and watch things that are both good and bad and see how I can incorporate them into my own practice, and/or how I could do them better.
5. What do you have coming up?
One exciting project I have coming up is the first chapter of a nonfiction World War II graphic novel, called De Zoektocht: The Search For The Man On The Bike. I’m also working on a “sword-and-sandals lesbian adventure fantasy comic” called Champion, which is a personal project.
