Nico Martinez, a 34-year-old Flossmoor resident who is an artist with autism, was recently commissioned by the Flossmoor Business Association (FBA) to draw lively images of four different Flossmoor landmarks. Martinez said making artwork allows him to communicate what can’t always be said with words.
Martinez said he’s been drawing since he was 2 or 3 and drawing his own cartoon characters since he was 11 or 12. He draws both digitally and on physical paper. When drawing on paper, Martinez uses graphite and ink, and he colors the artwork with watercolor paint.
While Martinez can draw more realistically, he said he’s especially passionate about cartoon images with more exaggerated features. He said some of his biggest influences are newspaper comics such as Calvin and Hobbes, classic Warner Brothers and Disney cartoon shorts and 1930s Fleischer Studios cartoons which include Betty Boop and Popeye.
Starting on Small Business Saturday last year, participating shops in the FBA sold holiday cards that featured Martinez’s artwork. These cards included drawings of Flossmoor Commons, downtown Flossmoor, Flossmoor Park and the Flossmoor Village Hall. The drawings included imagery of ice skating, holiday shopping and other holiday themes.
His images as 11” x 17” prints are currently for sale at Dunning’s Gourmet Market & Deli in downtown Flossmoor. The prints have FBA’s logo in the upper right-hand corner. They’re $20 apiece and proceeds go to the FBA.
Dunning’s is owned by Maureen Mader, Martinez’s mother, who is the president of the FBA. Martinez works at Dunning’s part time.
Martinez has drawn caricatures at Flossmoor Fest.
“I would have to work fast,” Martinez said. “I would have to bear in mind that other people are standing in line, waiting to get a drawing from me as well.”
The project Martinez is most proud of is when he helped animate and storyboard a video titled Tobin Heath: Field of Dreams for the U.S Women’ Soccer Team in 2016. The video was narrated by professional soccer player Tobin Heath. It featured animated drawings of Heath’s story on how she broke the glass ceiling and overcame adversity.
“I was contacted by Calabash Animation, a well-known commercial animation studio in Chicago which was handling the project,” Martinez said. “I received so much help and advice from my colleagues as well as some really good feedback for all the ideas I boarded and animated along the way. The client provided some great feedback as well.”
Being autistic allows Martinez to “see something in a different way than maybe other people see it,” he said. Drawing is “my primary means of communicating my ideas and my thought process to the world,” Martinez said.
Martinez said he has original characters he’s been drawing since he was a pre-teen. He said he plans on either self-publishing a comic with these characters or posting it online.
“Down the line, ultimately, I want to share these (characters) with people. I want them to know the type of stuff I created and hopefully they’ll have just as much fun as I do,” Martinez said.
Martinez’s artwork can be viewed on his website, nicomartinezart.com. Anyone interested in a commission can contact him at [email protected].