Give him a pencil, a piece of paper or even recycled garbage, and watch him create something out of nothing.
That is exactly what Ivan Becerril, a Madison College student, has been doing his whole life: creating with no boundaries.
“I pretty much started out with anything I could get a hold of,” said Becerril as he explained his creative spark as a child.
The youngster who once created a UFO out of a Jimmy’s Cookie box has now transformed into a 20-year-old digital artist.
After moving as a two-year-old from Toluca, Mexico, Becerril lived the majority of his life in the United States. As a middle child, he grew up in Sun Prairie, a suburb outside of Madison, with his parents and two siblings.
Moving to another country at a young age had its challenges. Becerril explained how it wasn’t “necessarily difficult” but he was kind of “like the odd duck per say.”
Since he spoke Spanish as his first language and English as a second, communicating for him wasn’t the same as the other kids at school.
“Compared to other students, they go home; they speak English. They go to school; they speak English. And they go everywhere, and they speak English. But for us, for me, especially my siblings, we would go home and speak Spanish,” said Becerril.
The rule of the house was to speak Spanish. The only times where Becerril would speak English would be at school. This balance ended up being tricky to maintain especially when it came to education.
He mentioned there were many times where his mother would try to help with math or science homework. He would understand what was going on, but it was always explained in Spanish. This was a struggle for a while until he realized something.
“My mom always tried to spark creativity,” said Becerril, “She would try to make us think outside the ordinary. And so, for me, I didn’t have to worry about any language because I could just make people see what I think.”
Expressing himself through art was easier to do than writing. This was used to help break through the language barrier.
Growing up Becerril was always with his family. They didn’t really go out much. When other families were going on vacations during the summer, his family would be at home.
“It was pretty much just us. We didn’t really have anyone else,” said Becerril. Since most of their family were still in Mexico, they didn’t know many people.
His dad worked during the week as a farmer in Sun Prairie and his mother stayed at home to take care of the children. Once the weekends came, they enjoyed making frequent stops to the local Family Video and making homemade enchilada dinners.
Even though Becerril knew “the ins and outs” of where he was at in the states, there was one thing that he didn’t know much about, his family in Mexico.
“The only thing I really miss in Mexico is my family. Because I haven’t met most of them,” said Becerril, “Just recently my grandfather just died and like I never really had memories of him. Course I met him when I was like two, but the only actual memories I really have of them are when we use to do video chats with them over the phone. But I never actually got to meet him in person.”
Regardless of family, Becerril doesn’t see a reason to necessarily visit Mexico. He explained the conditions his family members live in and shared that it’s difficult at times to get access to resources and affordable healthcare. Also, issues with COVID-19 have continued to rise as well as gang violence.
But the situation that Becerril is in across the border in the U.S. is yet threatening too. Since he arrived in this country illegally as an infant, he has no guarantee of staying here.
“Immigration is probably the biggest con I have because I am a DACA student. So, I am not a permanent resident. I am, you could say, like a stable one,” said Becerril. “But it’s kind of something that is up in the air and at any time it can just like disappear.”
Due to his immigration status, he does not get much financial aid. A lot of the funds for school had to come out of pocket. Becerril graduated high school early in 2019. Then spent the rest of the school year working to save up. He eventually enrolled into the 2020 fall semester at Madison College.
Now he is a full-time, second year student in the process of finishing up a Graphic Design Associates Degree. Becerril mentioned how much better the experience in college has been for him. Having years of experience now speaking English and expressing himself through art has made himself feel more content.
As Becerril grew, his art transformed from sculptures made of newspaper and recycled boxes to technological designs created at his fingertips.
“I can do whatever really I want. I originally found myself doing a lot of traditional art. Then around the time I enrolled into school, I found myself an iPad,” said Becerril, “So that is pretty much when my digital self-started emerging.”
He is currently working for the Clarion, the school newspaper, as their graphic designer who assists with page design and illustrations for articles. He hopes to learn more about the broadcasting side of things as well as web design.
When it comes to being a graphic designer, Becerril discovered that branding is his forte. Though, recently he just picked up the art of screen printing. With this new medium he can create any design and have it printed on something like a T-shirt or a hat.
This gives him the ability to not only mix his traditional designing methods in a new way but to mass produce it. Currently, he is working on creating a T-shirt with one of his original comic characters on it.
With the future in sight, Becerril sees himself creating a branding business, although he is unsure what the future holds. Being so versatile leaves him with limitless ways to express himself. Whichever way he chooses, his traditional influences will be tagging along.
“I remember one time I made a little spaceship,” said Becerril, “out of a cookie box.”