This illustration of Juan Sandoval was created by Ronnie Dukes of DUKEScomics.com.
It is based on a photo that Juan sent me. Juan said Dr. Selfa Chew took the photograph.
I would like to submit it as a remembrance.
Elvira and Ronnie Dukes are the creative force behind DUKEScomics.com, an independent comic book and graphic novel publisher. Elvira is the writer. Ronnie is the artist/illustrator. This is a link to our website: https://dukescomics.com/about/Elvira and Ronnie were friends of Juan Sandoval.
Dr. Elvira Carrizal-Dukes is an Assistant Professor of Practice for Chicana/o Studies at UTEP. She was born and raised in the Chaparral-El Paso-Juárez borderland region where she wrote the A.W.O.L. graphic novel featuring a Latina soldier on unauthorized leave from the military. She is searching for her kidnapped brother in the El Paso, Texas, Mexico/US border city. Much of Dr. Carrizal-Dukes’ work is centered around her hometown and the socio/cultural/historical contexts of this major U.S.-Mexico transnational space. Dr. Carrizal-Dukes earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Rhetoric and Composition from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), a Master of Fine Arts degree in Film from Columbia University in the City of New York, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities in Journalism and Chicano Studies and a minor in Theatre Arts.
Ronnie Dukes was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Ronnie Dukes earned his degree in Computer Animation in Minneapolis which inspired him to paint with a fresh perspective on dimension and techniques learned from animation. It was then that he began exhibiting his painted work in Harlem, NYC. Mr. Dukes’ first exhibit was a solo show at Columbia University. His other exhibitions include The Manhattan Borough President’s Office, Queens Theatre in The Park, Harlem Arts Alliance, and over a dozen other solo and group exhibitions. Ronnie Dukes started his independent publishing company in order to create original work and to begin building its collection. His background in animation, painting, and mixed media greatly influences his work in comic books. His first major comic book project is called A.W.O.L., an over 100-page full color graphic novel. Mr. Dukes is the penciler, inker, colorist, letterist, and layout/ graphic artist for A.W.O.L. The book premiered in 2017 at El Paso Comic Con and has been translated into Japanese. He has also been invited to exhibit his work at Tokyo Comic Con, Comic Con Okinawa, SÕL-CON, Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, Latino Artists Now, MexAmeriCon, and FanX. Ronnie Dukes’ work is currently available for purchase at Barnes and Noble, Comixology, Kindle, Baker and Taylor (Follett) as well as The El Paso Museum of Art, where Mr. Dukes is a Teaching Artist.
Readers are welcomed to send us their remembrances of the late Juan Sandoval II, so we can publish them in El Paso News. Please send your remembrances/stories/essays/poetry/photographs/drawings, etc. to: miguel@elpasonews.org. We will do some light editing, if needed. You can send a photograph to accompany your article, but it is not necessary. Please title your remembrance and provide a brief biography of yourself, if possible. Thank you.
