Name, Age, and State: Sergio Cariello, 47, Florida

Job-title: Cartoonist

Web/blog site URL: www.sergiocariello.com

Give us your job description in 25 words or less. I illustrate comic books.

Describe a typical workday. Walk the dogs. Have some toast with coffee. Do some roughs to whatever is on my “plate” to draw. Transfer approved roughs to Bristol board and tighten the roughs to an inkable pencil stage. Lunch break. Facebooking break(LOL) back to drawing board, do some inking on approved pencils. Go for a second walk with dogs. Back for more drawing before dinner.

What led you to realize that you wanted to do this type of work? That I had a pencil at hand and a surface to draw on( house walls, church bulletins, paper) at the age of 5. Told my parents without hesitation: FUN. I want to be a cartoonist when I grow up. I watched cartoons on tv and read comics( even before learning to read the words but able to read the pictures who told me a story) before I was 5. Needed a couple of years to make up my mind! 5 was a good age to decide!LOL

Did you have any heroes or mentors in your industry that you admired? Spider-man, the Flintstones, Herculoids, Pink Panther, Walt Disney, and some Brazilian comics as well.

What type of education or training was required to land your job? NONE. Just a good portfolio. But I do recommend going to school to learn how to do a good portfolio. But it is not required.

What do you love most about your job? The whole process. From coming up with ideas, refining ideas, and finalizing it. Hard to pick one stage of completion (roughs, pencils, inks, colors, lettering)I love the most but I guess to see it come to live in front of my eyes and then see it printed in a comic book is Super Great!

What one part of your job do you wish you could hire someone else to do? Erase the pencil lines and format the pages, after ink is done( reason why I use digital inking sometimes and ask wife, father in law, sister in law, mom and whoever is near me to help, including Ken Rainey, although far away, able to help the formatting over the net)

What advice would you give to teenagers wanting to get into your field of work? Try something else! LOL!! Not really, but I must warn you it is very hard to break into comics and stay at it. It is a very small pool with too many people trying to jump into it, so IF you really want to do it: LOTS of Prayer, LOTS of Drawing, drawing and Drawing, LOTS of Knocking on Doors and willingness to start at the button , like a helper in a studio, sort getting in through the back door to try to get your way in and then, when you have : 1- the right portfolio, 2- The Right Door 3-And the right opportunity, BINGO!

How does your job allow you to use your God-given gifts? By picking on the right stories by making yourself available to “ Listen to God’s direction in using those Gifts for His Glory, while having a good practice of reading His Word, spending time talking to Him and acknowledging Him in all your ways!!

Do you have any hobbies or off-hours pursuits that teenagers would find of interest? I love playing the guitar, compsing music and singing, which why I’m also the worship leader of my church… but …that’s for another interview ;-)