An Interview with Vitor Cafaggi

One of the best feelings you get as a fan of comics is when you discover an artist that’s new to you, see their work, and go “Oh comics can look like this too?” And seeing that artwork reshapes your brain. It happened to me when I saw the work of Frank Quitely, Tim Sale, Chris Bachalo, Amanda Conner, David Lafuente, Riley Rossmo, Jock and others. One of my more recent experiences having this reaction was when I first encountered the work of Vitor Cafaggi.

The oft-mentioned Andrew Marino had hired Vitor to draw a Captain Carrot story written by Calvin Kalsuke for DC’s Legion of Bloom, a book Riley Rossmo and I had our Superman “We Just Need To Make It Till Spring” story in, and to say I was floored when I first saw Vitor’s work would be an understatement.

Cut to two years later the IDW Ninja Turtles team is talking about doing a series of short stories for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Nation series, and it was decided I was going to write a story about the character Lita, a young girl who had been living in Northampton, Massachusetts for a while. The folks at Nickelodeon actually mentioned wanting to see Vitor draw one of the Mutant Nation stories and I was immediately like “I would happily work with Vitor on this story.” and we worked together on a story that I could not be more proud of, and is honestly one of the best looking comics I have ever worked on as either a writer or an editor.

So of course, I had to sit down with Vitor, get to know him better, talk about his process, his influences, and what his goals are for the future.

Please enjoy my conversation with the great Vitor Cafaggi!

DAVE: Vitor, first and foremost, thank you so much for doing this interview with me!

VITOR: Thank you, Dave! And thanks for choosing me as the artist for Northampton Ninja.

DAVE: It was one of the easiest calls I have ever made, I knew from the first time I saw your work that I wanted to collaborate with you. Speaking of which, the first time I saw your work was on the Captain Carrot story in DC’s Legion of Bloom you did with writer Calvin Kalsuke. The second I saw those pages I went to editor Andrew Marino and said “Who is this artist? And how can we get them to draw more comics?” I was wildly impressed with your work and shocked I hadn’t seen it sooner.

When did you start working in comics and what was it like working on that story?

VITOR: I started making comics in 2008, with a fanfic about Peter Parker's childhood called The Amazing Adventures of Puny Parker. It was a comic strip that lasted three years. I started professionally in 2010 in Brazil, also in a comic strip called 'Valente', which was published by PaperCutz in the US under the name Vincent.

Working on DC’s Legion of Bloom was a blast! I’ve always been nervous about working for major publishers in the US, but this ended up being one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had! I had a lot of freedom to work on the story, from suggesting adding panels on several pages, to changing the symbol on Captain Carrot’s chest a bit. Andrew was amazing, always complimenting me and making me feel comfortable with my art and colors. I would love to work with him again.

DAVE: Andrew is someone who often comes up on this Newsletter, he is a terrific editor, and like you I am always eager to work with him again!

Your art reminds me a lot of the type of painterly art we would see in children’s books and of the golden age of animation. What are some of your artistic influences? Both in comics and outside of comics?

VITOR: My influences come a lot from comics. When I started.. Bill Watterson, Skottie Young, Chris Bachalo, Sonny Liew were big influences. Today, I think I'm a little more influenced by European artists, like Jordi Lafebre, Felix Delep and Merwan Chabane. And some Brazilians, like my friends Bilquis Evely and Mateus Santolouco.

Outside of comics, Norman Rockwell, Gil Elvgren, and Pixar and Laika animations are major influences. In the case of the animations, this influence is felt in my writing as well.

DAVE: That’s a terrific and varied list of people. That’s one of the many reasons I always like asking artists that question, you may be able to immediately recognize a few of someone’s influences but there’s always a few you wouldn’t have expected!

You pencil, ink, and color your work. What does your typical process look like? Do you like to pencil all the pages, ink all of them, and then color them? Or would you rather finish one whole page in every step and then move on to the next page?

VITOR: That's a really good question! My art changes a little bit according to each project I'm working. I always try to adapt myself to what the story is asking for.

So, it takes me a while to find the right look for the story. That's why I like to do all the pencils first. It doesn't matter if it's ten or eighty pages. At this stage, the visual is still improving and I take advantage of this moment to let that happen. When I draw the first pages, my lines are usually more insecure and as I do more pages, the lines gain more personality and boldness.

Then, I like to do all the inking. And lastly, the colors, which is the stage of the art where I can be way faster.

DAVE: I appreciate and understand the dedication to the process. I think at this point in my writing I could probably jump more immediately into the script, but I prefer to draw out my story, write up an outline, and really go step by step gaining confidence with each step and making changes at each step too, it sounds like you’re similar in that regard.

As I said earlier, I have wanted to work with you ever since I saw your Captain Carrot pages. When your name came up in the Ninja Turtles world, I quickly said, “I would work with Vitor!” On top of loving your work, I thought you were a perfect fit for this story because you draw younger people very well, and Lita, the main character in our story, is a child. Not every comic artist is great at drawing children; they can be challenging. Did you enjoy drawing Lita, and do you like drawing younger characters?

VITOR: I loved being able to draw Lita! I read the entire TMNT run in which she appears and it was a joy to be able to work on a story focused on her. Especially in such an honest story, in which we can understand exactly how she feels at that moment.

I got used to drawing stories starring children and teenagers and it is something that I feel very comfortable doing. My first big work in Brazil was a graphic novel with very famous characters here, called Monica’s Gang, who are seven-year-old children. I was able to write and do the art for this story along my sister. This graphic novel, called Turma da Mônica - Laços , is possibly the best-selling Brazilian graphic novel of all time. It has been adapted very successfully for the cinema. I drew these characters a lot in three other graphic novels after that, and I think that is why I became good at drawing children.

DAVE: So you had a lot of practice over the years, that is awesome. I have not heard of any of those projects and I am going to have to look into all of them.

Another thing about this story that was important to me that is it’s set in Northampton, Massachusetts, a place I visited a lot in my youth, and a place my mother’s side of the family spent a lot of time. You were kind enough to let me send you a lot of photo reference of the city. Do you like drawing real locations or do you prefer to make them up?

VITOR: I like to draw real places and try to give the reader the feeling of being there. I think in all my stories I've tried to do that.

One part I really enjoy about this is the research. It was fun getting to know a little bit of Northampton with Lita.

DAVE: I am glad to hear that and that you weren’t bogged down by the reference or my memories of the reference, that’s something I was definitely nervous about. 

DAVE: Now, I want to make sure people know that while the story is about Lita, we definitely see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a few times. Were you a fan of the Ninja Turtles and do you have a favorite of them? My favorite is Raphael.

VITOR: I used to say that you're ready to become a father when you no longer have a favorite Turtle... you love them all equally. But today I am a father and I have a favorite again... Leo! When I was a kid and watched the original cartoon, Mike was my favorite. Donnie was my favorite for a while, but Leo has been my favorite for the longest time. Right now, I'm looking at a Dark Leo action figure that (Mateus) Santolouco gave to me next to me, as I write this. I've loved the Turtles since I was twelve. I have several of them in my office. I have DVDs, comics, I watched all the movie in the cinema... Being able to work on one of their stories was a dream come true for me.

DAVE: Leo is a great choice. He was my favorite in the past and he’s another Turtle I would love to revisit. And I’m right there with you, getting to write for the Turtles universe both times I have gotten to do so has been a dream come true.

In this story, we also got to add a character to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe. Otto, is a goose mutant, and also someone who loves Metal and Punk music. When your designs for Otto came in I was overjoyed. Can you talk about the process of designing him and are you happy with the final result? I hope other people use him after our story!

VITOR: I also hope we get to see more of Otto in the future! Creating his look was very natural. You described him very well, not only physically, but also in terms of his personality.

When I showed my sister Otto's look, she said that he looked a lot like a friend of ours, who also makes comics in Brazil. After that, other friends said exactly the same thing when they saw Otto too. I didn't think of this friend when I drew him the first few times, but now I can't help but see it.

DAVE: Otto looks like a few friends I have had over the years too, and I didn’t show you any pictures of them, you just captured the essence of a type of person I have known very well over the years really wonderfully with your intuitive artwork.

DAVE: I feel very strongly that once readers and other comic book professionals read this story, a lot of people are going to be looking to you to do projects. I’m already hoping we can collaborate again as writer and artist in the future, this was one of the best experiences I have had working with an artist and making a comic yet.

What are some of your goals as a comic book artist? What type of projects would you like to do, and outside of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are there any other familiar characters you would like to draw professionally? I told someone the other day I would love to see you draw Shazam and that family of characters.

VITOR: Shazam would be cool! I never thought of that. I loved what Dan Mora did with him recently. Still at DC, I would love to draw something with the Robins. Tim and Dick have always been my favorite DC characters. But I like Damian too.

My dream job is Spider-Man. My whole life, personality, my body, my hair, my clothes, everything comes from Peter Parker. I would love to be able to write and draw something with him one day.

And definitely I would be very happy to do something with the Turtles and you again too.

 DAVE: I would be the first in line if you got to draw Spider-Man, any of the Robins, or Shazam. All of those characters would look stellar in your style.

What are you working on next, Vitor? Where can people follow you online and where can people see your work next?

VITOR: I'm working on a story of my own called Forgotten Paths right now. I'm also evaluating some proposals for after that. And I'm open to new invitations. I'm not really into social media, but I do update my Instagram from time to time :) I think that's where you can find more of my work.

DAVE: Great! I know I will be on the lookout! Do you have any last words you want to share about our Mutant Nation story?

VITOR: It's a story with a lot of heart in it. I really hope readers can see that in it.

When I read the script, I was surprised at how much it resonated with me and my work in comics. There are some comics and panels in it, which are easily among my favorites that I've ever done. And look, I've already done more than a thousand pages, so that means a lot.

DAVE: It means a great deal to me to hear, Vitor. When I write a script I really want the artist to be a fan of what they are doing, and the fact that was the case for you makes me happy and even more satisfied with the final product.

Thank you for doing this, Vitor. I cannot wait for people to read the story, and again, I hope we get to work together again soon, it would be a delight!

VITOR: Thanks again for this opportunity, Dave! Hopefully that chance comes soon!

As Vitor mentioned, he has an instagram profile and it has some pretty great examples of his artwork. If you want to follow him, here’s a link.

Again, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Nation #6 (full title) FOC’s on April 7th. So head to your local comic book store and let them know you want a copy so they have one held aside for you on May 14th, 2025 when the issue releases. The cover we start the Newsletter with is the B cover for the issue by Vitor Cafaggi. There is an RI cover by Omar Francia which will be shown off soon. There’s also the A cover by Fero Pe which you can see below. The main story of the issue is an awesome Bebop and Rocksteady Las Vegas adventure written by Caleb Goellner and drawn by the aforementioned Omar Francia.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for stopping by as always. Please remember that I am on a journey to grow the audience of this Newsletter, so please share on social media, share with friends, and recommend they subscribe!

Stay safe!

—Dave Wielgosz