Rodel Santo Domingo is a creative artist inspired by nature. I have collaborated with RSD on two occasions, The first was the Coral Conservation art show and the second was the Sharks and Rays fundraiser. Both events were a huge success!

Purpose of the art shows:  To educate others about these amazing creatures and the major threats they are facing. To donate some of the profits from the art pieces to conservation organizations.

  Conservation Works of Art by Rodel Santo Domingo

Rodel Santo Domingo has had the itch to create since he was four years old, selling dinosaur drawings to his neighbors. Simultaneously, it was his interest in wildlife (at that time, prehistoric) that lead him to pick up the blunt chunks of subpar Roseart crayons. For a short time, he got really bummed out when he realized all dinosaurs are pretty much gone. Unless Jurassic Park happened for real, he’d only be able to imagine what they were like. Enter: the Ferrari F40. What is this wondrous red beast? Mom told him he was going to be a rich doctor, so he’ll probably have an F40 if he really wanted one. Inspired by the prospect of being able to obtain the object of his freshest desires, Rodel lost all the crayons, got some hot wheels, and started practicing his vroom vrooms.

Fast forward a few years, Rodel is introduced to the school library. Charlotte’s Webb seemed interesting. It had a lot of animals, so that seemed nice. But Rodel knew it was all fake. But then ZooBooks, though, that’s a nice publication. Rodel became deeply fascinated by the natural world, even without dinosaurs. In classes where students had to cut out pages from donated magazines to craft a collage, Rodel often found himself just reading the National Geographics. From then on, he thought that maybe he’ll be a biologist.

Rodel wasn’t very good in school. But he did find himself extremely happy whenever out in the wild. In high school he volunteered at Fort Funston, San Francisco, wildlife reserve. There was a surprising amount of awesome animals and plants in San Francisco. Eventually, he gained much knowledge of the local wildlife, both the natural and the product of society types, to start exploring San Francisco’s large urban forests, where he would spend hours digging trails and riding his mountain bike. While academics weren’t looking so good, Rodel knew nature made him happy.

Then he broke his leg. No story needed, it wasn’t in a cool way. But it was pretty severe, involving ORIF surgery and various casts to be used for about half a year. Unable to go mountain biking and getting sick of Call of Duty, Rodel found interest in comics. He immersed himself in the far from natural worlds of Brandon Ghaham’s King City, Tsutomi Nihei’s Biomega, and Q Hayashida’s Dorohedoro. Inspired by the beautiful lineart of his new favorite form of enjoyment, Rodel began to practice illustration. A few years later, back on the mountain bike, and true to the cliche, Rodel developed a thing for craft beer and whisky. He also noticed that there is not a comic book out there that combines mountain biking, retro Japanese cars, bad guys in white suits, and nice beer and whisky. Not being one to be held back by the limitations of outlines and planning, he immediately started making pages. Over the next few years, he worked on the comic, creating five 22 page issues, twice. After the redo, it still didn’t really make sense, but he got a lot of drawing practice out of it.

Life went on. Rodel married a beautiful woman, went on a honeymoon, went back home, went back with his wife to where he had his honeymoon, somehow ended up just staying there. Attracted to craft beer, he finds employment with a local beer company, Okinawa Brewing. Originally, he entered thinking he will get to take part in making the beer. That wouldn’t be the case, but he did find that he enjoyed making pizza very much. At the time, the restaurant portion of the serving room was brand new and the menus were photocopied versions of the worse possible menu draft, complete with cross-outs and varied levels of penmanship. Rodel seized the opportunity to draw something that a whole bunch of strangers would have to look at.

By chance, the big artist who made a lot of the great art for Okinawa Brewing, including several epic acrylic pieces on surfboards, Hazel Cruzado, came in and saw the menus. She asked to know who the artist was and invited him to take part in a group art show to raise ecological awareness for sea turtles. Conveniently, the show would also be held at where he works. The event went very well, with all pieces being sold except one: a baby sea turtle floating away on a balloon. It received much attention but was already going to someone as a gift. Happy with the experience, Rodel continued to do art events with the same eco-minded art group at Okinawa Brewing. In between shows he also launched his own mini displays. Featured themes included the Ryukyu Ken (the island’s dog breed), Paul (his own dog), and sea life enjoying pizza and beer. Nearby, at Tacos & Coffee (Chatan, Okinawa), Rodel entered three pieces featuring his favorite of the Okinawan wildlife: the Ryukyu Sword-tailed Newt.

In March 2019, Rodel held his first large solo display at a local craft beer bar called Beear in Ginowan, Okinawa. While all thirteen pieces did feature wildlife, the theme was beer.

The following month, Rodel would do his first mural. He painted a mermaid and coral scene on Okinawa Brewing’s front wall. The piece would catch the eye of many passing tourists who would take pictures with it.

While afraid of the sea, the beauty of it has provided the inspiration and reason for much of Rodel’s success as an artist in Okinawa. He will continue to paint the beautiful creatures of the sea, especially the ones that represent his island home. But being a forest guy, he will also continue painting the creatures that he shares his mountain bike trails with.

Check out more of his stunning work on his website and follow him on Instagram.

Have a great day, Shawn M Miller.