Growing up, Victor Davila, a graphic design and illustration professor at UCF, aspired to be a comic book illustrator or a Disney Animation artist; now he gets to do some of that and teach the future art designers.

Davila’s interest in and desire to pursue graphic design stemmed from a childhood dream. 

“When I was a kid, I either wanted to be a comic book illustrator or an animator,” Davila said. “Graphic design is something that started to come into my head in high school.”

Davila is able to work on various projects, even as he serves as a professor at UCF, he works as an illustrator and graphic designer.

“I do a lot of illustration, and I have a children’s book coming out in January for Simon Spotlight called ‘Beep Bop Boop’, which I illustrated for author Ethan Long,” Davila said. 

Davila also works on pro-bono projects in graphic design. He is working on projects for a non-profit company in New York called Adaptive Designs and an on-campus organization, Limited Solutions.

“I try to keep busy with a lot of different things,” Davila said. “I try to bring that expertise back into the classroom to be able to teach my students with.” 

Although Davila hoped to grow up to work at Disney Animation or become a comic book illustrator, he’s been able to work on projects that reflect those dreams through his profession in graphic design and as a college professor.

“In my head, I thought I would end up as a Disney feature animator or something like that, but I’m just happy it turned out this way,” Davila said.

Davila said that due to changes in the world of animation, specifically in the Florida market for jobs, he is grateful that he decided on the graphic design track.

“I always think that the graphic design program kind of saved me in a lot of ways,” Davila said. “Because a couple of years afterwards, with the transition to cell animation from traditional animation … the animation studios in Florida, or that were planning to move to Florida, like Disney feature animation, ended up shutting down and moving back to California.”

Davilla said his reasoning of gratitude for the opportunity to become a professor of graphic design and arts helped ground him.

“I had a lot of friends who lost their jobs that were illustrators who are incredibly talented,” Davila said. “I think by having a foot firmly in graphic design, I think it kind of saved me from a lot of the struggles that some of those friends have.”

Through Davila’s work, he gets to not only do illustration work in his field but also teach the craft he cares for. Davila plans to stay as a UCF professor for the foreseeable future and continue being a part of the community. 

“I’m thankful, but I don’t have to leave to continue the things in illustration and design,” Davila said. “So I think unless they kick me out, I’ll probably for the foreseeable future, continue teaching as much as I can.”

Davila has been at UCF since 2001, and has been a professor since 2011.

“I’ve been teaching since 2011, so this is year 14!” Davila said. “Before that, I worked on campus in a different office for ten years before that, I worked at the center for distanced learning.”

As part of the design and arts community, he serves as club sponsor for AIGA Orlando and We in Animation and founded the Central Florida Illustrator Collective.

The UCF professor views graphic design as an essential part of our everyday lives and communication, explaining why he enjoys being a part of this world and teaching it.

“It’s so ubiquitous in our day-to-day lives that it helps you communicate ideas in such a succinct way; it has a power to change lives,” Davila said. 

Davila is entering his 14th year as a graphic design and illustration professor and hopes to keep teaching until told otherwise. Once aspiring to be an illustrator himself, the UCF professor now hopes others follow his path and become teachers.