My name is André Peixoto, also known by Bifas by friends, fellow teachers and others.

I began my art path in 2015 when I choose the Visual Arts course in my school, where I did not learn the basics of drawing at all actually. My teacher was the one who gave me programming classes before, harsh. The most important thing that happened in this course and period of my life, where I studied a lot because I wanted to enter the Fine-Arts Lisbon School, was actually the activism I started doing at 15 with Amnesty Internacional. And I am still doing it. I love human rights and do care for people and look and society in a more empathic way which would be rather crucial for my artistic mind. Being said I finished the Visual Arts course in 2018 entering in Fine-Arts Lisbon, to study Multimedia Arts. Well, I was rather disappointed at the time since I wanted Concept Art and follow it, since it was in the description of the degree. But never did I study something, I had a lot of classes of other courses in the school, and in the first year I did not know how to draw so it was shocking for me and my ilustration professor, that used my work to show how low the school was accepting students. I started learning the basics and practicing in the COVID era, my last year of the course basically, but was already trying to do some stuff before so it will be the fourth year of drawing for me this year. Still in the Fine-Arts School I had the best class, the Comic one, given by Joana Afonso, an artist in Portugal. It was the time that I was most motivated to actually work on something.

After graduating, I would do study drawing every day and invest a lot of time in learning all I could and pratice it. I built a portfolio and did a work for a card game.

I also worked on technical drawing using something similar to autocad but for apple system only. There I did the planing and plans for 4G and 5G antenas in buildings or other places where the company wanted. I drew and made the construction, while having to imagine how would fit, following the measures and in perspective. It was rather helpful. I stopped when the projects ended.

The most important thing is that in 2021 I met Rafael, the writter of Heaven's Strands that liked my art, and we started a partnership and have been developping the project since then to be best we know the project can be. My skills got a little better and we are now on the kick off. Me and my now very important friend Rafael, with a very promising project that we have put a lot of effort on, because we know, even after getting rejected by some, that we can reach higher. We work to get better and take the negative to positive. We made 5 pages simulating what the comic would be like and the quality was not there yet. So I kept sketching and training while showing Rafa so we could make a better work each time we tried something. Then, finally, we came with a one shot with some pages that I made without dialogue to see how we could lead the narrative with only panels and action, guiding the eyes of the reader. It was very appreciated among people that have blogs among Portugal community and we got some light finally on the path. Now the plan is keeping to grow and make something that outlives us.

In my life I also have a work on a book, a stone painted with the Van Gogh night sky. Did the missão país volunteer, a church one thought I am not a believer. I also was the main actor in a theater piece in my school in 2012. I do design work for Dínamo, a social association in Sintra. I still do work with amnesty, I worked aproaching people on the streets, I was the figure of the "Stop Bullying" project, being choosen to go to Italy, Sicilia where we did a flashmob. I participated in endless things with amnesty in Portugal, now I usually do education, helping organizing school meetings and national ones.

I also love photography and won a Canon contest which led me to actually photograph a football game, Sporting vs Belenenses, in 2019.

If you want to check a left handed, colourblind, born in 11th Sept. you can see it here:

https://bifas.myportfolio.com/home