“And what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without picture or conversation?”. All through my childhood, I’ve been told that books with pictures were silly, not a sign of a mature and sophisticated reader. But some of my favorite books have been the ones I grew up with, the ones with pictures and doodles! And over the course of the pandemic, I find myself drawn to them once again, the colors and joy.
My fascination led to interview Maria Gabriela, the illustrator of a children’s book titled The Magical Dandelion. The Brazilian graphic designer and illustrator grew up loving to draw and paint which led her to graphic design. While working in ad agencies and completing her graduation, Maria found her passion for illustration revive. And by her sixth semester at São Paulo State University (UNESP), she realized she wanted to pursue a career in children’s illustration.
This spark led Maria and her three friends to work on a children’s book for a university project, a project that would end up coming to life in the latter half of 2018.
Here's how the rest of the interview went-
How is your personality reflected in your work?
I like to think that I'm a joyful person, haha. I found out I really like bright colors and I love the influence of light in illustrations. I wish to transmit a good and comfortable mood through my illustrations.
Describe your art style in 3 words.
Colorful, happy, and cute.
What themes do you pursue?
I wish to always add some kind of diversity in my works, be it for professional or personal works. One of the reasons I started illustrating for good is to be able to represent a few groups of people that I feel are underrepresented in media. As a child, it was hard for me to relate to characters because, at the time, almost none of them had my hair texture or my skin tone, and I think that led me to have a hard time accepting who I am. Therefore, diversity is always a priority for me so more kids and people (especially women) can see themselves in what I do.
Do you think habits/ or the monotony of routine hinders creativity?
I do believe it can have an impact on productivity and creativity in general, but it can definitely vary from person to person. Because of the pandemic, I can't really go out and hang out at the park, experience new things, see friends, so I believe this was impactful for me. Since I'm always at home, I tend to most of the time thinking about work, and that's not very healthy ha-ha. Because of this, I try not to be so hard on myself and I'm trying to build a flexible routine so I can tolerate the stress, and so I can do my work and create new things.
Can you describe your process of making your work?
I start looking for references. I create a Pinterest board and add everything related to the project there. I add photo references, other illustrations and paintings, and interesting color palettes. I usually start sketching directly in Photoshop, I draw a rough sketch and clean it up, just so I can see the shapes more clearly. After that, I do a color test, where I roughly paint the sketch to know which colors to use and where they will go. Then I start color blocking the shapes, add shadow, and (that's my favorite part) add highlights and colorful lighting if possible.
If you could work within a past art movement, which would it be?
That might be a bit cliché but I think the one I relate to the most is Art Nouveau! I love the details, compositions, and shapes artists utilized in their works.
Guilty pleasure?
From time to time I watch some movies and television series I really enjoyed when I was a kid, for example, the High School Musical franchise. I love the soundtrack too, and even though I might cringe watching, I still love it.
What gives you the most joy? What gives you the least joy?
Talking to my parents gives me the most joy, I love catching up to what they are doing and it's amazing how supportive they are of me and my career. Right now, what is giving me the least joy is feeling frustrated whenever I can't draw, or just feeling demotivated in general. It's very difficult to work creatively this way.
Which medium of art frustrates you the most?
From early on I decided I wanted to draw digitally, so, at least right now, whenever I try other mediums it is for fun and relaxation. So, I don't think any medium frustrates me, I just get frustrated when I'm not motivated/can't draw something and I have to do it.
Name three artists that inspire you
Gaby Zermeño, Beatrice Blue, and Geneva Bowers are a few of the people I admire.
What’s your favorite artwork you’ve created and why?
I think my favorite right now is the Glow series I did this year. It was the first time in a while since I'd done any personal work, and I felt very proud of myself for completing it. I really like it because I love drawing women, and it was very fun to relate them to flowers and plants that I love and see in my everyday life. I also really liked the mystical atmosphere I was able to create with all the colors. I admit that the minute I finished it I saw 'mistakes' and wanted to change them, haha, but I'm in the process of embracing my mistakes and trying to see the beauty of them. (images 02, 05, 08 attached below)
How does your process for illustrating book covers differ? What variables do you have to be aware of whilst designing?
Designing a cover is very challenging for me because you have to convey the key point of the story and 'sell it' in one illustration. I start making thumbnails of ideas to send to the client. There are a few variables you need to consider: you have to make sure the message is clear and that the characters and title are readable/easy to understand in a small thumbnail. I usually thought about it as if the book was on a shelf at a bookstore. However, mainly during this pandemic, a lot of people buy books online, scrolling through a lot of thumbnails of books, so you have to think about how to catch their attention on that small thumbnail! (images of cover and thumbnails attached)
If you were a new color in a crayon box, what color would you be?
I would be aqua-green; I absolutely love this color. :)
How does your culture/environment influence your art?
I think Brazil is really known for being very bright, warm, and colorful and I definitely add this to my illustrations. Also, I grew up in a place where people are very diverse and I want to see that in the scenes I draw.
Brazil is a huge place and there are a lot of cultures within our country, and I wish to explore more of it in future personal work, mainly the North-eastern culture, where my family comes from.