mariannamadriz

[mariannamadriz]

Wow, sooo... a lot has happened since the last time I’ve been here. I hope everyone on this side of the internet has been keeping well and safe?

I have thankfully been ok and (fortunately) keeping busy on various projects - one of which is my brand new Skillshare class, now live!

(yep, this is my face - you can watch the full video here)

I’ve been working on this since the end of last year. The class teaches my process for digital illustration on Procreate, from inspiration to final results. It’s a step-by-step of composing a busy scene, integrating characters fully with their environment and telling a visual story. The aim of the class is to inspire your illustration on elements familiar to you, like a place you frequent or objects that you love. 

It was a learning curve to structure lessons and record everything - at times it was pretty stressful, but I was very lucky to have the Skillshare team guiding me along and giving me feedback along the way. Noelene, if you are reading this: thanks for being so patient with me, you rock!

If you don’t know Skillshare, it’s a platform where you can have unlimited access to many creative lessons for a monthly subscription. 

If you wish to have a go at it, you can sign up for a 2-month free trial here. Not only this will allow you to have a taster without investing money, but it will help support me too!

I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find a wonderful community of creatives in Skillshare, willing to help each other and give feedback. I’ve been getting some amazing responses so far, and students have been creating some wonderful projects already. I hope you can be a part of it too :-)

(yep, this is my face too)

Take the class and sign up for a 2-month free trial here.

#artistsontumblr #skillshare #onlinetutorial #illustration #comic #digitalillustration

[mariannamadriz]

Last weekend my friend Yasmine would’ve turned 29. This comic is a belated birthday gift of sorts, a very small way to remember our most joyous moments and many others not pictured: her contagious laughs, our Spanglish chats over coffee, and countless moments shared together over 7 years of friendship.

She sadly passed away last spring, as a result of a severe epileptic seizure. Almost a year later, I still can’t bring myself to delete her number or archive our WhatsApp conversations. A small part of our interactions still live in those messages, and I want to preserve them a bit longer.

So, here’s to you querida. You wonderful, unforgettable friend.

In her honour, I’ve donated the sum equivalent to her age to Epilepsy Society. If anyone would like to join me in celebrating her too (in any measure), please follow this link.

#comic #artists on tumblr #illustration

[mariannamadriz]

Hellooo Tumblr! Is anyone still around here?

I know everyone is pretty much on Instagram or Twitter (including myself), but I can’t really seem to delete my tumblr… too many years of personal process are neatly archived in this space. Maybe one day I’ll dig up some oldies and re-share them with you...

But anyway, for the sake of keeping this space ‘alive’, I’ll update you with a new mini personal piece. I’ve recently compiled a playlist of Venezuelan music and/or music by Venezuelans, and did this illustration as a cover for it. It’s a small way of paying homage to national talent, and to practice my painting.

You can listen to it all here. 

I enjoy these songs for many reasons. I’ll share five of them (representative each of a genre):

Soledad Bravo - Polo Margariteño  Folklore Soledad Bravo is a big traditional staple in Venezuelan folkloric music. Her voice roars and cracks with emotion, and the only things that go alongside it is a guitar and a cuatro (a Venezuelan 4-string guitar). When I listen to this I see the beach, the house I grew up in, every gathering with my family, every road trip.

La Chica - Oasis Experimental / Electronic French/Venezuelan La Chica masterfully creates a unique mood in this piece, combining electronic beats with piano and her ethereal voice. It heavily features nature: a bird, the sky, the sea. Like the first youtube comment says, “the only problem with this song is that it ends too fast.” 

Canserbero - Jeremias 17:15 Rap Normally I’m not really into rap except for some exceptions, and this is one of them. “I feel like a lunatic trying to trust in someone even now, in the planet of hypocrisy”. The whole song is a direct critique on the hateful regime that’s been controlling Venezuela for the past 20 years. it’s crude, hateful and violent, just like our political situation.

maye - Moody Pop A recent find, maye is set out to become a big pop force. She’s only released three singles so far, all infused with old-school 60s magic. This one though is so bouncy and catchy - a happy and sexy one, with a playful piano and a silky voice that grab you from beginning to end. 

Viniloversus - Juega bien tus cartas Rock There’s another and more recent song from Viniloversus in the playlist, but I also had to include this one because of nostalgic reasons (I listened to it loads as an angsty teenager), and because I still feel a bit of that electricity during the guitar solo. I used to think it was a song about a failed relationship, but now I think it might actually be a song about a failed country...

#venezuela #playlist #marianna madriz #illustration #venezuelan music

[mariannamadriz]

I had my birthday last week and I made this GIF in celebration! Every frame is me at different ages growing up, or an evolution of my curls.

26 was an amazing age. Let’s see if 27 is even better 👏

#marianna madriz #illustration #artists on tumblr #gif #animation #birthday

[mariannamadriz]

Last week I moved into my first ever studio space in Dalston!

For months I’d been debating with the idea of getting one, but was always held back by the concern that I couldn’t really afford it, or that it’d be best to continue working from home to save money. After much reflection, I decided to simply go for it and try it out.

Although it’s only been a week, it’s already done wonders to my work ethic! I get to share with other creatives, actually get work done (instead of procrastinating by doing my laundry, or having a 2-hour long lunch) and separate my professional practice from my home life. It’s just so important to call it a day and head home to relax for the evening, and it’s such a good feeling as well.

I’ll be sharing more studio snaps soon once I fill it up with more plants, books and work. In the meantime, I’m celebrating by doing a special shop sale! You can have a 20% discount on any of my products by using the code STUDIO20.

Offer is on until this Thursday 7th Feb and applies to orders with an £8 minimum. Go go!

#marianna madriz #artists on tumblr #illustration #studio #etsy shop

[mariannamadriz]

Some of you might have seen this post already, but in case you haven’t... I’m running a short campaign for charity! 

My dad had a heart attack a few weeks ago. Luckily this got tackled at the right time and he got taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Thanks to the amazing care of the doctors and nurses there, he’s well and recovering now at home. 

The experience made us value the NHS immensely (now I’ll think twice before complaining about it...!) and our own damn fortune, as many friends and family members in Venezuela are sadly not experiencing the same luck. Medicines there are scarce, hospitals are hardly maintained, the shortages of electricity and water make surgical and hygienic procedures almost impossible… the list goes on. A simple google will show you what a shocking situation it is, and many Venezuelans and their families (our own family too) have unfortunately faced the consequences of these subhuman conditions. I want to do my bit - To say a massive "thank you" to JRH for their amazing work two weeks ago, and also to help my folk. Therefore, I am running a short campaign. You can go and own a t-shirt (short or long sleeved) with this little heart in it - For yourself, a pal, or whoever. Christmas is around the corner after all *wink wink*. ALL profits will be donated between Oxford Hospitals Charity and Healing Venezuela (also a charity based in the UK which supplies money and equipment directly to hospitals there). If you don't want a shirt that's fine, but if you can give this a little share I would appreciate it massively. 

The campaign is on until this Friday via Mercht, and you can get your own t-shirt here.

Thank you, with all my ❤

#artists on tumblr #charity #heart #illustration #t-shirt

[mariannamadriz]

I am enormously excited to show this fantastic project I worked on last year: a children’s book about the amazing Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The book is written by Isabel Thomas and published by Laurence King, and it’s part of Little Guides to Great Lives: a brand new series of biographies for children aged 7-11, all illustrated by different Illustrators including Anke Weckmann, Dàllia Adillon, Hannah Warren, Katja Spitzer and Rachel Katstaller. 

4 years ago I went to Mexico and visited Frida’s Blue House, and it was such a moving experience to see where she grew, lived and worked. I never imagined that one day I’d get to draw her and illustrate details about her life, and her heritage. It was a dream come true!

I used many of my own photographs from the trip to aid this project, and I especially used photos I took at the Museum of Popular Art in DF (my FAVOURITE museum in the whole world) to inspire a lot of sketches. My editors Chloë and Katherine were also amazing at supplying reference photographs, helping shape Frida in my own way.

Isabel did such a wonderful job writing this book, including many quotes and passages from Frida’s personal diaries. These also served as a fantastic visual resource to inspire the overall look, helping the illustrations to be loose and passionate in places.

All books in the series are printed in pantone colours, making the illustrations (quite literally) stand out and pop up the page. With Frida we settled for Green (342U), Red (185U) and Yellow (7406U).

This was such an intense project, but also a wonderful learning experience. I couldn’t have asked for a better subject, or for a better design team. I’ll always be grateful to the LK team for the amazing opportunity!

I really hope everyone (no matter how young or old) gets to enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed drawing it. You can purchase this Little Guide from your favourite bookstore, online, or from Laurence King directly.

If you spot any in the real world please snap a photo and send it my way, it’d make me enormously happy! :-)

Last photo is from Laurence King. All others are my own.

#marianna madriz #frida kahlo #book #children's book #illustration

[mariannamadriz]

Some of you may have seen it already on my Instagram, but I got a new zine!

It’s about small thoughts, big feelings, and clouds. 

The cover is risographed in fluo pink and medium blue, and the insides are printed digitally. This edition is limited to 50, and all of these are lovingly hand cut and bound by me. 

Find it on my Etsy here :-)

#marianna madriz #zine #clothing #head in a cloud #illustration

[mariannamadriz]

Brand new Mon 🍒 t-shirts now up in my shop! They’re screen printed in heavy cotton, available in a range of sizes and also come with a set of cute mini stickers :-)

Get it here!

#marianna madriz #artists on tumblr #t-shirt #stickers #cherry

[mariannamadriz]

New pin alert! She’s a magical one.

My third pin and first hard enamel design, with blue glitter!

Get one online here.

#artists on tumblr #marianna madriz #illustration #enamel pin #magic girl

[mariannamadriz]

I’ve been working on a lot of new things for my shop and for future fairs (in Toronto for TCAF next month + DIY Art Market in London in June)! This new screen printed tote bag is now up for Pre-Order over on my Etsy. 

(I hope you all dig the crab as much as I do)

Order it here!

#illustration #marianna madriz #tote bag #screen print #artists on tumblr

[mariannamadriz]

🌷🌷 *SPRING OFFER* 🌷🌷

Free Shipping Worldwide on everything in my shop until this Monday 09/04!

Simply type * SPRINGSHIP * in checkout. Head over to my shop here.

#marianna madriz #etsy shop #artists on tumblr #spring offer #enamel pin

[mariannamadriz]

My submission for the Pictoplasma #CharacterStareDown challenge.

I mainly wanted to do an intergalactic themed thing so it could go with some random lo-fi music I did some time ago. You can listen to it here!

#animation #gif #marianna madriz #artists on tumblr #pictoplasma

[mariannamadriz]

A self portrait. :-)

You can now find me in the Women Who Draw directory.

#marianna madriz #artists on tumblr #girl #women who draw #illustration

[mariannamadriz]

Recent illustration created for Bulletin Magazine - a publication for the members of the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists. The column talks about critical appraisals and gives pointers to make sure your research is accurate.

I thought I’d roughly explain more of my process for editorial work in this post. It obviously varies from client to client, but these are usually the steps I take when delivering the final artwork. 

So it all started with this rough sketch. I always send a few options to the AD and they then choose their favourite idea:

Then the sketch is developed into a final illustration, most often digitally. For this assignment I used my new IPAD Pro + Pencil to do all the line work; it’s a tool I’m playing more with and still getting used to!

You can see a time lapse of it here:

I then finished up adding all colours digitally on Photoshop, and present a few colour variations for the client to choose:

We agree that the first option goes best with the layout of the page, and voila! It’s sent to print: 

#illustration #artists on tumblr #marianna madriz #bulletin magazine #editorial

[mariannamadriz]

(Warning: this post is a bit long and a bit cheese)

Today is an important day for me and my family, as we’ve officially been living in the UK for a DECADE. On February 2008 we left everyone we knew and everything we were used to start again in another (much colder) country. It was incredibly tough for all of us, but here we are 10 years later. They’ve been years of challenge, growth, sacrifice and achievement, of many sadnesses too, but also of many joys.

I am so thankful to my parents and my sister. They might be the most stubborn characters ever (well, me too), but they are also the most perseverant people I know. They're such amazing examples of strength, and without them I don't think I'd be half the person I am today.

Who knows what the next 10 years will bring.. I sometimes wonder if we’ll continue to build our lives in this funny little island, or if things will finally (hopefully) get better enough in Venezuela to return, or if we’ll end up in yet another place. I guess we’ll have to see what life throws at us, but I hope we remain together for as long as possible.

Here's to the next decade. A seguir echando pichón!

#drawing #artists on tumblr #venezuela

[mariannamadriz]

I took part in Hourly Comic Day for the second year in a row! First time I’m not actually at my day job and also first time I use my Ipad to do these too. I’m feeling a bit more confident about this whole comic thing :-) 

I listened to a lot of Grimes. I’m currently obsessing over Genesis, if you want to listen to it:

I rounded up some of my favourite comics of this year at the AOI website. Check the post here.

My hourlies for last year.

#hourly comic day #marianna madriz #artists on tumblr #comic #grimes