Seeking the Creative: Alba, Illustrator

CREDIT: Alba

How would you describe your art in three words?

Friendly, simplicity (in a good way), cheerful.

Spanish artist Alba illustrates to find beauty in the everyday, ordinary life. Her illustrations are saturated with joy and warmth evoked through charming characters with bouncing hair and wide eyes and great attention to atmospheric colors and lighting. Though she has been drawing since a young age, Alba began working in her specific art style during the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, pursuing themes that deal with commonplace objects and scenes, and incorporate seasonal elements and stylized objects. She has since approached her craft with determination, working 8 hours each day to achieve mastery over both cool and warm color palettes, as well as stunningly clean lines. Her biggest wish is to keep creating what she likes, having fun while she illustrates.

Where/how do you gather inspiration?

I love to stare at the art I like and ask myself what it is that I like so much about it, be it in illustrations or paintings from the artists I admire, movies, video games… I tend to find myself thinking “why is it that I like this so much?”, “What makes this so special, and how could I include it in my work?”, things like that. I’m also a person who gets a little overwhelmed when taken out of her routine, so I’m so focused on finding beauty and happiness in the ordinary (like my bio says). I mostly get the most inspired to draw when I’m relaxed and doing activities like cooking, folding clothes, taking a walk… They give me so much peace and I think there’s so much beauty in that, so that’s what I tend to express in my art.

What do you hope audiences retain from your work?

When I was a child I thought that I wanted to make people happy with my art, and I guess I still think that. When people tell me that my art makes them feel good in some way, that’s when I feel like it’s worth it! I want them to find a little comfort in my pieces and think that life is beautiful and that we can find joy in the smallest details. I also hope that they can retain the message that being kind and working for the causes in which you believe is so necessary in the times we’re living, so it doesn’t end up being a matter of finding happiness by just ignoring what’s wrong with the world.