Here we share one of our favorite editorials from Hooligans Magazine issue 19 by one of our favorite photographers Eliza Logan. You can read the magazine for free or buy it HERE.
Your mind is being pulled in hundreds of different directions. Thoughts are tangling up, transforming and warping into a surreal world of just traces of thoughts as you begin dreaming... You fall asleep...
Traces is a collaboration between a photographer Eliza Logan and an illustrator Clara Encinas. Based on opposite sides of the world they decided to create something unique together. The Traces story features Clara’s illustrations entan- gled in portraits Eliza photographed. Together they created a story visualizing the moment of drifting away to sleep- a unique combination of pencil drawings and photography.
Hi Clara! Your drawings are incredible! Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get your start with art?
Hi everyone! Thank you so much! My name is Clara, I am 25 years old and I was born in a small village in southern Spain. I am a freelance illustrator and a huge cat lover!
I loved drawing when I was a girl. I preferred coloured pencils and colouring books before any other toy. I carried them everywhere. I think I was an artist at heart before even knowing who or what an artist was.
When I was a little older, I started to be interested in the work of the illustrators and to buy all the illustrated albums that I saw. I fell in love with the profession!
I graduated from Fine Arts and studied a Master of Graphic Design. My first job was as a graphic designer, but I always wanted to be an illustrator and I realized that I had to work to get it. So since a few months ago, I'm a full-time freelance illustrator!
Do you do your sketches by hand or digitally?
Both of them! Almost all my illustrations are by hand. I like to make sketches by hand to practice, have fun or when I do not have an idea of the final illustration that I want to do. When I have a sketch by hand that I like, I start to make a final sketch digitally. Making the final sketch digitally is very useful because you can change sizes or positions very quickly. When I am happy with the sketch, I print it and use it as a base to make the final illustration using a light box.
What is your favorite medium to work in?
I love graphite! I also like coloured pencils and collage. I prefer dry media, but I have always wanted to learn to use watercolours. I love its transparency and the fact that you can let a shape show through another. Some of my favorite illustrators use this technique.
Sometimes I also like to draw digitally, especially when I want to make illustrations with flat and bright colors or use them for more modern designs.
What is the hardest thing for you to draw?
Landscapes are the hardest thing to draw for me. I get nervous every time I have to put a background to my illustrations. So I dropped leaving the white background. Maybe because I do not practice much with them, but I am trying to improve my skills in that subject.
To draw feet is also difficult for me. Yes, feet. The truth is this was the reason why I drew my first barefoot girl was to practice. Then I liked the result and now they almost never wear shoes. I think that is how I work harder to get them to look well.
Where do you draw your inspiration from? (no pun intended ;))
Ideas can come from anywhere! I am very inspired by nature and art, but also by the work of other artists. I have many botanical books and fashion magazines - children's fashion magazines are fantastic! They are full of magic, color and movement. They are much more creative and crazy than the magazines that only show serious and rigid adults. Your magazine is a great source of inspiration for me!!
I am also inspired by poetry. Alejandra Pizarnik is my favorite writer and her books are amazing. I think that her world sometimes looks like mine.
You have quite the following on social media- how do you think social media helps artists like yourself?
I think that social media is a very useful tool for artists. I can show my just finished work and even share the creation process. It allows me to reach many different people, magazines, publishers and brands that can support my work or hire me. Also, you can get in touch with all of them quickly!
On the other hand, they are not only useful to show my illustrations. I follow more than 300 incredible artists on Instagram! Illustrators, writers, designers, sculptors, painters, photographers ... I can see their work, exchange opinions and learn from them. If social media did not exist, I probably could never have known them or enjoyed their art.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Wow! This is a difficult question. I have always wanted to be a book illustrator. That is my main goal at the moment, so that would be great if I can be there already in five years! Hopefully, I will have managed to publish a nice book! I would like to be living in another country, maybe in a city far away with a culture very different from mine.
Anyway, I would like to continue telling stories. I only hope that, when people see my work, they will continue traveling a little in their imagination.
What is your wildest dream?
As an illustrator, to publish a book with Rebecca Dautremer! Although this is more an impossible dream than a wild dream haha. She is my favorite illustrator and I think that she is incredibly talented using color and the best at creating scenes.
As a person, I would like to travel around the world. I would love to visit those countries that are covered by snow all year. Do not you think that Greenland and its colorful houses are beautiful?
Where can we buy your amazing artwork?
I have an Etsy shop where you can find prints of my illustrations and other goodies. New things every month! Here is the link: etsy.com/es/shop/ClaraEncinas
Thanks for support my work!
Hi everyone! Thank you so much! My name is Clara, I am 25 years old and I was born in a small village in southern Spain. I am a freelance illustrator and a huge cat lover!
I loved drawing when I was a girl. I preferred coloured pencils and colouring books before any other toy. I carried them everywhere. I think I was an artist at heart before even knowing who or what an artist was.
When I was a little older, I started to be interested in the work of the illustrators and to buy all the illustrated albums that I saw. I fell in love with the profession!
I graduated from Fine Arts and studied a Master of Graphic Design. My first job was as a graphic designer, but I always wanted to be an illustrator and I realized that I had to work to get it. So since a few months ago, I'm a full-time freelance illustrator!
Do you do your sketches by hand or digitally?
Both of them! Almost all my illustrations are by hand. I like to make sketches by hand to practice, have fun or when I do not have an idea of the final illustration that I want to do. When I have a sketch by hand that I like, I start to make a final sketch digitally. Making the final sketch digitally is very useful because you can change sizes or positions very quickly. When I am happy with the sketch, I print it and use it as a base to make the final illustration using a light box.
What is your favorite medium to work in?
I love graphite! I also like coloured pencils and collage. I prefer dry media, but I have always wanted to learn to use watercolours. I love its transparency and the fact that you can let a shape show through another. Some of my favorite illustrators use this technique.
Sometimes I also like to draw digitally, especially when I want to make illustrations with flat and bright colors or use them for more modern designs.
What is the hardest thing for you to draw?
Landscapes are the hardest thing to draw for me. I get nervous every time I have to put a background to my illustrations. So I dropped leaving the white background. Maybe because I do not practice much with them, but I am trying to improve my skills in that subject.
To draw feet is also difficult for me. Yes, feet. The truth is this was the reason why I drew my first barefoot girl was to practice. Then I liked the result and now they almost never wear shoes. I think that is how I work harder to get them to look well.
Where do you draw your inspiration from? (no pun intended ;))
Ideas can come from anywhere! I am very inspired by nature and art, but also by the work of other artists. I have many botanical books and fashion magazines - children's fashion magazines are fantastic! They are full of magic, color and movement. They are much more creative and crazy than the magazines that only show serious and rigid adults. Your magazine is a great source of inspiration for me!!
I am also inspired by poetry. Alejandra Pizarnik is my favorite writer and her books are amazing. I think that her world sometimes looks like mine.
You have quite the following on social media- how do you think social media helps artists like yourself?
I think that social media is a very useful tool for artists. I can show my just finished work and even share the creation process. It allows me to reach many different people, magazines, publishers and brands that can support my work or hire me. Also, you can get in touch with all of them quickly!
On the other hand, they are not only useful to show my illustrations. I follow more than 300 incredible artists on Instagram! Illustrators, writers, designers, sculptors, painters, photographers ... I can see their work, exchange opinions and learn from them. If social media did not exist, I probably could never have known them or enjoyed their art.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Wow! This is a difficult question. I have always wanted to be a book illustrator. That is my main goal at the moment, so that would be great if I can be there already in five years! Hopefully, I will have managed to publish a nice book! I would like to be living in another country, maybe in a city far away with a culture very different from mine.
Anyway, I would like to continue telling stories. I only hope that, when people see my work, they will continue traveling a little in their imagination.
What is your wildest dream?
As an illustrator, to publish a book with Rebecca Dautremer! Although this is more an impossible dream than a wild dream haha. She is my favorite illustrator and I think that she is incredibly talented using color and the best at creating scenes.
As a person, I would like to travel around the world. I would love to visit those countries that are covered by snow all year. Do not you think that Greenland and its colorful houses are beautiful?
Where can we buy your amazing artwork?
I have an Etsy shop where you can find prints of my illustrations and other goodies. New things every month! Here is the link: etsy.com/es/shop/ClaraEncinas
Thanks for support my work!
