Website: lorenaalvarez.com
1. When you were my age (9), did you like to read?
Yes, I loved to read when I was your age! My favorite books were those about nature, I was really interested in understanding how our planet and the universe works. I think I still am. I did like the books teacher assigned us at school, but I used to browse into my parents’ bookshelf too.
2. What is a book that made an impact on you?
I should mention that the first book that got fixated in my memory was Gnomes written by Wil Huygen and illustrated by Rien Poortvliet. I still remember how fascinated I was looking at the illustrations of the gnomes living and working in trees and taking care of the forest. It was really clever how the stories combined fantasy and actual facts about plants and animals from those places. I still look at that book from time to time, it reminds me why I love to draw.
3. Is it hard to come up with book and illustration ideas?
I think that you need a lot of patience, because when you’re writing something you are opening yourself to a new experience and it takes time and discipline to make sense of it. When I started to write my own stories I would get upset because I couldn’t came up with a complete idea right away, I had to understand that it was possible to start from small things, an image, a memory and build my storytelling from there. It also takes patience to understand that sometimes your stories won’t be as good or interesting you want them to be, I still learning to deal with that!
4. What author or book have read recently that impacted you?
I have two authors in mind. One is Molly Mendoza with Skip, a beautiful comic book that is not only a feast for the eyes but also has a fabulous story, I really admire her work. Another author is Emil Ferris, her debut comic My Favorite Thing is Monsters really made me think about how much you can experiment with drawing and writing in comic books.
5. Is there a new or lesser known author or illustrator you think kids should be aware of?
There’s a lot of Colombian authors and illustrators I’d love to be known everywhere! I admire a lot the work of Paula Ortiz, Henry González, Paola Escobar and Catalina Vasquez, they are all remarkable illustrators and story tellers.
6. What advice do you have for a kid who wants to be an illustrator?
These are things that I’ve learned so far:
Trust your gut and be disciplined.
Be open to try new things.
Share your ideas with people who also likes to draw.
Even if you choose another profession, don’t stop drawing.
7. How do you make your illustrations- by hand, on the computer or ??
I always start with a pencil sketch, I really like to draw with blue and red pencils. Then I scan them and color them on Procreate or Photoshop. Sometimes when I’m working for an exhibition I use acrylics or watercolors. Most of my work is digitial, but I really enjoy working with traditional media.
8. If you could portal into any book (yours or another person’s), what book would it be?
that’s a good question! I would choose Mommy? by Maurice Sendak, is not only one of the funniest books I’ve ever seen and I love how horror movie icons are portrayed in such a warm way, besides it is a pop up book, so you feel like you have a lot to explore in each page.
