Do you think of drawing as a hobby or work?
I think of drawing as a creative work.

Which media/process do you use mainly creating works?
Very simple: I usually start the drawings with the thick black felt pen, then I scan it and add colours with Photoshop.

Have you ever eaten a crayon?
Well, I think that question is for my little son Noah!
I haven’t eaten a crayon yet, but one day I mistook one for a cigarette.

Tell us about the Coca Cola project..
It’s was an animation for a TV spot (San Antonio, Texas) and managed by Productora de Video en Barcelona. They were looking for some Latin mood type of look imagery and so they’ve called me for the project. First I did a storyboard and once it was approved we animated the drawings in a frame by frame style according to the rhythm of the music they’ve sent me as a guide.

Which is more creative, illustration or animation?
Any of them is more than the other, both are creative the same.

Want Flavio to work on a project for you? Contact us here

Irene Fenollar is an illustrator from Valencia. She is currently  finishing a Masters at the University Politéctina of Valencia

Do you prefer to work from your own ideas or storyboard?When I create personal projects I follow my own ideas. I’m very intuitive and experiment very much with forms, textures and colors. When I create a work for a client I am more careful, and prefer having a script as detailed as possible. I have the script nearby always, I read it often and remember the aims of the work. I always try to do the best possible, even if I don’t like the topic.

Is illustrating for an animation a different process than for static images, do you have to simplify them a bit? To create an animation is very different to making a static image. In general the process that I follow in a static image is: I look for images and articles about the topic that I am going to depict, and near to what I want to express. Then there’s the phase of design and study of composition, in which I try to form my ideas in many sketches until I find the one I’m looking for. The last step is the digitalization of the handmade drawings and I usually color with a graphical tablet.

To create an animation the process is slightly more complicated because you must add the preparation of a storyboard, and study the movement. Every character must have a different personality according to his or her physical and psychological characteristics, and it must be reflected in his or her way of acting.

Are blogs and other social media important tools for sharing your work?Yes, I think it’s very important because it offers you the amazing possibility of showing your work worldwide. It is a great advantage to be able to communicate with other designers, artists, or companies of any part of the world, particularly for creative fields. Without Internet, and especially without blogs, it wouldn’t be possible.

Your favourite illustration and why?My favorite illustration of all those I have done till now is ‘My obsessions’, I think I have expressed the tension without losing empathy.

And the last meal you ate….

Sushi.

Fabio Couto was born in Brazil and now resides in London. He’s a freelance designer & illustrator that has an impressive portfolio, featuring a cover he designed for the Brazil edition of COMPUTER ARTS in December 2007. Fabio kindly agreed to speak to blur Designs and become one of our designer spotlights.

Your work being so varied, do you consider yourself an Illustrator or designer?I’m a designer who likes to illustrate. Both professions have some points in common. I like to think I’m somewhere in between, but looking back at my professional work, it’s mostly composed by design projects… but, yeah, I still think I’m somewhere in between.

What’s the biggest difference working in London compared with Brazil?I have recently started to work at We Are VI, which is better organized and structured than most studios I know in Brazil. The creative and friendly atmosphere is the same, but the projects and clients are much bigger. In Brazil there are tons of amazing designers and studios too. Names such as, Guilherme Marconi, Adhemas Batista and Will Murray are known worldwide. Although usually the best opportunities remain in big cities like Rio, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre. Brazil is huge, so it’s really hard for designers who live apart from these cities.

I guess I was lucky because I had the chance to work with a few international clients. That’s one of the cool things about technology today, you can work at home or in a small studio and get global clients. Nevertheless, I think clients are pretty much the same everywhere, so you have to face the same challenges like short deadlines, low budgets and lots of competition.

Where does your creativity come from?I guess it comes when you’re not trying to be creative. Sometimes during a walk, at the bus, taking a shower or even in the middle of the night (Sometimes I get up at night and write down ideas so I won’t forget them the next day).

If you were a biscuit, what biscuit would you be?You must have similar products here in the UK, but in Brazil there’s this biscuit that tastes a little bit like an Oreo, but it’s shaped like faces with different expressions. I’d be one of those because it would be a surprise each time.

The one piece of advice you would give to any designer?OK. Just a few thoughts:

- Networking is everything. Good contacts are better than a rock star portfolio.

- Believe in yourself but don’t be arrogant. A five minute Google search will show you tons of brilliant designers.

- Develop a style but be flexible. If you want to have a long professional career you have to do what the client needs, not what you like.

- If you’re a freelancer you have to be more organized and professional than the others. Most people go freelance so they won’t have a routine, but often find that if they don’t adopt a routine. they will probably starve.

- Love print, love digital. If you’re a cross-media designer you’ll have twice the opportunities.

- Invest time on personal projects. They will improve your skills, your portfolio and are the only ones where you’re completely free to be creative.