Interviewe mat Sonia Alins

The search for a mysterious and ethereal atmosphere through subtle transparency effects.

I wanted to achieve surrealistic images where the strong expressiveness of the characters contrasted with a minimalist aquatic medium.

My idea is to continue developing new artworks for this series and transform the boxes of 50 x 50 cm into larger-format artworks.

I started working on it in 2013.

The inspirational idea of this project arose when I was immersed in the production of several works for an exhibition. It came suddenly and I thought about it for weeks because, from the start, I felt that the concept was very attractive.

Currently it is a personal project but I'd be glad if a publisher or a company became interested in the project and my idea could be further developed and grow.

I have focused on this project because I always thought that both the idea and its aesthetic were innovative and allowed me to explore new forms of expression.

I acknowledge the influence of some of my favourite artists: Joseph Cornell and his boxes; Yves Klein and the beautiful aquatic sensations in some of his artworks, Francesca Woodman and her recurring use of the female figure and the surrealistic treatment of her photographs, and also the photographs by Wynn Bullock and Barbara Morgan. Even Hieronymus Bosch is always present as a referent for his narrative.

Any person who establishes a sensory communication with the work and feels a delight contemplating it.

I think the materials that I've used and the subtle and minimalist way of creating each scene are the elements that differentiate this series.

The name of this series is descriptive. Both the women and the aquatic element are essential in the pieces.

The series is completely hand made and the tools are the common ones to any collage work.

I think the most unique aspect of my artworks is the representation of the aquatic environment and the capacity, together with the expressiveness of the figures that are immersed in it, of creating a unique atmosphere.

I have worked with one person only, Juanjo Barco, who has helped me with all technical aspects of the artworks.

The works are hand made, following a very artisanal process; so, for now, technology is not present. Anyway, I am sure that technology would become critical in case of having the opportunity to transfer these pieces into large formats.

My research for the project focused almost exclusively on getting the materials that offered me the textures and different values of transparency that I needed for its realisation.

The most important challenge was to find a material that offered different degrees of visibility depending on the proximity or distance between this and the figures in the composition. It was also difficult to find a perfect solution for the colour of the background and the figures.

Nowadays, if you think you have a good artistic project, it's a very interesting option to submit it to an international competition, because it gives you the opportunity to get a huge impact and exploring amazing new opportunities.

I have learned to turn chance findings into new possibilities for artistic exploration.

Actually, I think the most relevant information has been already discussed in the previous questions. I would like to thank the members of the jury for their positive evaluation and the award.

My artistic background consists of artists such as Picasso, Goya, the surrealist painters (Dalí, for example) and some illustrators from the 1960s. When I was 23, I completed a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts at Salamanca University and, after that, I completed an Illustration master’s degree at Escola Massana in Barcelona. I also have taken part in several workshops.

I always have had the need to create. There are a lot of thoughts and feelings in my mind that I need to express and, for me, the best way is expressing them through my artistic works.

Since I was a child, I always wanted to become a creator.

I usually illustrate books but I love to create great wall paintings and other large artworks.

I think that to become a great creator it’s necessary to enrich your experience as a creator with a lot of experimentation in order to find a personal and unique artistic way.

The creation of the great designer will stay forever within us.

For me, a good design has to be a proposal that combines a good concept with an innovative aesthetic form and also a high degree of functionality.

Good designs improve the world and societies. So, people have to invest in good design.

I would like to design decorative pieces or decorate walls and I would like to design for some of my favorite brands.

Creating my “Water Women” series in large sizes would be great. I’m dreaming all the time with this possibility.

My secret ingredient is being in love with life and art.

Yves Klein, Joseph Cornell, Miquel Barceló, Pablo Picasso, Barbara Morgan, Wynn Bullock, Jheronimus Bosch, among many others.

The artwork that has always been present in my life and my artistic career is The Garden of Earthly Delights of Jheronimus Bosch.

I consider the “Water Women” series my greatest artistic project because I found exactly what I was searching and that is wonderful. These artworks show, as I wanted them to, ethereal and surreal atmospheres through different levels of transparency in the form of delicate collages.

My advice is to work steadily and be non-conformist: exploring new ways is the key to improve.

Actually I don’t know… I can’t imagine myself doing anything different from being an artist.

For me, design is the ability to create works with great concepts, very beautiful and very functional.

I'm a lucky person, I have had many many people there helping me. First of all, my family and after them, some friends and teachers.

My self-confidence, my constancy and my imagination.

Creating for customers who didn’t appreciate innovation nor originality and who just wanted the same time and time again.

In a clear and understandable way, as well as ingenious.

I’m planning to experiment with a new “Water Women” series and I’m also designing some editorial projects.

To keep experimenting and to reach aesthetic conclusions that I feel proud of.

I think people expect to see more works that excite and surprise them and I hope to do it.

Design can help creating beautiful, creative and efficient environments in order to get happier people.

I'm working on new artworks related to my “Water Women” series.

My “Water Women” series without any doubt. The artworks have had a great reception and a very interesting feedback.

I would like to see more interest in creativity and innovation.

I don’t know exactly, but I think that design has to be present in all the aspects of our life.

Actually, it depends on many factors. Each artistic project needs a different timing.

I follow an intense process of documentation and immediately afterwards I begin to draw many sketches.

Keep working, I believe in inspiration, but it needs to find you working.

Great designers create new trends and, later, this trend is followed by other designers. An original idea is always the beginning.

I use a computer and a graphics tablet in my work very often and I like technology. However, I prefer to work with manual techniques.

I have a Wacom Cintiq in my studio connected to my Mac, and I also use Adobe Photoshop CC.

For me, color is an important aspect and it is able to alter the meaning of a project. The materials help you find design solutions and discover new paths. The environment also plays an essential role defining the personality of the project.

I don’t have a favorite question but I like the idea of being asked about it because that means they are interested in my project.

I think about the starting point (how and why it was created) and the whole process to arrive to the successful conclusion.

I love to work with my husband, Juanjo Barco. We have always worked as a team and the level of complicity and mutual understanding is very high. So, of course I believe in co-design.

My husband, Juanjo Barco, we both share our own studio. For me, he is a great support and a constant influence. We are a team and he makes possible the improvement of every one of my projects.

I love reading books about artists: Jheronimus Bosch, Yves Klein, Francesca Woodman, Matisse, Picasso… They had and keep having a great effect on my designs.

Working steadily and studying the great masters’ works. That’s the key for me.

I really would like to meet Francesca Woodman and talk to her.

It is very nice to receive a recognition or award for your work because you feel it has been worth the effort, that it has been rewarded.

Purple, Corfu, paella, spring, a book, Bang & Olufsen.

I don’t have a particularly funny memory in mind, but I remember with great affection every the trips that I have been able to make around the world thanks to my projects.

Working on a good project or having a great inspiring idea, these are things that motivate me a lot, of course.

When I was a child I wanted to become an artist. When you have a passion for something, it can drive you wherever you want.

Actually, changes are happening so fast nowadays that I think any prediction would fall short.

I appreciate and thank all the support from the people who are interested in my work and I invite all of them to keep in touch with me through my website, www.soniaalins.com, and also through my profiles in Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

I've always wanted to be an artist. I know that this might be a very common answer but in my case it is true. Actually, since I was a child I always said to my family that I would become an artist. It has been my greatest passion in my life.

I'm developing two careers at the same time: On the one hand, I'm creating personal artistic projects, such as "Into the Water", now awarded in the A’Design Award & Competition category. On the other hand, I'm a freelance illustrator and I produce commercial illustration for some of the most important publishers and companies in my country.

The ability to give a soul to objects.

I love creating large-size artworks and wall paintings.

I really love Yves Klein's sponge reliefs. This series is awesome! Apart from this, I also love many of Jaime Hayón’s pieces.

My first work was an illustrated article for Elle Spain magazine in 1998.

I love working with ink and paper, but I would like to experiment with other materials such as wood, porcelain and crystal.

After watching a movie, reading a book or visiting an exhibition, my mind suddenly starts linking different ideas and many times it creates new ones.

I’m always searching a powerful narrative (a powerful story behind the work) surrounded by aesthetic beauty and sensitivity.

The process of creating an artwork usually gives me an intense feeling of happiness.

When I’m satisfied with the work done, I feel relaxed. if I’m not, I start working hard again to complete a better version.

Originality and beauty. Many times, success comes from an original viewpoint of a very ordinary concept.

The same aspects: originality and beauty.

I think it is important to investigate new paths to improve the world and I think it’s possible. Creativity is the engine of humanity and our world.

Both design and art are essential for the improvement of society giving culture to the people and providing beautiful and richer environments.

Currently, one of my awarded artworks at A’ Design Award and Competition is in the middle of a tour around the U.K. as a highlighted artwork at the World Illustration Awards 2016, a contest for illustrated projects organised by The Association of Illustrators (A.O.I.). Apart from that, I have plans to exhibit my last projects soon.

I would define myself as empathic and sensitive. Almost anything (a personal experience, an impression, a landscape) is likely to become inspiration for me. Other inexhaustible sources of inspiration are my family and my dreams. Some days I wake up with a good repertoire of ideas from my dreams. Sometimes I think my mind keeps working even when I'm asleep.

There are also artists that repeatedly feed my creativity: Goya, Picasso, El Bosco, Joseph Cornell, Yves Klein and many of the twentieth-century avant-garde artists; illustrators such as Elena Odriozola, Pablo Amargo and Isidro Ferrer; and photographers Barbara Morgan, Francesca Woodman and Chema Madoz.

Literature and poetry are also an inexhaustible source of inspiration to me.

I always define my art style as a personal combination of surrealism and visual poetry. My artworks reflect my thoughts, my fears, my feelings and my desires. So, I develop my own conceptual narrative, full of personal details.

I live in Catalonia, in Spain. Of course, I recognise the cultural baggage of my country in my artistic work and I think it’s enriching because this is a perfect basis for new generations in order to create new artistic proposals.

When I work for companies I follow the common rules in these cases. I have a briefing on which I work and I give the client my first sketches. After the client’s approval I focus on establishing the final art.

It’s important to choose a designer whose portfolio the company loves, to create a shared harmony and trust between the company and the creative. Giving him/her some freedom in that relationship is also very important.

The process normally consists of three phases: first of all, there is an extensive search for information; then, I usually draw small sketches in notebooks; and, finally, I develop the final work.

1. Crystal Candy set by Jaime Hayón

2. A book titled Casualidad by Pepe Monteserín and Pablo Amargo

3. A Taschen big size book about Jheronimus Bosch

4. My Wacom Cintiq. It makes my job easier

5. My iPhone 6s. It's my personal assistant.

I usually start my day running or practicing yoga, it gives me a healthy sense of physical and mental vitality. After having breakfast with my husband and my daughters, I spend some time reading the news and some opinion pieces.

Most of the rest of my day is for drawing. I share this time with my husband, Juanjo Barco (who is also an illustrator). I like listening to music when I’m working: I hear a lot of classical music, but my tastes are varied (I really love Björk or Estrella Morente). During the work at the studio I am very focused, within my own universe but always receptive to new stimuli.

I like to share the end of the day with my family, relax and watch a movie or read a book.

My main suggestion to young people and especially designers or artists is to be truly receptive and have passion to learn from everything that surrounds them, and to do what really excites them.

If you love this job (and this is my case) I think that, in the end, you only remember the positives. The best part of it is that feeling when you feel you have created something new that didn’t exist before: that’s something really satisfying and, in a way, something magical.

Never stop working. As Pablo Picasso said, “inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”

Intuition, permeability and a flexible personality.

My favorite tools are a nib pen and my inkwell and a lot of paper to draw on. Also, I’m always surrounded by many artists books and some music at my studio.

I love my job and I spend a lot of time every day working on it: that means hours and hours but I don’t mind because I enjoy every second of it.

Actually, it depends on many factors. Each artistic project needs a different timing.

People have asked many times: “Where do your ideas come from?”

Thanks to all that has been happening around my project, “Into the Water” has become my most important professional experience. It gave me a special mention at the 2016 World Illustration Awards and now I have been honored with an A 'Design Award. Im so happy!

On the other hand, I have very intense experiences as freelance illustrator. Maybe the most important one has been a project that I made for ArtSpire, an art academy from Shanghai. I went to China for a few weeks to do my job and those days of rewarding hard work became an unforgettable life experience.

I have worked for a wide variety of clients. Some of them have been: RBA Publishing House, Real Madrid Foundation, Vodafone, Artspire Shanghai, Diset, Santillana or Edelvives.

I enjoy creating my personal artworks, because they are full of my thoughts and ideas, they are a little extension of myself. But I also enjoy illustrating children books.

I'm working on new artworks related to “Into the Water”. I think that I need to dive more deeper into this concept. I would like produce artworks in large sizes too.

I love to work with my husband. We have always worked as a team and the level of complicity and understanding is very high.

I’m planning to experiment with a new Water Women series and I’m also designing some editorial projects.

You can visit my website at www.soniaalins.com. You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram.

No, thank you. Actually, I think It has been a very complete interview.