Artist Makes Witty And Quirky Inanimate Object Illustrations That Are Oddly Relatable
Have you ever been excited to see your favorite book getting a movie adaptation just to be left utterly disappointed? Or know all too well what it’s like to face the early mornings after your alarm clock went off and you haven’t gotten even nearly enough of that good night’s sleep?
Well, Malaga-based animator and 3D illustrator Nacho Diaz Arjona (also known on his social media platforms as Naolito, and previously featured) answers these questions in a series of clever and quirky illustrations that depict relatable and mostly everyday scenarios.
The artist’s cute cartoon drawings personify food, nature, and other ordinary objects as he makes sure to inject some light-hearted humor into those awkward moments most of us somehow end up in regularly.
h/t: boredpanda
“I really love Bored Panda and I love getting the chance to see my art shared here as well! In most cases, I find that humor is the best way to connect with people. I try to make my art universal, so I use objects and elements surrounding us to represent human emotions. I try to make my audience feel like the illustration is talking about them because I feel like it’s the whole point of it,” Nacho told Bored Panda.
Rendered digitally by using a drawing tablet and the well-known software Adobe Photoshop, Naolito starts by first sketching out countless ideas of his ideas on a simple blank canvas. He then looks back at them a few weeks later and if he still finds them funny and relatable, he takes it upon himself to refine them into a fully finished product that he can share with his audience.
First, we asked the artist if he had any major influences in his life that might’ve helped him to develop and refine his style.
“When I started drawing, Pandaluna, Nesk, and Readystyle were my major influencers. Nowadays, I follow some 3D animators that inspire me a lot, like Luciano Muñoz and Daniel Martinez Lara.”
“Normally, I usually spend some time every day thinking about new concepts, but when one of them is defined, it takes me about a couple of hours to execute the final illustration. It wasn’t always like this, as it took me so many years of training to get to this point! (At the beginning, I spent more than a week creating just a single design!) As you could guess, it’s very important to plan the idea, style, perspective, etc. before you execute it.”
Being an artist is not easy: one can easily encounter a lack of inspiration, burnout, etc. so we wanted to ask the talented illustrator about his ideas for art.
“My inspiration is my daily life. For example, I draw food a lot because I love food. When I created the ‘Before and After’ series, I tried to show the most common human routines (our worries, what makes us happy, etc.) and most people found themselves relating to them.”
“I do love creative work in all terms! Probably, most of you know me as an illustrator, but I am also a full-time 3D animator since last year, and I now create my own animated short stories. I love storytelling and of course, I enjoy creating characters that finally can move… it is awesome! Besides, I consider myself a creative handy person, as I do love crafts, carpentry… (I built all the storage and furnishing of my own stores by myself).”
“Personally, I had the opportunity to experience these reactions when I had the stores in Barcelona. I often worked on the top floor of one of them and I really enjoyed it when a lot of people came into it and started laughing when they saw the designs on the walls. They took photos with me and sometimes they asked me to sign the art prints, which made me so proud. I’ve never forgotten this beautiful time.”
“Every part is interesting and for me, it’s important to enjoy every step to get the most powerful results. Certainly, I do not enjoy when I have to repeat the same things a few times. That’s why my projects are not so long and they usually are different from one to another.”
“The aim was always to share my work with all the people that love cute cartoons: In the beginning, I started with a blog where I posted my drawing progress every day. Then I jumped on Facebook creating some pages and community groups to help other artists, and finally, I became very popular on Instagram. I’m glad to receive lots of supportive messages, I’m really thankful to all my followers.”
“Basically, I’ve been a digital artist for all my life. When I was a child, sometimes I used to draw with pencils and oil painting (as my mother does nowadays) but as soon as I got the chance to get a computer, I used it to draw (and programming, but it is a different story). It lets me experiment with different things quicker and nowadays I feel comfortable working on my drawing tablets.”
“For me it’s definitely curiosity. I really love to create new characters and give them life. I always dreamed of being an animator and finally, I got it! But I’m always studying and learning new ways to work (from illustration to animation as well). It may sound hard, but I think that you can always improve your work, and I enjoy knowing that tomorrow I can find better solutions to my own approaches. I enjoy discovering new forms of creativity and applying them to my daily routine. That is my true motivation.
At the moment, I continue drawing comic strips that I post regularly on my IG, but I’m also currently working on ‘Homework,’ an animated short film that I presented on Kickstarter a few months ago.”
