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Editorial Illustration

The whole family on board.

Cover of El Tatano magazine: a family of astronauts and their dog float in space around a rocket, with the little horse from the logo in a helmet

A cover and interiors for El Tatano.

A proposal for this Catalan children’s magazine for readers aged 4 to 8. On every cover, the little horse beside the magazine’s name joins the scene; here, the whole family sets off on an adventure, dog included, and the horse comes along for the ride. Inside, the challenge was to illustrate within the magazine’s existing layouts, without moving a single line of text.

Format
children’s magazine, cover and interior pages
Readers
ages 4 to 8
Role
illustrator
Layout
existing magazine layouts, in Catalan and French
Technique
analog + digital: hand-made watercolor textures and brushes

Developed at EINA, Barcelona, under the guidance of Roger Zanni

Activity spread in French: a spot-the-difference game with two rockets, and astronauts with tangled cables
Black-and-white spread in Catalan, “Anem a comprar”: shops, characters and a shopping list
Pencil stage, before inking: the illustrations were fitted into the existing layout without moving the text.

Process

I work in stages: first a pencil sketch on the layout, which I present for review, and only then do I ink and add color. That way each illustration respects the space of the text from the start.