Spotlight Illustration: Inma Hortas
(Copyright © Inma Hortas, 2023)
1. Can you tell us a bit about your journey as a creative? How did you start in illustration?
Hi everyone, I’m Inma Hortas, an award-winning illustrator, former corporate art director and designer and generalist illustrator for 10+ years. I actually "found" my own style and voice during the pandemic, when I completely switched my career towards full-time illustration and since then I'm the most happy illustrator you could find in a work-related sense.
I find motivation in human stories and realities, intimate struggles, minorities issues, and I feel especially committed to the body positivity movement, lgtbq+community and feminism.
Definitely representation matters to me and I do believe everyone deserves love (self-love primarily), respect and joy! so my goal is bringing all those abstract positive feelings into my illustration work and spreading the word.
2. How has your style evolved and changed over time? Do you actively shape it or is it changing organically?
I don't think too much about my style, I just let it flow organically, as I'm much more interested in enjoying the process, otherwise I risk burning out. What I do consciously is try to work on diverse topics and experiment with lettering and animation, which makes my day-to-day life much more fun. Hopefully I'll find the time to play a lot more in the near future.
3. How do you find and connect with clients? Do you rely on social media, networking, or other platforms? How do you promote your work?
I don’t rely on social media, I think most art directors don’t keep track of our work on social media at all, it helps to give a good first impression though. My main tool is my website, which is what I show when I explain what I do, and I simply reach out by email in the first place. I use social media as an additional promotional tool, along with entering some competitions to put my illustrations in front of potential commissioners. Most of my clients are previous ones that come back to me more than once, to be honest. Lucky me!
'Signs You’re Stress Eating' for The Girlfriend from AARP (Copyright © Inma Hortas, 2023)
4. Do you work independently or collaborate with an agent, agency, or other creatives? Why did you choose this setup?
I work independently at the moment. I feel confident dealing with contracts and legal aspects on my own. Setting a proper quote for every commission may be tricky though, overall I’m comfortable right now thanks to the brilliant assistance of the AOI and the illustration community. In my experience, illustrators are the most generous colleagues I’ve ever met #strongertogether indeed, I do love the sense of belonging I feel and the support I give and receive openly. I often collaborate with other creatives, which I want to do much more. Only great things come from creative humanpower!
I think that both independence and representation are good options, as the support of an illustration agency can also be very useful in the vast majority of cases. The key is to find the right partner, as in any other relationship, in my opinion, fair conditions for both parties and the same level of commitment as a starting point.
5. What is the most challenging part of being an illustrator/graphic designer/photographer for you?
Being a creative freelancer is a challenge in itself, but as an employee, there are always pros and cons too. I would say that isolation is a challenge, especially if you work alone most of the time. That is why, in my opinion, local and online associations and communities of illustrators are so important. I think the most challenging aspect is the business side of freelancing, which in itself doesn't interest me personally at all, it's basically part of the job, the price to pay for making a living as professional illustrators.
6. Looking back, what advice or knowledge would have made all the difference or would have helped you a lot in the beginning of your career?
I’d love to have believed illustration was a viable career sooner in my life, design was my first love though. Anyways I was lucky enough to find some mentors along the way, who said to me things like “you just draw as much as you can, someone in some place will see it and your story will begin”. This helped me a lot to trust the process and keep just working. Or things like “wherever you are, you will be fine, and if not, just go somewhere else, as if just throwing stones on a beach is what makes you happy”. This helped me a lot to put myself first, and realizing I'm an illustrator now, but tomorrow everything may change, just to follow my gut without guilt.
'Pride: Historical Activists And Diversity’ for Southern Poverty Law Center (Copyright © Inma Hortas, 2024)
7. If your design style were a playlist, what would the first three tracks be, and why?Mika,
First up, the song “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)” by Mika. I've been in love with Mika's music for ages, it's about joy and loving yourself just the way you are, it's deeply engraved in my DNA as a human being and illustrator.
Secondly, “I’m So Excited” by The Pointer Sisters. I love original disco music from the 70s and 80s in general, made to dance and feel the vibe. This particular song makes me jump with joy and I try to spread that positive energy through my work. In fact, that is the feeling my illustrations give me, I really enjoy them.
In third place, “Tola” (Crazy), by Fillas de Cassandra. Delicate, sensitive, feminist, current… how I also feel about myself and what I do. This one is sung in my mother tongue, Galician, an official but minority language, closely linked to my memories and the love for the physical earth that feeds us… so this one touches my heart on another level.
8. Do you have any resources that everyone should know about?
I think it’s important to read/listen and keep ourselves updated about the whole creative industry, just by taking a look at some particular publications/entities like the AOI, Creative Boom, It’s Nice That, Creative Review, to name a few well-known magazines and associations, but also local ones, colleagues, festivals, just keeping ourselves up to date, connected with what’s going on.
In general, I recommend asking for feedback and reviews as much as possible, staying open to all authoritative opinions and just actually taking what we feel is right for us.
On a more practical level, I recommend using a few apps to streamline our workflow, just try out which one suits you best as there are tons out there, for tasks like managing projects and schedules, managing leads, tracking emails, cloud storage, taxes, etc.
9. Can you please add 3-5 links of things that have recently inspired you, made you think about things more deeply or you just feel incredibly entertained by!
Sure, fortunately there is so much talent out there!
“Imbecil” (Moron), a graphic novel by Camille Vannier.
“Grip”, a graphic novel by Lale Westvind.
“Inu-Oh”, Dog King, an anime film by Masaaki Yuasa.
“Acciones Peregrinas” (Weird Actions), an exhibition by Pilar Albarracin at the CGAG Museum.
“Mo” series, co-created by comedians Amer and Ramy Youseff.
'Re-Imagining Gender Biases' for CPB London (Copyright © Inma Hortas, 2022)
10. In your opinion: who are the 2 most underrated creatives right now that you think need more attention and eyes on their work?
I have doubts about the criteria that should be used to say that someone needs more attention, and I don't like to think of social media followers. Social media is only important for commercial work in certain circumstances, it is not at all important for editorial or publishing work in my opinion, as I know very successful illustrators who work in those last two fields and barely pay attention to their social media.
Every professional illustrator should be very busy in my opinion, as we live in a visual world, with lots of opportunities and although also a lot of competition, I’m very sure that this year will be better for the whole creative industry. That being said, I would love to highlight the work of Wendy Denissen and Rohanne Thomson, very talented illustrators who deserve more attention on social media.
“What No One Tells You About Having Huge Boobs’' for HuffPost US (Copyright © Inma Hortas, 2023)