Kei Saavedra

¡Hola!

Do you ever feel like you need an extra shot of special to get you through the week (weekend by the time you read this, actually)? You're walking down the street and everything seems grey... And you just feel bleh? Well, don't worry! I got your back with some sweet Salvadoran art-magic to perk you right up!

A special treat today (my week has been pretty rough; I need the big guns): Kei Saavedra. 

The most magical of the featured artists on this blog series, Kei Saavedra never lost her childhood affinity towards the fantastic adventures of fairytale characters. In fact, this 24-year-old managed to make a living out of her passions of drawing and storytelling by creating distinct characters (or even adapting existing ones) and playing around with them:

Supergirl!

Lavagirl reimagined.
(Am I the only one who cringes profusely when I think about the old movie Sharkboy and Lavagirl?)

In fact, one of my favorite series of hers is the Harry Potter one:

From top to bottom:



The Book of Magical Thinking

The Book of Magical Thinking Drawing Pad

More Harry Potter Merch whose name I don't know but knowing her, it's artsy and quirky and fun




Much like Andrea Tobar last week, Kei's color schemes are light and varied. However, unlike Tobar, she almost always has a definite "story" going on in the background of her images; be it with calligraphy or a story, or simply by juxtaposing her pictures with scenes, or directly incorporating the drawings into her daily life.

For example, I really enjoy this thing Saavedra does when she travels anywhere-- she takes a montaged picture of one of her drawings as a part of the landscape:

La niña en el coco

Where the Wild Things Are

Above: Cusco, Machu Pichu, the Big Apple, and another in Peru somewhere. 

Isn't it creative?! I think it lends greater interactivity to her designs, which somehow makes them more appealing.

Of course, as an artist, she not merely illustrates, but has come up with a wide range of products based on her preliminary drawings:



















Stickers!

Stickers

A "cray" notebook

This is actually a planner, which she started in 2016 and does every year

Again, Where the Wild Things Are

As you can probably tell, Kei has something of an obsession with Where the Wild Things Are, the children's book by Maurice Sendak. To this effect, she has an entire line dedicated to it (like the buttons above):

My favorite planner by her.

All the "Wild" stickers/ buttons/postcards featured above come from the Where the Wild Things Are collection, one in which she's been working continuously since she started illustrating. 

My two favorite illustrations of all time by her, however, are these: 

If you read my blog last semester, you probably know why. Go veggies!

And, of course:

Girl Power! Of course.

That's all for today, kids! Which illustration/series was your favorite? 

I hope I could brighten your day up with these bright, bright colors!

Stay artsy!

Andrea Tobar

Is this spring? The amount of sunshine we've been having says yes (and also the shocking amount of pale legs I've seen peeking from under shorts and skirts), but the thermometer still remains stubbornly low. In is (sun)light, I thought I'd introduce one of the sunniest Salvadoran artists I know:

Andrea Tobar (@tobiberta): 

Isn't she the cutest, too?

A recent graduate in Illustration and Fine Arts, Andrea Tobar creates small, quirky characters and brings them to life, imbuing them with her happy, cartoonish trademark style:

a tiny, fluffy doggo-unicorn. Unidogo. Doggicorn.

             

   


She also takes historical or Pop Culture figures and puts a spin on them, turning them into cartoon characters with a twist:

My favorite movie ever.

"Is that the little ghost from Ghostbusters?" - My dad

Captain America!

Master Yoda!

Look at those colors! Tobar's illustrations are characterized by her preference for light, airy hues and tones, and simple, clear-cut focal points. Instead of focusing too much on the background of a character, she puts enough detail on the character for it to be able to shine as a standalone.

One of my favorite collections of hers is "Hearts", a compendium of different digitalized illustrations depicting hearts in different situations:


       

In order, from left to right: Free Heart, Party Heart, Peaceful Heart, Spooked Heart, Friendzoned Heart, Fattening Heart, Tangled Heart, Arrowed Heart, Doubtful Heart and Amateur Heart (approximate translations).

She manages to make every single one of her designs unique and almost personable, and all of them extremely cute. As mentioned previously, she does put much more emphasis on the character than the background, therefore not creating a scene (something that I personally enjoy more, because I feel like it creates a story). Nonetheless, her use of color and excellent technique more than make up for the lack of action in the background, in my opinion.

As the previous illustrators all have done, Andrea Tobar has branched out with products besides her illustrations:

!!!

A giant panda on a small bag!

Calendars

Frida Kahlo T-Shirts!

Above, from left to right: calendars, notebooks, patches, stickers, pins and t-shirts.

Currently, she has an order-online-and-pick-up service, in which she delivers the packages to a local coffee shop to be picked up by her customers, and she's also a frequent seller in El Mercadito, which I talked about last week. Tobar doesn't, sadly, have an Etsy shop as of now, but I believe she's working on one to be rolled out soon! I'll keep you up to date.

Stay artsy!