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Ciruelo Cabral Gallery

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Interview from the DAC Editions Web Site

DAC editions: When did you first discover your artistic skill?
Ciruelo: I began to draw when I was a child, as most illustrators do.
At the age of nine I knew that I had the personal facilities for drawing. In fact, I spent many hours a day doing it.
DAC: What training have you received, formal or otherwise?
C: On the advice of some of my teachers, my mother sent me to a school which had some artistic courses: drawing, interior decoration and handicraft. Besides the normal classes, I did three specialised years of drawing. At 18 I finished that school and, after a while, joined an advertising agency doing all the menial jobs. Working in that agency I really learnt what's necessary to be independent. I became familiar with the airbrush and all kinds of materials, and also got to know other illustrators. I left that agency at 20 and ever since I've been a freelance illustrator. So my apprenticeship was really informal, based on practising techniques I saw in books and speaking with other artists. Anyway, hard work was the better school.
DAC: When and why did you move to Spain from Argentina?
C: I moved to Spain in 1987 and came to Europe mainly because of Argentina's economic problems. Furthermore, I had the necessity of making more creative illustrations so I had to keep away from advertising, which I couldn't do living in Argentina. I chose Spain because of the language and because there were some friends, also illustrators, living there.
Influences and techniques
DAC: What started your interest in fantasy art?
C: Since I was a child I was delighted by comics, fantasy literature and movies, but what really fired my interest in fantasy art was the discovery of the books of Roger Dean and Frank Frazetta, at the age of 15. I thought that to make a living doing this sort of work would be just marvellous.
DAC: Which artists do you admire and why?
C: There are many artists I really admire, whose styles differ very much from each other: Frazetta, Moebius, Alan Lee, Carlos Nine and Chichoni are artists for whom my admiration is unchanging. I consider it very important to keep technique, drawing, composition and imagination at the same level of quality. That is what the illustrators I mentioned do.
DAC: Can you describe how you work, from the initial idea to the completed work.
C: When I start an illustration I imagine it until I have finished it in my head. Then I begin to gather information to use as references. I have a file with photos taken from magazines, and some others taken by myself. I usually photograph my wife Daniela as a model for the feminine characters and myself for the masculine ones. Then I make many little pencil sketches and, if possible, color sketches too.
When I have the idea resolved, I start to make the original pencil drawing which is transferred to the canvas. The average time that an illustration takes is approximately fifteen days.
DAC: Do you have a favourite medium?
C: My favourite medium at the moment is based on the acrylic paints handled with a brush on canvas. An airbrush is also used over the brush work. Although I have tried out many different techniques and styles, I still love to experiment. The airbrush applied on cardboard used to be my main tool during an important part of my career.

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