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Hello! My name is Isabel Ruiz and I'm from Spain. I'm an illustrator specialized in children and young adult books. I've also given illustration private lessons.
Art has always been an important part of my life. At the age of 5 I started going to a sculpture workshop near home, and I have never stopped drawing for as long as I can remember. I knew I wanted to be an illustrator thanks to the books my mother used to give me, I could spend hours looking at them when I still couldn't read. Nowadays I use some of them as references.
I obtained my Fine Arts Degree at the Complutense University of Madrid. Afterwards I studied illustration courses at ESDIP and Escuela Minúscula. In 2019, my final project for Escuela Minúcula, the illustration series "The (non) Place", was awarded with the "APIM Young Talent Illustration Award" (Professional Association of Illustrators of Madrid).
My work has been exhibited at "Babalunga i Kamolongos” in 2021 and 2022, at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2023 and at the 5th edition of the Belgrade Illustration Festival "Ilustrofest" in 2023. It has also been selected for the Apila´s First Printing Award 2022.
I have worked for clients such as the newspaper "M21 Magazine" and the publishing houses "San Pablo" and "Libros del K.O."
All my illustrations are made with traditional media, and I usually use digital to retouch and finish them. I enjoy working with different materials, such as gouache, acrylic, crayons, pastels, ink, markers or colored pencils. I like the richness and personality that the manual work brings into my illustrations. I prefer working in black and white, paying special attention to value studies.
Nature -specially animals-, everyday scenes, children´s world and tales are some of my sources of inspiration. When I´m not working at the studio I like going for long walks in the park near home, or looking at children´s books in the library.
My work as a sculptor has been recognized as well. In 2017, I received the "Extraordinary Award in Plastic Arts and Design" given by the Community of Madrid for my figurative monument "Tribute to the Rescue Dogs", which was commissioned by the UME (Military Emergency Unit) of Madrid.