This week’s Featured Artists Friday showcases some wonderful digital artwork, the process consists of picking out specific pictures to bring the digital life to work. The talent behind the artwork is Spanish artist Ines, we talk about favorite drag queens, inspiration, and the drag scene in Madrid.
DragAdventures: You use digital devices to create your art. Can you describe the process for our readers? For example, how do you choose a queen to draw, are there specifics to take into account when drawing on a digital device, or do you draw on a piece of paper first?
Ines: The process of picking who to paint isn’t very complex, actually! Most of the time I just see an Instagram selfie, an outfit or something that inspires me and I just start painting! The entire process is digital I usually pick a few reference pictures to help me understand the way their face and bodywork. I then just start sketching until I come up with something I’m happy with. I start figuring out the color scheme, the composition, etc. and finish the piece! I’m always drawing in little sketchbooks that I carry around with me though, so I don’t do digital work exclusively.
DA: What made you start drawing drag queens? Do you have favorite queens to draw and why?
I love to do portraits, and most of the time they are of the people that inspire me and basically that I’m a fan of. I had watched season two of RuPaul’s Drag Race a long time ago on Netflix but I never watched the rest until this year when a lot of my friends started to become huge fans and I decided to give it a try and (obviously) fell in love with it! I love to paint any queen really, their makeup, outfits and overall aesthetic are so inspiring to me.
DA: Has there ever been a starstruck moment when a queen reacted to your art on social media?
I screamed so loud when I got the notification that Adore had reposted my art!! The same thing with Bob, I’m just so happy that they’ve seen my work and liked it enough to post it, it’s so rewarding!!
DA: You live in Madrid. Can you tell us a bit about how drag is seen in Spain? Do you have some fabulous local queens we should check out?
I feel like drag culture in Spain is not as big as it is in America. There’s definitely a lot of drag queen and drag race fans but we all belong to a certain demographic (the gays!!), there’s not a pageant industry like the American one, and we don’t have our own Drag TV shows. There are plenty of amazing drag queens, one of the most popular ones in Madrid is La Prohibida, who also makes music!
DA: Let’s dream for a bit: What would you love to happen due to your artwork? (for example, merch collaboration …)
I’m so grateful for every single opportunity that my artwork has given me, and I would definitely LOVE to create merch! I don’t really know how to get drag queens to know that I’m available to do merch designs, but I totally am!!
DA: What are you looking forward to in 2018? For example, do you have any shows planned or drawing projects you’d like to share
For 2018, I would love to keep on developing my painting and drawing skills and my style, and to finish my college degree (I’m currently studying Fine Arts). I’m actually planning to create a zine (or something similar) including all my drag queen art for one of my classes! Also, I can’t wait for All-Stars 3, I’ll definitely be painting my favorite looks from the season when it comes out!
DA: Do you take commissions for your work?
And yes, I do commission work, but not as much as I would like to, mostly because I’m usually very busy with college projects.
