The art of Rodrigo Arias

Rodrigo Arias is described as someone happy, explosive and full of emotions. “I think I was born with the gift of being creative, I was creative with typography, covers, letters, however I couldn’t illustrate. That’s the reason why I decided to study Graphic Design”, he confesses.

In his high school days he knew he had the talent and set out to find his illustrative style. “I set myself the goal of finding my style, to be with my happy and explosive personality, until I found it, but to this day my style keeps changing.”

He studied at Don Bosco University, where he obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, and began working for hire and accepting commissions while still a student. “Today I look back and see a constant evolution of my work, I am proud of my journey. We can all achieve what we set out to do with effort, patience and practice,” he says.

Currently, Rodrigo is a freelance artist and works creating designs for an American company “Fast Fashion”. Among his works as an illustrator, murals for Fudem and Domino’s Pizza, portraits and Fan arts stand out.

What meaning does illustrating have for you?

For me it is feeling free, expressing my emotions on a digital canvas where I can create the world that I want, and how I want others to see it.

How is the process of creating your illustrations, where does the inspiration come from?

It comes from literally anything, it can be a song, a movie, the weather, my mood. The process begins with the idea in my mind, I use mood boards and then proceed to the sketches. The color and details part is what I enjoy doing the most.

What techniques do you use?

Digital, I specialize in digital technique.

What editing programs and tools do you use to compose your illustrations?

Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are the ones I learned in high school. I currently use Procreate, an iPad app, where I feel it’s easier to illustrate.

What artists have influenced your work?

Miguel Membreño, Salvadoran illustrator who in my opinion is one of the best in the country, his work is so detailed and inspiring to see.

Katherine Leiva, Salvadoran illustrator, handles an excellent graphic style as well as the use of color.

From your experience, what are the opportunities and spaces that illustrators have in El Salvador?

The opportunities are social networks. These platforms project us and make people and companies known.

You can see more of Rodrigo Arias’ work from his Instagram account

@__rodrigoarias