wITh whAT Do I dOOdle?

with bLAncA goMEZ

Hello, how are you?

I’m loving revisiting these. Here’s one of my faves…

It’s interview number ELEVEN of ‘With What Do I dOOdle?’ and on this beautiful sunny day here in London, I’m thrilled to have a wonderful interview for you from a bit of an idol of mine, Blanca Gomez.

I love using all sorts of things to draw with and I’m always up for a favourite tools chat, SO I’ve been asking some fellow creatives what they like to use.

Sometimes a picture just stops you in your tracks. You can’t necessarily explain why, you just have a real affinity with it. An emotional connection deep down. It charges you up and fills you with inspiration.

I first felt this (I distinctly remember) when visiting TATE with my art teacher at school when doing my GCSE’s back in the dark ages. I stood in front of a Cy Twombly painting and was smitten. I feel the same feeling when I see any of Blanca’s work. Completely and utterly in awe.

Blanca Gómez is an author and illustrator of pictures books. She lives in Madrid. She started illustrating when she was very young and now she makes illustrations for clients all around the world. She has a clean and simple colourful style, a naivety that gets me every time.

When she was a kid, she spent a lot of time at her grandma’s. There, she ate bread with olive oil for breakfast, ran away from the cat in the corridor, and bumped her head on the corner of the table quite often. So it makes sense that the first book she both wrote and illustrated talks about her grandma.

Blanca’s books include City Moon, One Family, Circa & Lejos and Bird House.

Without further a-do here’s Blanca’s…

What’s your favourite thing to draw? 

People, tiny people, tiny, lonely people, and sometimes tiny lonely people in big landscapes.

Where is your favourite place to draw?

At my studio or at home. Alone or mostly alone. 

What’s your favourite thing to draw on?

Scraps of bad plain paper! Notebooks or fancy paper keep intimidating me! 

What’s your top favourite tool to draw with?

What I have on hand really. Normally I have on hand pencils (lately Blackwings) and coloured pencils. Crayons and oil pastel too. 

And of course, scissors.

Do you have a favourite COMBO of tools you use?

All the previously mentioned make a good combo. Plus a thin black marker. 

Is there a tool you always avoid?

I don’t think so. Paper intimidates me but I have little respect for tools. That said, I'm too lazy to use complicated tools. 

Is there a drawing tool you’d LOVE to try?

Mmh when I was a kid I used to paint with oils on canvas, and I’ve never used them again since then. I think I’d like to paint bigger pieces again, with oil or whatever I have on hand really :) 

And finally. What’s your TOP favourite drawing snack?

Is it sad if I say that I don’t snack while drawing? Wait, is coffee a snack?  

YEA, I recon coffee is a snack.

Thanks so much Blanca.

I love that you create with whatever you have to hand. It’s something I’ve always done too. I really enjoy seeing what happens with the unexpected combos and ‘happy accidents’ that often happen, sort of letting the tools and the paper take over the process of drawing, become an essential part of how a piece turns out. Too much pre planning never works for me. Tools are friends!

You can find and follow Blanca on Instagram here and visit her beautiful website here

Happy Sunday ☺️