Interview with Guillermo Flores from Mexico

I come from a musical family and in my house there were always, in addition to instruments, albums which caught my attention due to the images on the covers.

When I was a kid, in my house there were books and encyclopaedias that were accompanied by illustrations and botanical art. Surrealism is undoubtedly my most direct influence, the work of Salvador Dalí when I met him at a university blew my mind, the possibility of a surreal world seemed fascinating to me.

This ‘chance’ meeting allowed me to live during my adolescence with the art of Hipgnosis made up of Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell, these covers full of details and such powerful messages showed me in a very natural way a narrative that was based on concepts, in addition the musical and graphic way of expressing it was so seductive because it came hand in hand with incredible music. In discovering Radiohead, I also discovered Stanley Donwood, the graphic artist of the band.

I have my own studio since 2008 where I do creative direction, art direction and a lot of commercial illustration for companies around me. I have focused on advertising illustration for a few years collaborating with incredible brands all over the world.

I found a definition in a book recently which I think is great - The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. "To create is to bring something into existence that wasn't there before". I believe that creativity belongs to everyone, it is the way in which we can solve anything in life.

Definitely, the way of approaching it is key to achieving it, taking the risk of proposing anything, I believe that there are no limits to creativity, from something very simple to something very elaborate. There are no bad or good ideas, they work or they don't.

I really like to observe, pay attention to details, take the time to appreciate things before moving on, in my process I always document myself and read a lot about the subject, I think that the result of immersing itself in the subject provides more durability.

I love the research stage, doing a deep search and learning more about the subject- I usually buy books about it and do a lot of research before I even start sketching.

I love botany and nature, I find the world of birds fascinating, so this is a key element in my work, if we observe nature carefully it gives us shapes and amazing colors!

Totally!! Mexican culture is full of color, shapes, elements and symbols, I love the folklore in it and you can see it reflected in my illustrations.

It is a great honor for me to receive this recognition and to be at the side of great projects. I think it is a reflection of the effort and passion that we inject into each project. It's a great teamwork.

It was a commissioned project, where the request was to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. So on the one hand, I wanted to show the kind of projects that are done in my country, it was also a good excuse to pay tribute to my culture by showing it to the whole world.

There were so many requirements in the project, on the one hand we wanted to show the whole culture but it is so vast that the choice of elements that will represent the Hispanic culture was a great challenge, I consider that 'less is more' and the conceptualization was key to get it.

It is a great reference that helps me to verify that we are on the right track! A recognition is always good, in this profession it is a good incentive.

Talent and creativity. Whether it's analogue or digital, the results can be amazing. Dream do comes true. Great things can be achieved in this industry. There are no limits when creating an idea.

Crafts are key in my culture, contact with indigenous communities provides a deep link with our history and traditions.

Artificial intelligence is definitely a big watershed in the graphic industry, however, doing things manually will always be present and I don't even think it will lose value.

As Guillermo del Toro says "Triumph is an instrument of torture, just like beauty and perfection. Perfection does not exist, the beauty of the world is imperfection, and success is a myth that is sold to us. If you get up in the morning to work on something that makes you happy, you've already done it."

Public relations, office work, sending emails, trying and trying, reading, documenting more, but above all practicing and practicing.

Before being a designer, I considered being an archaeologist or a chef.

My mother is a great reference for me, she managed to raise her children, she works hard and dreams big, she is my great inspiration.

"Sometimes you get out of bed in the morning and you think you can't make it, but you laugh inside because you remember all the times it made sense to you that way" Bukowski.