Illustrator and 2D animator Angelica Lena shares her time between London and Barcelona. Since graduating from Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design in 2016, she’s working as a freelancer on varied projects like commercials, opening titles or short films, as well as illustration commissions for independent magazines.
Working mainly digitally she treats Photoshop as a sort of best friend. “I love the freedom working digitally has,” she shared with Inky Goodness. “It gives you the chance to make more mistakes, and work faster. And the more mistakes you make, the more you learn.”
Explaining her work process she says she usually starts with a sketch by hand, then cleans it up and colors it in Photoshop. “Once in a while I do feel the need to go back to analogue,” she admits. “I paint with very diluted acrylic and watercolors. But this is mainly for pleasure when I need to chill and feel free from cables and plugs.”
Inspired by cinema and abstract expressionism, she tends to rely on cinematic shots for her compositions. She’s also keen on rotoscoping (painting – digitally or manually – over footage). “It’s fascinating because it has this dreamy vibe of real and unreal,” she says. “It intrigued me the first time I saw it.”
With selected clients that include BBC Ideas, Tate Britain, Cambridge University, and Siemens, it’s clear she’s got her work cut out for her.
