Mercedes Bellido’s animal paintings and illustrations might be calm on the surface, but a certain tension lurks behind the corner. “I like it to seem calm but with a twist of tension,” admitted Bellido in an interview with Cup of Couple. “Normally creatives change their motivation at some point, but I’d love to keep that disturbing and violent perspective [in my work],” she added.
Her artwork relies on a bold color palette and clear contrast between her subjects and backgrounds, making it seem as if the animals might pop out of their paintings any moment now.
“First I decide if I’m gonna do a correlated painting series or a single illustration, then the inspiration work comes,” explained Bellido, talking about her artistic process. “I try to find pictures that help me to give shape to my idea, paint a draft (I’m not a big fan of drafts though, only the compositional ones) and then I begin to paint.”
Based in Madrid, her artwork has attracted many admirers, both offline and online, with almost 40k followers on Instagram. Check out some of her work in the gallery below:
