Barcelona-based illustrator Nadia Hafid likes her characters to be as simplified as possible. “I love to draw human faces, but I simplify them until they look like symbols; or human figures in the simplest way, so become almost abstract shapes representing very concrete ideas,” she explained in an interview with wertn.
Treating drawing as a way of communicating complex ideas and narrative concepts – turning them into a simple set of symbols – Hafid’s work leans heavily on the comics medium.
Since graduating in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona, on top of a degree in Arts Applied on the Wall from the School of Arts and Crafts (Llotja de Barcelona), Hafid works as a freelance illustrator, collaborating with different publications and brands.
But her recognizable, comics-inspires, style of illustration took some time to develop; and it was only in 2016 when she found her voice through geometry, straight lines, and flat colors. “I found new references that are very present in my work: cinema and photography,” she explains. “I think it is very inspiring to be influenced by different disciplines besides your own. This helps you to grow and to understand your own work.”
Prepare to be inspired.
