Design

Iconic artist Javier Mariscal on Staying Curious and Living Life Fully

The award-winning Spanish illustrator shares his tips for success and staying young at heart, in this Domestika Maestros

Illustrator and designer Javier Mariscal has literally a thousand and one things on his mind at any one time. Born in Valencia in 1950 and now in his seventies he still immerses himself in dozens of projects, bouncing from topic to topic with incredible skill; from speaking of his love affair with the city of Barcelona to his fascination with digital technology.

Internationally renowned for being the "father" of Cobi, the official mascot of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Mariscal's unique style extends beyond his most famous creation—he's worked on everything from stools to hotels, comics and magazine covers to design.

Talking to us from his Barcelona studio (filled with state-of-the-art illustrations, dozens of dolls, and other objects created by him and his team), in this Domestika Maestros, Mariscal opens up about his iconic career and gives us a peek inside one of the most inquisitive minds on the international scene.

Iconic artist Javier Mariscal on Staying Curious and Living Life Fully 2

From comics to design

Although Mariscal was born in Valencia, his restless spirit quickly led him to Barcelona, a city that, due to its proximity to France, felt like a breath of fresh air in such a dark period of Spanish history. Alongside other popular names of the time such as Nazario, he began to draw comics in Barcelona's underground scene and sold them for little cash. His colorful and innocent style, full of rounded lines, would become a distinctive trait throughout his career, which soon began to expand into design.

'Los Garriris', one of Mariscal's first creations
'Los Garriris', one of Mariscal's first creations

One of his most famous pieces during the 80s was his logo 'BAR/CEL/ONA', a promotional poster for the city and an attempt to transform the traditional souvenir. It managed to convey, in its extraordinary simplicity, the entire visual identity of Barcelona in a few letters. His main creation for the city, however, was yet to come.

'BAR/CEL/ONA' poster
'BAR/CEL/ONA' poster

Cobi, a mascot for all

Despite his aversion to being identified as a representative of anything official, Mariscal decided to submit a bid to design the mascot for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. To his amazement, he won, and Cobi became one of the most popular characters of the early 90s in Spain, as well as marking a turning point in Olympic mascot design.

Cobi is unmistakable even in its inflatable version
Cobi is unmistakable even in its inflatable version

With this character, Mariscal wished to escape from the traditional athletic shape of impossible superheroes and sought a friendly and approachable design that anyone could identify with. Cobi isn’t a mythological hero or athlete who’s out of our league. He’s a character who is able to compete in all the Olympic sporting events, but on the same level as a normal person. A fat, 'pot-bellied’ Cobi, as Mariscal likes to describe him, whose likeability and simplicity conquered every imaginable format.

The father and his multiple children
The father and his multiple children

More recently, Mariscal has continued to create and explore new fields, as demonstrated by his collaboration with filmmaker Fernando Trueba in the award-winning animated feature 'Chico and Rita', nominated for an Oscar and winner of a Goya Award, and by his numerous commissions for brands such as Camper or Codorníu.

Movie poster for 'Chico and Rita'
Movie poster for 'Chico and Rita'

A “multidisciplinary” artist

But it hasn’t all been plain sailing. Although we view his ability to try his hand at various artistic disciplines (comic strips, illustration, design) as a great achievement, it wasn’t always like this.

Mariscal admits that he was told to forget about his comic strips and focus instead on painting, which was “what he was good at.” Conversely, painters recommended he stopped painting to focus on other things, as he "would never amount to being a great artist.”

Until he began to use the word “multidisciplinary” to describe his own work, his skill seemed to be more of a disadvantage than a gift. Time, however, and a career filled with iconic pieces of work, have proved that being curious and passionate about different disciplines doesn’t mean being worse. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

Thanks to this innate curiosity, he is able to achieve things that many artists would be incapable of doing: from designing logos, shopping bags, or the front cover of The New Yorker, to furniture for Memphis Milano, lamps, sculptures, stools, or chairs.

'La Pineda' sculpture by Javier Mariscal
'La Pineda' sculpture by Javier Mariscal

Creativity is looking at things in a different way

Staying creative for Mariscal is synonymous with staying alive. He believes that all children, wherever they come from or whatever culture they belong to, were born playing. And this “game” is a powerful, symbolic language that allows us to stay creative - until school and other social structures stifle our freedom and joyful way of thinking.

His art is a way of trying to regain it. Against all impositions and constraints, his style is one of freedom, color, and vitality, one that finds magic in the mundane. Maybe that’s why, in the mind of this contemporary design legend, a cigarette lighter is not just a cigarette lighter, but a Second World War aircraft that can take us on thousands of adventures.

Iconic artist Javier Mariscal on Staying Curious and Living Life Fully 17

To learn more life lessons from the experts, explore the Domestika Maestros section of our blog. And to harness your curiosity and creativity, check out all of Domestika's creativity courses.

You might also like:

- 10 Tips to Become a Successful Creative
- 8 Creatives Share How They Turned Their Passion into a Career
- Drawing Tutorial: Exercises to Boost Your Creativity

Recommended courses

Instagram Feed Design with Canva. Design course by Isabel Gil Loef

Instagram Feed Design with Canva

A course by Isabel Gil Loef

Learn how to create templates that make it easy for you to produce consistent, original, and impactful Instagram content

  • 38464
  • 99% (945)
65% Disc.
Original price $4.800ARS
Introduction to Adobe Photoshop. Design, Photography, and Video course by Carles Marsal
Domestika Basics · 5 courses

Introduction to Adobe Photoshop

A course by Carles Marsal

Learn Adobe Photoshop from scratch and master the best software for treatment, retouching and creation of digital images on the market

  • 358380
  • 100% (9.9K)
44% Disc.
Original price $4.800ARS
Cookie Decoration with Royal Icing for Beginners. Craft, and Design course by VanilleCouture (Lili Cuéllar y Willie Soto)

Cookie Decoration with Royal Icing for Beginners

A course by VanilleCouture (Lili Cuéllar y Willie Soto)

Learn icing techniques to transform your butter cookies into delicious characters

  • 35139
  • 99% (965)
65% Disc.
Original price $4.800ARS
0 comments