Domestika Diary: Adolfo Serra

Illustrator Adolfo Serra reveals his creative routine and the keys to fighting creative block

Renowned Spanish Illustrator Adolfo Serra (@adolfoserra) specializes in books for children and young adults. He spent much of the lockdown reconsidering the nature of creativity. His colourful style is full of fantasy and is often influenced by the new places and cultures he discovers while traveling, which is one of his greatest passions. But the lockdown rules prevented him from moving, so his energies focused on finding inspiration in the things around him.

In this Domestika Diary, Adolfo reveals the multitude of ideas waiting to be discovered and turned into art in our immediate surroundings. He invites us into his studio and talks about his creative routine, his sources of inspiration and his techniques for avoiding the dreaded creative block:

Adolfo Serra has illustrated tales like Red Riding Hood and El Bosque Dentro de Mi [The Forest Inside]. His notebook is an essential tool for saving and documenting ideas, without the pressure of having to create a perfect illustration. He always notes things that inspire him, draws images from his travels, and even includes Polaroids of special moments.

But during the lockdown, he had to find ideas in places as ordinary as his kitchen. For him, cooking is a lot like drawing: you start with a few ingredients which inspire you to create variation. It’s is an ideal way to escape creative block. And beyond being a form of mental exercise, cooking helps Adolfo Serra with more concrete elements of his art. The colors of his food are often jotted down as a notebook reference. Later, these observations can lead to the creation of more complex illustrations.

The best way to jump start your creativity is to break from your routines. Now the restrictions have relaxed, Adolfo Serra is finding inspiration outside, strolling around the city, visiting museums and losing himself in nature: another great source of inspiration. He tries to capture the shapes of the leaves, trees, flowers and the changing colors of the landscape in his illustrations.

Such simple forms and constantly fluctuating scenery remind him to experiment without fear: something all artists have to remember. For him, experimenting, playing and losing your fear of making mistakes is the most important thing you can do to learn and to progress.

If you want to discover how to create an artist’s notebook and develop your own universe of visual resources with Adolfo Serra, don’t miss his online course Illustration Techniques to Unlock Your Creativity.

You may also be interested in:

–Domestika Diary: Olga Prinku
–Domestika Diaries: Verónica Cerna
–Domestika Diary: Luli Reis

English version by @studiogaunt