1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

Hi! My name is Mario Sánchez Nevado, and I am a freelancer Illustrator based in Murcia (Spain). I have got a Degree of Fine Arts but I am self-taught in most of the fields I am working on nowadays. Apart of illustration in both digital and traditional formats, I am musician; I have directed some videos and also done some digital but also traditional darkroom photography. Well, as you can see I like to pick from everywhere. All my life goes around creative stuff.

2. Your images are incredibly complex – how much time goes into creating them and what techniques and software programs do you use?

Well, I am going to say the usual sentence that “it depends on the complexity of the piece”. But you never know. Sometimes, simple pieces require more effort because you are not using much elements and you have to think a lot the placement of everything… other times everything flows automatically and in a couple of hours you are done. Usually, if I am in a rush I can complete a piece in a single night, but mostly I prefer to go slowly and do everything with patience and love, so you can say I take between 2 days or a full week to complete a piece.

Mainly, talking about mediums I go for digital photomanipulation and other mixed medias, but sometimes I start in traditional mediums such as acrylics or watercolors. I like to experiment with different mediums and watch them reacting with other ones. For digital I use mostly Adobe Photoshop and a tablet.

3. Can you tell us about the techniques you use to create such beautifully seamless images?

When I work in digital mediums usually I mix photos with painting, adjusting lighting to recreate real scenes if needed. Later on I start to throw everything that pops out my head, it may be vectors, or 3Ds elements or even traditional painting and textures, and it depends on the mood of the piece. But when I’m working on traditionals everything is more organic and vivid, I really enjoy the play with paintings and real supports. In that field sometimes I feel freer to experiment, I can include just everything in a painting, like papers, earths, threads, photos, reliefs, and later on I may take a photo and continue it on digital. Possibilities are always endless.

4. Spain has probably got the richest surrealist cultural history of any country. Why do you think that is and how has that history informed your art?

I guess that being in France the beginning of that movement, and that a lot of the first (and consecutive) members of the trend were from Spain, the country got easily “contaminated”. Maybe it’s just a matter of distances, or just of talent, but I don’t really know. I have read a lot about the surreal movement, but despitting of its historical questions, I have always been more interested in its language, because it runs in another league comparing it to more “common” movements which only talk about technique. Surrealism is a language; the technique is put by the artist. History is important in the formation of an artist, but the visuals it has to offer to you are more relevant than how it was made or why or when, in my opinion.

5. What other influences inform your images?

Artistically speaking, I really like dark digital art (McKean, Travis Smith), cubism, expressionism and just every piece that tries to go out the norms, I really enjoy looking at uncommon things. But being music one of my passions (I am musician as well), I have found some bands during the years that have really made a big influence in my work because of their atmospheres or lyrics, like The Gathering or Anathema to name a few. Also sometimes I find inspiration in movies, from David Lynch’s ones specially regarding to terms of colors and lights. But above all, my everyday life is what turns on the engine of my ideas and compositions.

6. You describe your work “Wanderer” as "one of the 30 pieces that comprise my installation “The Red Room”, done between February and June 2008" – that sounds like a very substantial project – can you tell us about it?

“The Red Room” was an installation I was working on last year. Sadly I wasn’t able to perform it in reality because the estimate was around 20.000€ and I am still looking for solutions to it. It is an autobiographical project; I made it as if it were a diary of my emotions. The project was composed by a big space, a room with red walls, with hanging ropes all over it with old rags hanging on them. In those, in one face you can find one illustration and in the back written in red a text or poem that accompanies it. I did 30 illustrations, 30 texts, 10 videos which were projected in monitors in between the walls, and a soundtrack of 20 minutes long. I think it’s a very ambitious project and I wonder if I will be able to bring it to reality someday, but I had a big pleasure doing it so now I think it doesn’t matter; it was a very good experience.

7. When you get an idea or feeling for a work where do you usually begin – with a central image or motif or do you pretty much visualise it in its entirety?

After thinking about it for a minute… I don’t really know. Sometimes I start to make things with no logical reasons, from a detail of some element or whatever else… after playing with it for a while I decide if it is worth to finish it or not and so I continue or I don’t. Other times I work from conceptual ideas, with more precise information than those abstract ones, so from this point I usually go straight to a figure or composition I already have in mind. Every piece has its own story about its making. Sometimes I think it’s a bit random, even if that sounds quite contradictory.

8. What role does your art play in your life, particularly in relation to your internal world – is it mainly an intellectual exercise, particularly given the mechanics involved in creating the image, or would you describe it as an emotional/spiritual journey.

Basically, art is my life in most of its sides. All my time passes by with a camera, or a pencil or a laptop, and ideas and sensations in my head. Even if I am doing other stuff, my mind keeps on imagining all the time. Some people say that “I walk in a cloud” :). It is not like something you only feel when you are doing “something” artistically speaking… in my case it’s there all the time. The bad side is that I waste a lot of good ideas or visions because I forget most of them. And when I am not caring about my experiments then I’m taking a look to others’ art, so it’s never-ending; it is everywhere. That being said, I also have to confirm that it also works as a type of mental journey, it’s like a diary, so it’s necessary and relieving for me to keep on creating things.

9. What artists or writers inspire you and why?

As I said I like the line that Dave McKean and Travis Smith have left in the field of “dark” illustration. I like conceptual photography as well, specially Misha Gordin, I love the old surrealists (Ersnt, De Chirico, Magritte, Dalí…) and a lot of things here and there in the actual scene of international illustration. About writings, usually I do images based on my own texts, and sometimes I go from lyrics of songs I like.

10. Do you create your images just for your own satisfaction or with a view to selling them, and if the latter have you had much success in selling them?

The 98% of the time (I guess) the image is done just for pleasure, or because I feel bored, who knows. If I like the result, I post the image over the net. If people seem to like it (people doesn’t always have to like your stuff) I may or may not upload a print for sale. I used to be more successful regarding sales in the past, but anyways you cannot get a salary from there.

Wonderfully intricate and fascinating work Mario, such a beautiful feature and a very insightful and intelligent interview, well done to both of you .