Hi Jesus, we are so excited to talk to you! First of all, could you introduce yourself to our readers? Who are you, where do you come from, where do you live now? Tell us a little bit about your personal background!
Hey everyone! I'm Jesus Ortiz (@jesuso_ortiz), and I live in Malaga, in the south of Spain. I studied design and advertising at a university, and I've been doing illustration for about 7 years now. Over time, my experience has led me to focus mainly on children's illustration. I've illustrated numerous books with various publishers from around the world.
On Instagram you’re sharing the most wholesome and adorable designs that combine beautiful illustrations and everyday objects such as flowers or fruits – when did you come up with the idea to work with these different elements?
At first, I started by posting minimalist photographs on Instagram. I really enjoyed editing photos, so one day I thought about adding an illustration to one of my photos and I really liked the result. That's how I gradually started combining photographs with illustrations. This was about 10 years ago.
Tell us more about your creation process! For example, how do you get your ideas? Are they more spontaneous thoughts and creations or do you prefer to plan ahead? What are the next steps?
I usually take some time to think about a creative idea, searching for elements that can help complement the illustration. This is the process that usually takes the longest. Once I have an idea in mind, I start working on it and see if I like the result or if I decide to discard it. I have a lot of discarded pieces that were never published because I didn't quite like them. Sometimes ideas come spontaneously and the process is much quicker. I always do my illustrations by hand, using traditional pencil and paper. Then I scan them and use a photo editor to tweak and refine my idea.
Your pictures are very playful and often feature young kids – is there a specific message you want to convey with your designs?
As I mentioned before, I've been focusing more on creating children's characters for a while now, but it wasn't a deliberate choice. It's just something that happened spontaneously, and I discovered that the combination of the minimalism of the images and the sweetness of the little characters makes the audience connect with the message immediately. I like to convey tenderness in my work, inviting the audience to imagine a whole world of possibilities when they look at the picture. I also like to include elements of nature and animals because I love them.
Where do you find inspiration?
It may sound cliché, but I can find inspiration anywhere, in any object or situation. Ideas just suddenly appear. I have found that the more I try to force an idea to come, the less it does and the more frustrated I become. I think it's better to just relax and trust that ideas will come.
If you had the chance, what kind of advice would you like to give your younger self?
To my younger self I would say: follow your instincts, no matter what others around you say, and don't listen to your own thoughts of self-sabotage either. If you trust what your heart is telling you, the outcome doesn't matter; what matters is the peace of mind that comes from doing what really feels right.
Do you have a favourite picture that you have created? Can you tell us the story behind it?
Usually, my favorite illustrations are the ones I've worked on most recently. For example, I really like one I did recently where a little girl in the drawing looks surprised because she's following the line that leads to the pencil that drew her. It makes her question her own origins. I think this illustration best reflects my own concerns and thoughts.
You’ve been sharing your creations on Instagram for many years now! What makes Instagram special for you?
Well, Instagram was the platform that changed everything for me, so it will always be my favorite. I started posting my first photos in 2013, and from 2014, amazing things started happening that led me to pursue this independently. This platform helped my work to be known in many countries and connected me with very important companies that I ended up working with.
We’ve had the pleasure to work with you for many years now! Do you happen to have a favourite Pickmotion product?
Absolutely! I'd say we both started our journey at the same time. I feel like part of your family, and I was also happy to see your growth. I love the care you put into all your products, but if I have to be honest, I'd go with the flagship product and the one that started it all: the postcards.
Finally, would you like to share a little story or anecdote with us? Feel free to tell us anything!
Of course! I'll always remember a very special moment when I worked a few years ago on an advertising campaign for a very famous watch brand. It was a worldwide campaign, and I contributed two designs. One day, a friend who was on vacation in New York sent me a message because he had seen a video of mine on the screens in Times Square!! I couldn't believe it! They made a video of my presentation, but I never imagined they would project it in Times Square! It was pretty crazy.
ZG-1400-EN-KK, ZG-1280-DE, MM-1002-EN, MM-0697-DE
We are very much looking forward to working with @jesuso_ortiz for many more years and designing many more beautiful products for you! If you don't know him yet, be sure to check out his Instagram account and leave him lots of love! By the way, you can always recognise his PICKMOTION products on the back of our products, where we include the names of the respective Instagrammers.
