Elena Tarsius is a talented freelance illustrator living in Barcelona, Spain. She trained at Escola D’Art del Treball, in Barcelona and her illustrations have been exhibited at the Contemporary Art Museum of Barcelona (MACBA) and Art Libris of Fira Santa Mónica.
Her artistry breathed life into the vision of Fantastigal and explore below for more of her illustrative eloquence, inspirations, and flights of fantasy.
HC: If you could be any fantastical character or persona who or what would you be?
ET: I would be a hobbit. Let dwarves, dragons and mages fight their battles, I’m up for second breakfast.
When I was a small child, I often got lost in my own thoughts about made up magical fantasies – imagining portals to other worlds behind every ruined fountain or old door I came across. Pretending to have powers over the winds, I often raised my hands as if the breeze obeyed my commands.
Nowadays, I try to keep hearing the voice of the younger me. I like to maintain a certain sense of magic all around me – trying to instill some of that fantasy in the work I’ve been able to create as an animator, 3D generalist, and graphic designer.
HC: How would you describe your artistry?
ET: I would describe my artistry as “neo-fantastical-symbolist-art-nouveau-ish”.
I consider myself more of a traditional artist/painter, though lately I’ve been working in digital illustration and am enjoying it.
I draw my inspiration from mythology, folklore, nature and the art that I connect with. I love hiking through nature alone – just me and my perceptions – leaving behind my anxieties and worries to just feel.
Also, I live in an old part of Barcelona, with lots of art-nouveau buildings and statues, like the famous Sagrada Familia. Those influences intertwine and make me able to create my art.
HC: What is your favorite piece you have created so far?
ET: I’ve been trying to paint more personal symbolist images lately.
I’ve been working on one piece that is quite challenging so far. It is about the edge between dreams, nightmares and reality – the moment the dream falls apart. I think when it is finished it will be my favorite piece…until I fall in love again with another painting.
HC: What is something you dream of creating in the future?
ET: I would love to publish an illustrated book someday – a very nice hardcover edition, with different types of papers, golden details and that amazing high quality paper smell.
HC: What have you been fantasizing or daydreaming about?
ET: Being taken by the fairies.
HC: Is there a myth, legend, fable or story you would like to share from your family, country, town, or culture or that inspires you most?
ET: The history and mythology of the pre-christian Mediterranean culture inspires me. The mystery of those early civilizations and their common features clashing against one another through commerce and migration – traces of greek in Iberian culture, Egyptian gods in Greece… Those different cultures, one and many.
HC: What other fantasy artists or creators currently inspire you?
ET: I love the art of symbolist painters, pre-raphaelites, Art nouveau artists and designers and ancient roman wall-painting (they have amazing compositions!). As for modern creators, I love the work of Brian Froud, Benjamin Lacombe, Roger Olmos, Ana Juan and J.A.W Cooper.
HC: Your three magical wishes, what would they be?
ET: I would wish happiness and well being to all my loved ones, a nice old house in the middle of the forest… And I would probably spend my last wish freeing the genie, of course!
HC: If happy thoughts could make you fly – what would be your happy thought?
ET: Whenever I need to fly, I think of my little bunny Kero. His fluffy fur, his big round eyes and his crazy “happy jumps”.
HC: If you were asleep for 100 years, what would you hope would be different about the future and what would you hope would remain the same.
ET: I would hope for a greener and fairer world. What would I want to remain the same? Coffee. If there is no good coffee don’t bother waking me up, probably I couldn’t stay awake without it anyway.
HC: Would people say you are too hot, too cold, or just right?
ET: I’ve always had really cold hands, so my granny used to say to me “cold hands, warm heart”. I feel like that saying represents me quite a lot. I may seem cold at first, but I get warmer as you get to know me.
HC: Do you own any items that you think possess magic or are cursed?
ET: A small metal ring. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a very old piece of metal with two parallel carvings around it. My mother found it in the woods and gave it to me when I was little. I discovered it dated between the second and fourth century A. C. The thought of having something worn by someone from centuries ago, forgotten and then worn only by me connects me with a distant past. I find it magic.
HC: What would you think the morale of your story would be?
ET: I think I’m just starting my story. I feel like there is no set path to where I should or have to be.
At the present time, I’m just trying my best to “survive” and have fun while I try.
