Artist: Marta Madureira
Website: Marta’s website is currently being updated. Please find more info and illustrations here.

Marta is a Portuguese editor, graphic designer, illustrator and teacher. Feeling an urge to start making their own books, she and author Adélia Carvalho teamed up to start an independent publishing house in 2010, which they named Tcharan. This year, Marta won the 3×3 Children’s Show No9, with her illustrations for the book «I ate an owl» (published by Tcharan) considered the Best of Show. The following interview is the product of a long chat I had with Marta, and though it doesn’t cover everything said, for length and structural reasons, it’s faithful to the original sentences’ order and ideas. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Who?
Marta Madureira, 35.

What?
Illustrator, teacher and editor. I also design the pages layout for Tcharan’s books. I teach at IPCA, both graphic design and illustration, for six years now. It’s not easy to conciliate everything, but I also feel one task completes the others.

When?
I organize my time accordingly to the work I have to do, but what really dictates my routine are the classes. Usually, I have to be at IPCA three days a week and respect the schedules I’m given, combined with other school activities. I try to fit my other tasks in the time I have left, filling in the holes. Many times, it’s a hard thing to manage. I often stay-up late, working, though I much prefer to do it in daytime. I prefer to wake up at six in the morning than to have to go to bed at three.

Where?
I work from home. It’s an option. I struggle to concentrate, and if I have other people around I can’t do it. I tried, shared a space with some other folks, but it didn’t work out for me… too much stimuli. On the other hand, it also fits the fact I don’t have a strict routine, so it’s convenient to work from home. It’s where I feel good and better seize my time.

Why?
Before studying communication design, I studied Fine Arts, painting, for three years at FBAUP. My father was an illustrator… I used to watch him work but I always wanted to be a painter. Later on, I grew disappointed with the Fine Arts course and my social life with design students helped me figure that maybe communication design would suit me better. I applied for a course transfer, thinking I had swopped the paints for the computer. While in communication design I was lucky to study with some great teachers, people that were not only good designers but also illustrators, and I discovered that I like to organize shapes, play the composition, experiment with colours and explore with different art supplies. They also helped me to understand the strong relation that can exist between text and images. But at that time I was really up to just be a graphic designer; I didn’t want anything to do with painting anymore, and though my work method naturally included handmade and painted elements, I used to refuse any association with illustration. It was only when I started to work as a designer that I understood denying illustration didn’t make any sense. I needed years to get to the conclusion illustration was what I really enjoyed the most. It was something that naturally grew inside.

How?
I use cut-outs a lot… It’s my favourite method. I always liked the textures very much. Depending on the assignment, it can be handmade or digital. It’s a lot easier to work with the computer when I don’t have that much time… And it’s a lot easier to experiment with it too. I get different results when I use the computer because it allows me to experiment much more. It allows me to work much faster with transparencies, for instance, as I don’t have to go through Xerox and acetate. You can find a lot of different stuff in my illustrations… I like to collect paper, graphic elements, and place things out of context. I mean, each book is different… Trying to be in sync with the text gives every work its’ own personality. Besides that, I try to make it beautiful and honest. To me, style is karmic. I tell my students that what’s important is to evolve in what you do. If we keep doing the same thing over and over, if we always follow the same recipe, we become stagnant.

Find Marta here:
Portfolio: Marta’s website is currently being updated. Please find more info and illustrations here.
Facebook: Tcharan