Interview with Fashion Illustrator Sandra Suy

Sandra Suy’s fashion illustrations are all over the internet. If you do a simple search, you’ll see her work featured on blog upon blog. Most of the blogs post one or two of her delicate illustrations, praise Suy’s incredible craft, and then apologize for not having much information about her except for the fact that she lives in Barcelona.

Well, ahem, I got to interview her.

I found out that she studied fashion design at Barcelona’s La LLotja–the same art school Picasso studied in–that her career took off after she opened a MySpace page (see, it ain’t just for posting your drunk party pictures) and that she used to work making fabric prints before becoming a successful fashion illustrator.

Her answers are translated from the Spanish. For those of you who  speak Spanish and/or believe in the old Italian saying, “traduttore, traditore!” I’ll soon post the original version of the interview on my blog.

This is, hopefully, part one of a two-part interview. I’ll keep you updated.

Patricio Maya: Can you tell me about your experience with The Economist?

Sandra Suy: I was given the gig by the London-based agency that represents me, so I really didn’t have any contact with The Economist. The truth is it was easy working with them in the sense that they agreed with my way of dealing with the project from the get go. I don’t think my work with them has had too much of an impact. For now, it’s the only British client I’ve had.

PM. What other publications have your illustrations appeared in?

SS. Lamono and H in Spain (two independent magazines), Glamour in the US, Allure in Japan, So Chic in France… I’ve also collaborated with online magazines like Chew and NEET.

PM. Is breaking into fashion illustration difficult?

SS. Getting attention is without a doubt the most difficult thing. For that  you need to have a style that sets you apart somehow. It’s   essential for it to be known that something is yours from among other works. That’s what makes them choose you, because what you do is different. Finding your own style is pretty complex–at least for me it was.

PM. You say “it all started by opening a MySpace page for myself.” Can you tell us about the process of how you went from MySpace…to, well, having a successful career?

SS. A friend of mine who is designer told me about Myspace–it worked well for her to get her work out there–and so I showed my work. At the time I only drew as a past time. I worked for companies making garment designs, nothing related to what I do now. Myspace gave me the chance to show my work to the world and the work offers as an illustrator started coming.

PM. When you travel to a foreign place, say New York for the Fashion Week, how does it work? (Do you get hired beforehand by a designer or do you go as a freelancer? How have you experiences been?)

SS. Unfortunately for me things are not as full of glamour and traveling as it might seem.  Thanks to tools like the internet and pages like style, it’s not really necessary to be by the catwalk in order to see the fashion shows–oh well…

PM. Do different fashion epicenters like, say,  Milan and Paris (or any others) have different approaches to fashion illustration?

SS. The internet is how many artists work, which makes physical barriers disappear. Sure there are different styles, fads and ways of working in the fashion world, but I don’t think style is defined by nationalities. It is defined by the actual esthetic leanings of the artists. It might have been like that during the surge of fashion illustration at the beginning of the 20th century. The differences between the world capitals of fashion and it’s illustrators were more noticeable then, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore.

PM. One thing that stands out about your work is the delicacy of the details. “Elegant,” “well-balanced,” even “minimalist” are some of the adjectives used to describe your illustrations. Is that an accurate description of your work?

SS. Well, I myself wouldn’t know how to define my own work. I only know those are adjectives I like. I try to make illustrations that will not perish in time; something you can look at in 10 years and will not seem passé, “out of step.”

PM. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your illustrations? For instance, is there something you’d like to improve? What are you most proud of?

SS. I feel proud of every illustration that has been published. Many of them stay stashed away because they “do not work.” I can’t tell you why–they just don’t have what it takes. I require that each illustration I make have a certain aura. If it doesn’t have it, then it’s no good. Maybe one of the shortcomings of my work is that the illustration must emerge naturally, so when I have too many directions that magic vanishes; I don’t know if I’m getting it across… That means that certain commissioned illustration with lots of outside requests leave me only partially satisfied even when the client is entirely happy with the outcome.

PM. Is there much space for personal style in fashion illustration? What are some of the basics that every fashion illustration should have in order to be professional and how much can you deviate from that in order to have your own style?

SS. That’s a difficult balance to keep for an illustrator. They hire you because you have a certain style, but many of the times, the clients requests take you so far away from your own way of working that you’re not totally happy with it. In many of the cases you need to know how to negotiate, how to get the client to understand certain basic principles of your work style in order to get results that are satisfactory for both. That might be the most challenging part of my work.

PM. Who are some contemporary fashion illustrators that you admire?

SS. I love Julie Verhoeven’s work. I think she has a matchless style and a perfect balance between what’s artistic and what’s commercial. David Downton, Erin Petson, Kareem Iliya…

Sandra Suy’s website.