Hello!
I’ve been working on three books this summer, and the best part is, I haven’t even started with the final art. Right now is all art direction: materials, sketches, and color palette.

One of the books is my second book as an author-illustrator. And the reason why I made this piece.

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Hello!

Every time I visit Medellín, I have this feeling of nostalgia for the big and small things that inhabit the city. I love observing the details, objects, flora and fauna, small actions, and customs that surround everyday life and that are so obvious to us, but not so much to other people. So it’s been a while, I wanted to make something with this.

I'm a huge fan of Riso printing; the aesthetic of imperfection, the fluorescent colors, and the freedom it offers make me dream of creating a thousand projects. I don't have as much time as I'd like to devote to it, but a few weeks ago, I started making sketches for this new personal project.

The part I’m enjoying most about this project is that I don’t care if it is correct or not, I don’t care if it is a bestseller or not, I’m making it just for the pleasure of creating.

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I’m happy to share the process of the illustrations I made for the book Encantamientos pescados. The series I sent to the BCBF got shortlisted in the Illustrators’ Exhibition 2026!

Technique: Watercolor, wax pastels, and color pencils on cotton paper.

Was it expensive? Yes, it was.

So for the first time in my whole career as an illustrator, I made really detailed drawings of the creatures in this book.

A river in Mexico inspired Adolfo Córdova's text. In the story, which is mostly a poem, he mentions so many fish that I had to be very careful to make them identifiable.

So I ended up building this small “species journal.” That we later used for the ends.

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And oh, Good Lord, it is hard work. Well, I would say it is hard for me because my brain jumps super fast from one idea to another, and I’m having a hard time trying to concentrate on just one and giving it the much-needed classic tale structure.

I’m convinced it takes a lot of not-so-good ideas to get to the one you really like.

That story you want, or you need to tell.

The big question is, ¿What is it you want to tell? That, sometimes, makes me think: Is this story worth a book?

As my main job is as an illustrator, sometimes ideas come from images I’d like to develop as a story.

I think of a story, and I think of the atmosphere, the colors, and what the characters need to look like to have a convincing universe.

I feel very lost in the pond (which I hope will be a sea someday) of the stories I’m writing, but in this search, I’ve found some good tales I hope to publish soon

Thanks for reading

Manu

The idea is to draw a scene from a long-held memory, an everyday moment, or something I would like to remember in the future.

The rules: Each illustration should take no more than three hours to complete and must be made using ink and watercolor.

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I made the drawings and asked her to embroider them on this linen shirt I like so much. This project is full of love.

Here is the process.

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Color overflows everything: the neon lights, the countless bulbs, the decorations, and that beautiful, extravagant, sometimes unsettling yet unmistakable style of the rides and booths. I’m obsessed with the aesthetics of fairs

We live surrounded by gray tones and an excess of minimalism: buildings, asphalt, even car paint have gradually adopted neutral shades. In contrast, the color and light of fairs create a vibrant oasis amid so much monotony

For years, I’ve been taking photos of carousel figures or anything that resembles them in shape, color, or style.

Here, a collection of images. A study of color and form:

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Isn’t autumn the best season of the year? I started working on this project almost two years ago. It had to breathe autumn, the forest, cute animals, and Halloween; it is hard for me to think of a project that fits my work so perfectly.

Here is the long but lovely process, which I enjoyed in every way possible.

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Hi! Before I go on vacation, I wanted to share with you this piece I’ve been working on for a nice magazine, the text tells, wonderfully and poetically, the story of a frog

Here is the whole process:

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Maybe it's just me—or maybe I haven’t looked hard enough—but it feels like you can't find matchboxes with those cool, vintage designs anymore. All I ever come across now are boring boxes plastered with generic stock photos.

It is sad to feel that design is dying. I grew up knowing this brand: “Fósforos EL Rey”, they were a classic in Colombia.

I guess the electric stoves and lighters are quickly killing the safety matches market, as minimalism is killing design

Anyway, during my lunch break, I took an hour or two to paint one of those ugly boxes. I didn’t take a photo of the “before,” but you can imagine it was soulless.

Here’s how I did it: I used acrylic paint and didn’t even use a reference (though I probably should have for a better outcome). But it was just something I made for fun—a little detail to add some joy and charm to the space at home.

This is the result

Fósforos El Tigre

Safety matches.

Here is the process

I love the naive style it has

Thanks for reading!

Manu

Hi! I wanted to share with you a little more about this collaboration I made with an antique atelier based in the heart of Barcelona.

I’m grateful for this invitation and for those who still believe in slow, traditional processes.

Printmaking Barcelona is a Studio in the heart of Barcelona. It belongs to a family and was founded in 1986.

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Congratulations on your recent release, Ready, Steady Sloth!, with Walker Books. Can you tell us a bit about the project?

It was a big pleasure to make this book. It had two things I deeply love: Nature and animals, so I enjoyed planning the color palette and making the sketches.

I remember making a sample for the client while I was in Colombia visiting my family. It was nice, we have sloths in Colombia. The afternoon was warm and quiet. I could hear the crickets and the TV in the other room while I was drawing.

Ready, Steady Sloth! is a book about a mother sloth and her cub. It explains their behavior, and all kinds of curiosities about these animals, it is for sure a book I would have loved to have when I was a little girl.

Do you approach non-fiction books differently from picture books?

Yes, as non-fiction books provide real information about the subject, in this case, sloths; I took special care drawing the characters, I tried to make them as realistic as possible, I looked for a bunch of images of sloths, and studied them very well: how long are their nails, their color, their faces, and their particular noses and mouth.

Perhaps there is less room to “play” with the character design, but I had a lot of fun with the backgrounds, adding so many hues of green and hiding other animals into the jungle. I also loved playing with the perspective, there is a spread where we can see a nadir angle of the mom and the cub with nice light beams that sneak through the leaves and touch the jungle ground.

I’m IN LOVE with the endpapers!

We’ve also heard the exciting news that your author-illustrated title, The Bug Hotel / Hotel Escarabajo, has been picked up - tell us about that.

I started writing this book in 2019. I was at a small café in the heart of Barcelona, sitting on a long table with a brand new sketchbook and a pencil.

The project was acquired in 2024 by the amazing publishing house Blackie Books, It was like a dream! I’ve bought a lot of books edited by them and I loved the way they produce them as nice, beautiful objects: the covers, the paper they choose for each particular story, everything is fantastic.

Can you share what inspired the story?

When I was a little girl, around five years old, I found a beetle in its pupal stage. I saw it in a hole in the ground. I grabbed it, the thing moved in a way I found disgusting, so I just left it back in the hole and fled.

Since then, I thought of that ugly, weird thing and then consulted an encyclopedia.

I found it was a young beetle. That image stayed on my mind for years.

What has it felt like to have your own narrative and visuals come together in one project?

It is particularly nice, I won’t lie, as the author, I agree with the illustrator (myself) in every single decision. Illustrating my own story is like diving into my universe. There is a special kind of freedom there.

The illustrations for The Bug Hotel were also selected as part of the Illustrators Exhibition of the Bologna Children's Book Fair. What does the book fair mean to you?

The BCBF has brought a bunch of good things for my professional development. Every year, I say I won’t attend the fair, it is expensive even though I live in Europe. The accommodation is expensive during the fair days, and the flights raise the prices, but I always find a way.

I would say, every time I come back home from the fair, I’m exhausted and overwhelmed by so much beauty, but it is always totally worth it. I’ve met great professionals in the world of illustration there.

There is always something new to learn. The Bologna Children's Book Fair is a must.

My work has been selected for the Illustrators Exhibition three times already.

What’s been inspiring your work recently?

I feel I’m going through a “soft” burnout over the last couple of months, but something that keeps me going right now is reconnecting to old children's stories. Like those books written by authors as Roald Dahl and Beatrix Potter, where you can find sweetness, and also interesting, solid characters.

Are there any themes, materials, or artists you find yourself returning to?

I would say I love working with traditional media, even though working with digital media is faster and sometimes easier for me.

Traditional media helps me connect differently with myself and with the process of making art, when I work with watercolor or gouache, it is just pure pleasure. That said, I love all those artist who work with traditional media, in their books, most of the time I perceive a very human touch, the imperfections in their work make the books just perfect. It is like slowing down, in a world where everything seems to go so distressingly fast..

If you could work on any dream project right now, what would it be?

I’d like to write a story like the ones that used to be written before. like the old Red Riding Hood with a real bad wolf, not a lame “good guy” wolf.

I want to write a story that lets the kids feel emotions from the safety of their homes, a book made to entertain and not to teach them how to be good kids, or how to behave.

Please feel free to ask questions if you like :)

Thanks for reading!

Manu

Hi everyone! I’ll start this post by apologizing for not posting for a long time. These last two months have been rough. I moved from Barcelona, my home for nine years, to Paris; it’s been chaotic, there is a lot of clutter in my life these days, but I’m pretty happy and trying to get back to the routine :)

I collaborated with Jumbo Press, a riso print studio based in Barcelona, to make this Pelea con el diablo.

La leyenda

There’s a common legend in Latin America about a man—often an old grandfather—who once fought the devil.

These stories usually unfold in rural settings: small towns or cozy mountain homes where life is simple and peaceful, with chickens, cows, a donkey, some small crops, and maybe even a skinny horse grazing nearby.

The original image was made with ink, and I drew it for the last Inktober.

Prueba y error

I also made some samples with yellow backgrounds and another one with these red lines, but I felt it could look way better.

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I finished the illustrations for this book in just a few months because I feel like I get along so well with the editor and art director. It's so gratifying to be able to say this is one of my favorite publishers.

The art director asked me if I felt comfortable drawing the originals in ink and watercolor. It's a technique I use constantly for my personal work, and of course, I said yes!

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I want to share with you some images of the process, the first sketches made a long time ago, and some other stories about this slow but nice process.

This story has taken a long time to come to light, I've been working on it since 2019. The illustrations were selected for the Illustrators Exhibition at the Bologna Children's Book Fair 2022.

The Very First Steps

I started writing this book in 2019. I was at a small café in the heart of Barcelona, sitting on a long table with this new sketchbook and a pencil.

Cafés have always seemed to me, to be good places to think of new ideas, despite the noise and the distractions. I started designing the elements of the book, there wasn’t any text yet, so I wanted to approach the idea first from the scenery and the atmosphere.

In the beginning, I made a wise moth, I still love this character design. She has this air of Madame Adelaide Bonfamille from The Aristocats.

She was like a very refined character, which I still think is a nice idea but in the end, I twisted it and now the moth is a lovely lady fascinated by the night sky and the stars, a romantic and clever character.

Then came Mr.Beetle, the hotel owner. It was first very roundy based on the shapes of a real beetle larva and then I thought of a more angular (sharpy) design as I wanted him to be rude, elegant, arrogant, and distant.

Technique: pencil and watercolor. The final designs look like they have nothing to do with the first characters hehe.

As this was a personal project, I had to take other jobs to pay the bills and I worked on it at the end of the day or when I had some spare time. I’m not sure I’ll do something like this again (maybe I will) I wrote and illustrated the whole story before sending it to publishers!

The original arts

Most of the book was made on DIN A4 and DIN A3 and mixed with media: gouache, colored pencils, and wax pastels.

Some of them are BIG because why not?

Sketches and notes, some bugs are super real and others are super invented by me.

These are photos of the process of the cover.

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair

This was my first time in Bologna this series got selected for the Illustrators Exhibition of 2022. As you can see it was kinda a post-pandemic time but I was so happy to be there.

In 2023 the lovely community of dPICTUS selected the book for The Unpublished Picturebook Showcase. For various reasons, that year I was sick and tired yet I met great artists, illustrators, and publishers, and that time at the fair was one of the best times I’ve had!

Here I am with what I called THE VERY FIRST EDITION of the Bug Hotel (now Beetle Hotel)

I looked everywhere for a nice publisher, and some of them replied with comments about what worked for them and what didn’t. I got all kinds of feedback I learned to listen and I also learned to not. You can drive crazy if you follow everyone’s advice and opinions.

The project was acquired in 2024 by the amazing Blackie Books, It was like a dream! I have a lot of books edited by them and loved their way of making things, the cover, the paper, the editions before my story was on their radar.

I have to say it was a great pleasure to work with them, I’m very grateful for the work they did and very very happy with the result!!

You can get the book here

I think the hardest and the best part of this book is that, as it took so many years to be finished, with time I also changed as a person and as an artist, I had time to learn and unlearn a lot of things. What a nice trip.

Thanks for reading!!!

Manu

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This short series is something I had on my list for two or three years.

These illustrations made with gouache are part of some beautiful memories of my homeland, Colombia.

The “papayo”

Two years ago I planted a bunch of papaya trees, and the whole thing happily got out of control, I ended up giving away many of these to friends and family. I had like twenty-five small papaya trees and didn’t have enough space to “raise” them all.

Two of them bloomed recently, I LOVE seeing my plants grow, it is one of those small pleasures of life.

Sapo!

The toad, this creature so unpopular between adults has been part of peaceful and joyful memories of my childhood.

On those weekends I spent at my aunt’s house in the mountains, I used to go toad hunting. By “hunting“ I mean chasing, grabbing, looking quietly, and then setting them free again.

When you are taught as a child to understand and respect all critters, you may end up being an adult who enjoys watching a toad jump into the living room and then do toad stuff like staying still and breathing.

I made this post to invite you to be inspired and draw from memories of small yet great moments that fill life of joy.

Notes

• Draw!

• Sorry for my English, I’m considering writing in Spanish too since it is easier for me.

Thanks for reading!

Manu.

Recently I bought a night table and since then I’ve been looking for a drawer knob. I’m obsessed and thought a flea market would be the perfect place to find one.

Spoiler: I didn’t see even one BUT there are many nice things there and I wanted to share them with you.

I also took the time to draw with Chinese ink to try to improve and add interesting shapes to my references.

There were a lot of these “scarves”? I don’t wear fur coats or stuff like this but I couldn’t stop staring at these, I’ve never seen this animal, it is a mink I guess.

Regards from Paris, I’m freezing!

Thanks!

Manu

I looked for it for at least half an hour just to find they had this gouache tube kind of hidden in the counter where they had the nicest art materials and tools.

Here are some pics I made of the process of this short story.

Thanks for watching