Félix Zilinskas

Félix Zilinskas is a Venezuelan illustrator who started living in Barcelona a year ago. He has covered a lot of ground in his homeland, where he has served as Vice President for both DDB creative Venezuela and Y&R Venezuela. Félix also created his own agency called Eastwood & Bronson, with which he spent four intense years. His move to the Catalan capital, where he works as a freelancer for agencies and clients around the world, was necessary to give free rein to his need for expression, leading to a break with his old technique and giving way to a new one.
How does an illustrator choose a way of illustrating? Is it a technique or a collection of innate previous models that inspire?
I think that our decisions are always influenced by everything around us, like it or not. We are part of the music we listen to, the art we see and the people with whom we interact. My works combine many of my musical and artistic tastes such as “The Beatles” and “Gustav Klimt” among others.

As for your technique, do you first trace the outline and then color it?
Like everything in life, it depends. It depends on the time and situation. I can start creating a silhouette and giving it color later, or I can build the house from the roof. Same with my stories -sometimes I choose the illustration first over the story and vice versa. But yes, all my works have some personal meaning that makes them unique. For me this is the true essence or secret of my way of illustrating and not the order in which I draw or give color, as this depends on the situation. We enter into the debate of the interpretations’ subjectivity.
One of my practices is to gather information on the characters of my favorite songs. Once I understand that character, I try to bring it up to date, making it much more interesting and original. I also try to use innovative materials in the world of illustration like clay and the combination of materials that can provide an interesting result.

You’re still young, but do you consider that you have entered a phase of teaching others what you have learned so far? I say that because I have seen in your website tutorials which make the way you work and create much clearer.
My motto is to constantly innovate without getting rusty; to learn from everything around us, but also to teach. I make that kind of videos, not only to show my way of working, but also for others to carry it out, practice and get interested in this world that I love.

Why is illustration a form of expression that is so fashionable today?
Illustration can translate our crazy ideas perfectly. It is an elastic technique that promotes freedom of style and execution, while visually attracting the public because it is a showy technique, and in most cases, comical. It is this freshness and modernity that makes illustration so present in changing the world in which we live, away from too tame and monotonous works. The technique owes its heyday to the great freedom of expression that is provided by the Internet, a platform which has launched many artists.

What is the step that you have to take in Barcelona for you to fulfill yourself as an artist?
I would love to exhibit all my work in some gallery in the city. Currently I am trying to remove the thorn that I have stuck in my flesh intending to carry it out in the near future; making the way I work known, as well as the symbolism that all my works carry, would be very rewarding for me.