Sheila Ortega
Professional Illustrator and comic artist
WHEN DID YOU START DRAWING?
I was born with a pen in my hand, I don’t remember when I started drawing because my memory wasn’t developed yet. In childhood one remembers about his favourite toys while I remember folders full of paper and two cans of detergent full of pencils. I used to take a notebook and a pen on vacation instead of a doll. Sheila Ortega, the girl glued to a piece of paper.
When I was 8 years old, I was given my first drawing box, the greatest treasure of my childhood. It means so much to me that I still keep it with the sepias and charcoal that came inside along with a drawing textbook. When do you start studying illustration? When you want to learn. Collect drawing books and practice, practice, practice.
At the age of 15, finally, my parents enrolled me in an Art School. There, I discovered ink, watercolor and pastel. And I received the second most exciting gift of my life: an easel. Sheila Ortega, the painter, was born.
HOW DID YOU START BEING A PROFESSIONAL ILLUSTRATOR?
Although I never stopped studying illustration and painting, the University led me towards another of my passions: science. I studied chemistry that made my lab notebooks and notes the most valued for the students.
After years devoting myself to science and non-professional drawing, I became a mother, and there I decided to undertake and apply myself fully in what has always been my dream, to be a professional illustrator.
Combining studies in business, illustration and being a mother, I managed to professionalize myself as a cartoonist at Criar con Sentido Común and cartoonist and illustrator at Red Nacional de Infértiles. You can see HERE my work with them and other associations.
Everyday life gives me a lot of inspiration for the vignettes I make both for “hasta el Kiwi comic” and for those I make for websites and publications.
This is how I became Sheila Ortega, illustrator and cartoonist.
WHAT TECHNIQUES DO YOU USE?
Markers and acrylic
In traditional illustration I really like to use alcohol markers (Copics, Brushmarkers,…) and pencils. For painting I mainly use acrylics, from A6 size canvases to paintings up to 1m high!
Digital colorist
Digital illustration has always caught my attention, ever since I drew with Paint on Windows. Then studying digital technique I discovered coloring, HERE you can see some work as a colorist for covers, comics and illustration that I have done with digital technique.
WHY HAVZI ART?
Because I am a geek. Fan of Game of Thrones and felines, I found a word in the Dothraki language that fits perfectly, and I needed a brand name that was personal, unique and could be aligned to me like the Egyptian theme and spirals.
WHAT DO YOU OFFER?
What cannot drawing offer?
- An original gift, a personalized illustration, an embodied fantasy.
- Visual resources for your business, website, association, merchandising.
- I work as a colorist for comics, covers, etc.
- Illustrations for books, covers, magazines.
- Illustration for children’s stories.
- And of course resources, prints and original art that you will find in the shop.
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