Illustrator Ari Liloan regards her meandering career path as “a pinball machine kind of tale.” “I never landed on one thing and stuck to it,” she told Ballpitmag. “Failed here, got rejected there, lost interest in that – the common odyssey of people with no passion but way too many interests.”
Now fully committed to editorial illustration, the Filipino/Italian illustrator based in Berlin has seemed to have finally made it. Her style – a colorful hybrid of 1930 golden-age surrealism and 2019 vector art dilettantism – has caught the likes of brands like BMW Austria, Mercedes Austria, and T-Mobile.
But when it comes to inspirations – she tries to avoid them as much as she can. “At least in terms of visual influence,” she explained. “Not hopping on Pinterest reduces the chance to use arbitrary metaphors and color schemes that have little to do with the commission.”
According to Liloan, reading the client brief carefully is enough and should be the main source of inspiration. “However, when I feel stuck, I religiously nap or take long walks. (There’s no religion dedicated to that, but I think there should be.)”
Follow her artistic journey on Instagram: