Interview with Kruella D'Enfer

Tell us about how you got to where you are now?

I am an Illustrator and Visual Artist. I came to Lisbon to study at University – the Degree I was enrolled in didn’t have much to do with what I do now and I ended up going to Caldas da Rainha to study a little later. That was when I understood, a lot due to the environment lived in that city, that what I enjoyed the most was to draw. And so that is where I started, in 2010, through Illustration. I had no academic background related to that world – everything was improvised, at the time. I set out to discover and experiment.

How would you define your style as a visual artist?

My style has varied throughout the years. I started 7 years ago and was always very dedicated to manual drawing, much more so than nowadays. At the moment I am much more used to working digitally and I actually feel more comfortable that way. Although the projects I work on are so different from each other that I am forced to work in completely different surfaces: when I am working for an exhibition, I do original work on fabric, on paper or on canvas. When the work is more commercial I work digitally.

I like to balance both, because sometimes I get tired of being at the computer constantly, always drawing, and I miss paintings. Now I am also working on murals – which is great, because it is completely different dimension from what I am used to.

What was your inspiration to create the "Dear Deer" Monarte piece?

My work is very strongly based in nature and animals – and I thought that representing an animal’s head on a sweater would be a strong element. On one hand, everything that is related to nature conveys calm – on the other hand, at the same time, such a present animal’s head conveys strength. I think that it is why I wanted to create a strong aesthetic.

Monarte Piece: "Dear Deer"