Who is Javier Navarrete and who is El Chico Llama?

This whole adventure began around 2018. At the time, I was working as a visual designer for a bank and I began to feel creatively unsatisfied. When you work for an institution like that, you have a lot of limitations – I came from studying Fine Arts and had been drawing all my life. I started posting my illustrations on Instagram and gradually saw that they worked quite well on social media. I went to a design market to sell them in print format, and that’s where I got my first commissions. In 2019, I took a year’s leave of absence to try my hand as a freelance illustrator, to be ‘El Chico Llama’. I didn’t want to regret not having tried, but I didn’t know if it would work. Projects started coming in, I extended my leave of absence for another year... and here I am today.

How would you define your style?

My illustrations now focus on drawing scenes. I try to capture a specific moment where architecture blends with the characters. I often draw on everyday life, very recognisable places or scenes that are familiar to those who see the illustrations. I always try to capture what I know in images, without any pretension, just focusing on the beauty I see around me. If you look at what I did at the beginning and compare it with what I do now, I think you’ll notice quite an evolution. I’ve always done digital vector illustration, but I’ve gone through a lot of creative crises and at first I focused on imaginary elements, on more childish narratives. Little by little, I arrived at simple scenes that are full of emotion, which is what’s really important and what I do today.

You have just designed the latest cover for Ronda magazine.

It was a fairly straightforward process. Based on the materials the team sent me, I was able to come up with a colour palette using Iberia’s classic colours. This starting point led me to want to paint a sunrise, which I think goes very well with the moment, with arriving at a new destination such as Orlando. In terms of composition, the child in the centre of the scene speaks a little about the excitement of discovering a place with such a magical atmosphere.

Where did you find inspiration for Orlando, Iberia’s new destination?

Interestingly, Orlando is a destination I have yet to visit, so, as I said on Instagram when I presented the cover, I based it on something I had experienced: my childhood dream of visiting Walt Disney World Resort. It was cool to be able to relive the excitement I would have felt as a child arriving at a place like that. I tried to make the cover remind us of the feeling you get when you travel as a child because, when you grow up, nothing seems to impress you as much anymore. This is a scene that speaks to us of the magic of first times.

How do your illustrations change when you add some motion, as you did with the Ronda cover?

Two years ago, I did a master’s degree in motion graphics with the idea of bringing my illustrations to life. I try to make really simple animations, but I think they add something extra to each piece. In the case of the cover for Ronda, when I compared the static image with the moving image, I felt that, in all humility, it looked like the beginning of a film. I'm very critical of myself, but I try to ensure that my illustrations always convey a lot of positivity, and I think that, in the case of the moving cover, with four very simple elements, we managed to do something really cool.

You have captured many destinations, from Barcelona to New York, for other projects. How do you choose which places to capture in each city?

One rule I have for myself is that I always try to draw what I have experienced. I think it’s not the same to capture something you’ve seen yourself as it is to draw something based on someone else’s photo or story. This means that the image I have as a tourist in New York is nothing like that of a New Yorker, but that distortion also makes the illustration a kind of ‘painted’ photo. Suddenly, the whole context influences the drawing: my life at that moment, the season, the light at that moment, the people I see around me and then capture in the illustration... All these elements make a particular corner awaken something in me. It’s a somewhat therapeutic process. I feel that with the fast pace of life right now everything is easily forgotten, and sitting down to illustrate forces me to remember that moment. The drawings become a kind of logbook of what I have experienced.

Madrid features frequently in your work. Is it a city with endless inspiration?

Yes, I consider it my muse. I’ve drawn on it a lot because it’s my city and it’s the landscape I know. Now it’s become a vibrant city and many of its corners are already known to everyone but ,when I started out, I found it difficult to find illustrations that highlighted the beauty of everyday life in Madrid. At first, I focused on the most iconic monuments, but now I try to give more value to local life, my surroundings, my neighbours…

Discover the new issue of Ronda with a cover by El Chico Llama here