@rodrimade

Instagram: @rodrimade Website: www.gettingbetter.es

1. What's your story? Where are you from?

I was born in Alicante, in the southeast of Spain. For as long as I can remember, I remember myself drawing. I drew continuously, all kinds of things, people, sneakers, cars, birds, vacuum cleaners, anything within my reach that was worthy of a portrait.

2. Tell us about your aesthetic.

I do not think I have a specific aesthetic. I have many different references, and I like to define a concrete aesthetic for each project. It is important for me to maintain a fresh style, flexible and adaptable to changes. I think versatility is fundamental, even more when you are working in advertising. I do not believe in the so called unique style, at least it doesn't work for me.

3. What is your favourite medium and why?

It took me some fights to get into the digital medium. I have always been drawing, and for some time I was very focused on painting, I was very attached to the physical format, and I'm still into it, but when I started to work as a professional designer and as an illustrator, I ended up hooked on the digital medium. It's infinitely funny and inspiring and it provides you with a huge amount of trial and error possibilities to play with. It's difficult to compete against this. Still, I have to say that I almost always start my projects sketching by hand in a notebook. I can't change that.

4. What is your artistic process like?

One of the parts of the process I enjoy the most is to find a style or aesthetic for that particular project I'm working on. The process depends a lot on what aesthetic and what medium I'm using, and it varies depending on whether it is commercial or personal work. In a commercial commission, at the end you are trying to find a solution to the problem of a client. In personal work, I like to leave a bigger space for improvisation and for the project itself to tell me what it needs. It is pretty normal that the initial idea I have for a project mutates during the process, and it ends up becoming something else.

5. Who and/or what inspires your work?

Everything that you live shows up in your work, like the people with whom you share your life, the sense of humor, experiences, series, movies ... My other passion apart from graphic art is music, and I think it's very present in all the work I do.

6. What role does art play in your life? How does it change the way you view the world?

I consider Art (it's curious to write it in capital letters) as something to enjoy with. Art is a way of looking at things in your own way, analyze them and, in a way or another, offer your vision through your work. I am not aware of having "learned" Art in a conscious way, I believe in art within your life, and being part of every little thing.

7. Where did you study?

I went to the Fine Arts School in Valencia, where I was mainly interested in drawing and painting, and a few years later I studied design in Madrid.

8. Where do you see yourself in five years? Working in an agency?

I am a partner in the advertising agency GettingBetter (like the Beatles song) and we are like a family. I love agency work because it keeps you cool, awake, alert. It invites you to be aware of every new trend that pops up, like social and graphic trends, marketing, music... This changes continuously and your customers force you to learn from many different industries. I think it's an interesting job, a nice and very complete one. It keeps you tied to the world and to the present moment.

9. What about in ten?

Ten years is a long time, but I guess I would like to continue enjoying the work at the agency, but also having more time for personal work.

10. What do you hope to achieve with your art?

I guess in the end, it's all about creating things that people like (or hopefully love) and find interesting. The thing is, if what you are doing is better than not doing it. You must consider if your work would make someone happy, or make someone smile, or cry, or freak out, or think about something.

11. Now, tell us a little more about you as a person: what is your favourite food?

I'm not difficult with food. I can be very happy with a roast chicken with potatoes, or a dish of pasta , although since I met my girlfriend 10 years ago I have changed a little bit in this respect. Her family has a huge cooking tradition. I love wine and beer. By the way, I know it's a cliché but I love paella as well.

12. Favourite book?

I don't think I could choose just one. Lately I have really enjoyed reading "How music works", by David Byrne, "Let's talk about love: Why other people have such bad taste" by Carl Wilson (by the way, the title in Spain is "Música de mierda", something like "Shitty music"), "The Marriage Plot" by Jeffrey Eugenides, "The corrections" by Jonathan Franzen, and an instant classic for me, "Just kids" by Patti Smith.

13. Favourite genre of music?

I have a complex taste in music. I'm an absolute music lover. I listen to a lot of different music constantly, all day long. I had a crush on electronic music when I was a teenager during the first half of the 90's (which continues today), but because of that, I can go from New Order to The Velvet Underground, Camarón, Bowie, Extremoduro, ELO, Alan Parsons Project, Pink Floyd... the playlist would be infinite. In music, as well as in art in general, I think what I like the most is to see how everything is related to everything. I have a project in progress that talks about this.

14. What are your hobbies?

I believe that I am lucky because my work is my hobby: illustration, design... My other hobby, that comes from outside of my professional field, is music. I've had some music bands, and I love to play and compose music in the pc, but nothing serious, just for fun.

15. If you weren't an artist, what would you be?

Hahaha, I think I've already told you, I would have loved to be a musician.