My story
I grew up in Barcelona in a home where art was part of everyday life.
My father, Ferran Sostres Ferrer, was a professional illustrator who worked from a studio within our family home. My brothers and I grew up surrounded by pencils, brushes, watercolours, paper, magazine cuttings and works in progress. Illustration was not something unusual or special; it was simply part of our daily lives.
Some of my most vivid childhood memories are linked to his creativity. As birthdays approached, mysterious fragments of drawings would gradually appear on the kitchen tiles in black marker pen until, on the special day, a complete illustration was revealed. More often than not, it featured a child holding a birthday cake. On Christmas Eve, the lenses of our glasses would sometimes be decorated with hand-painted stars. To us, it felt like pure magic.
It was within this world of creativity, imagination and love for craftsmanship that my passion for drawing began.
As a teenager, I attended weekly classes at the Santvisens Academy of Art, located in an attic studio on Portal de l'Àngel, in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter. Under the guidance of artist Ángel G. Llàcer, I was introduced to the principles of composition and discovered the expressive power of colour through the academy's vibrant and luminous approach to painting.
It was there that I first encountered life drawing and worked from live models. For five years, it became a place of learning, discovery and fascination with the human figure, colour and observation.
This path led me to study Fine Arts in Barcelona while simultaneously training in Illustration at La Llotja School of Art. While university broadened my artistic horizons, La Llotja allowed me to deepen my understanding of drawing, visual storytelling and the craft of illustration.
After graduating, I began my professional career as an illustrator in my father's studio in Barcelona. Several years later, I moved to London, where I worked in animation while continuing to develop illustration projects for clients in both the United Kingdom and Spain.
For more than twenty years, I have worked professionally as an illustrator across publishing, advertising and animation. Over that time, tools and techniques have evolved from brushes, watercolours and original artwork on paper to digital illustration. Yet beyond technological change, drawing has remained at the heart of the way I work and the way I see the world.
Alongside my professional work, I have always sought opportunities to return to life drawing. In Barcelona, I attended sessions at the Escola de Sant Lluc and, during my years in London, I drew regularly with the Hesketh Hubbard Art Society at the Mall Galleries, where I received two drawing awards. Later, during a period living in Madrid, I continued this practice at the Círculo de Bellas Artes. These institutions have accompanied me through different stages of life and have kept alive my connection to direct observation, the human figure and drawing as the foundation of my artistic practice.
Motherhood and several international relocations led me to devote a number of years almost entirely to family life. Even so, drawing and painting never truly disappeared. As my children grew older, I gradually returned to my artistic practice.
Small illustration and painting commissions began to appear once again, bringing with them a renewed desire to learn and grow. This led me to continue my training at London Fine Art Studios in Battersea before spending several weeks in Florence studying at the Florence Academy of Art, internationally recognised for its rigorous teaching of classical drawing and painting methods.
That experience marked the beginning of a new chapter. I created my website, began exhibiting regularly at art fairs and exhibitions, and resumed accepting painting commissions, from landscapes and architectural subjects to portraits of people and animals.
Today, my work brings together two passions that have always gone hand in hand: illustration and painting. Whether I am painting urban landscapes, flowers, figures or portraits, I continue to be guided by the same fascination I felt as a child watching my father at work in his studio: the ability of drawing and painting to tell stories, capture beauty and transform the way we see the world.