Chelsy Escalona

Since I was a child I always wanted to be an artist, I had a lot of support from my family and they encouraged me to grow my skills and pursue an arts career, I ended up studying graphic design and there I learned about illustration and fell in love, so after graduation I started to look for my voice and style by drawing more every day until I found the visual language that spoke to me as an artist and later became my own voice as an illustrator.

I studied illustration as part of my Graphic Design degree in the Superior Institute of Design ISDi in Havana, Cuba. We studied some mixed techniques mostly based on traditional art; the digital art came to my life after I graduated and learned it on my own, using what I already knew from school but exploring this new medium which was totally new to me.

I’m from Havana, Cuba. I lived there until my 30s, then my husband and I decided to move to Europe and build our careers here.

I have many memories, one very dear to my heart was when my grandparents saw any drawing I made and gasp at it like I had painted something amazing! They encouraged me a lot, as well as my dad who took me to an art workshop for kids every weekend and later to my art lessons when I was in high school, to prepare for art school.

Now I’m living in Berlin. My husband and I moved here a year ago for work. As I’m an artist and my work is mostly online and remote I love that we can move freely anywhere and build our lives wherever we want. Also Berlin is such a great place for art, you can breathe it everywhere and it’s an amazing city to explore more into my artist career.

I have a shared studio at home, my little corner as I like to call it, it’s full of colour, plants and things I like and have been collecting in the past year, since I moved from my country and had to leave all my art stuff behind I have now the chance to rebuild a space where I can feel inspired and cosy and where I love to come and spend my days making art and working towards my dreams.

I have a gorgeous cat. We adopted her six years ago when she was just a baby, her name is Arya and she is the inspiration behind most of my work. She is loving and doesn’t leave my side, we had put a bed for her in the studio where she sleeps while she is not on my desk keeping me company.

I would say life is my biggest inspiration. I like drawing daily scenes and mundane moments, which I call little treasures because these details or memories are our happiness and sometimes we overlook them. But I also find a lot of inspiration in fantasy and magic, which is something I’ve been exploring in recent times.

Cat mom, always dreaming.

I’m passionate about animal’s rights and women's equality and freedom from stereotypes.

Since I have my studio in a separate room in our home I have made myself a work schedule, where I start working at 9:30 in the morning and clock off at 5pm, and try to not work on weekends, this has helped me to have time to unwind and do other things like, spending time with my family, taking care of myself, eating properly and to just rest.

We have been learning about recycling since we arrived in Germany, which I found is really good practice, and have been also trying to incorporate it into my small business.

I love miniatures, and I have a small collection of cat’s figurines on my work desk and a Japanese diorama. I also enjoy painting D&D minis.

I had to work on a mental health project which was about creating encouragement cards, and my assignment was The Cat, which talked about compassion and protecting the ones we love. I enjoyed working on it a lot and loved the final result.

Hayao Miyazaki, I love how he builds his worlds and characters, and also his visual style which I find deeply inspirational.

Paula Scher, her journey is something that inspired me a lot.

Taylor Swift, I love how she is making her mark in music history while still being herself.

Definitely a graphic designer, I believe it's a beautiful career and with a lot of purpose.

Japan, it’s a long time dream that I hope to fulfill one day.

I love to dance and I’m pretty good at it, also I can cook!

As someone who is nice, relatable, trustworthy, loyal, loving, who cares for other people’s feelings and someone who is passionate about art and what she does.

Eggs and french fries. Quick to make and never disappoints.

There are many, Mulan will be one of them, Spirited Away, Soltera Codiciada 1, I could go on but will stop here!

One Piece, the Live Action on Netflix.

It was an Estopa concert and we had an amazing time, besides it was a long time dream come true.

I have read many books that I’ve loved, but can’t pick just one. Some of my favourites are The Alchemist, The Magic Buss (the one with the dinosaur trip), and La Legion de la Tarantula (it's a children’s illustrated mystery story, amazing!)

Sabor a mi, cover by Monsieur Periné.

Success is to get what you want, happiness is to enjoy what you get.

Keep going, you got this! One step back doesn’t define your entire journey, there is always room for growth.

Yes, I had to learn to value my work and to say no to things I’m just not interested in, also that sometimes we are not ready yet for things that come our way, and though it might be heartbreaking it’s also a great opportunity to learn and grow and become better at what we do.

Stop listening to the noise outside and learn to listen to yourself first, follow your instincts and don’t worry so much about what others think.