Featured artist: Rocío Diestra
Adulting isn’t always fancy, but it’s endlessly inspiring. Trapped amid mounting responsibilities and tightening schedules, sometimes we forget the simple joys tucked away in the everyday. Art has a way of reminding us of the beauty in the mundane, even in our little awkward moments, so today, we’re shining a spotlight on an illustrator who does just that―our latest featured artist, Rocío Diestra.
Rocío’s illustrations capture the essence of grown-up life with a disarming simplicity. Her linear style and soft palette create a sense of calm and familiarity, inviting us to savor the little moments that often slip through our fingers. So pause, breathe, and rediscover the magic of everyday life through Rocío’s whimsical world through the exclusive collection she created for Freepik.
Illustrating human essence
Life’s got its twists and turns, and for Rocío Diestra, it meant swapping the rigidity of blueprints for the freedom of line illustration. During the pandemic, and after snagging her first clients through her social media posts, she made the bold decision to pursue illustration as a way of life.
Rocío’s artistic spark ignited with a flame of defiance, fueled by frustration and indignation, and using humor as a shield. But as her art matured, so did her perspective: “I’ve adopted a more reflective and unbiased approach, addressing comprehensive topics like relationships, emotional connections, and mental health.”
Now, her comics are like windows into our own lives, capturing portraits of everyday moments. Through storytelling illustrations, Rocío brings to life the simple yet profound experiences that shape our identity. These tales are often linked to her own experiences. For example, as she relates, “Since I have moved from Lima to Barcelona, I delve into migration experiences and being away from your family.”
Art through Rocío Diestra eyes
Rocío’s art style feels like a warm hug on a rainy day―a pleasing blend of realism and stylization, sprinkled with what she describes as “a bit cartoonish.” It’s this unique mix that showcases her talent for crafting expressive characters with just a few carefully selected lines: “I aim for realistic proportions in my characters, always with a degree of stylization to preserve the naive character with which I started drawing.”
In her linear illustrations, Rocío brings in a pop of color, sticking to a palette that features a dominant and a secondary hue. Inspired by Adrian Tomine and R. Kikuo Johnson, Rocío Diestra gracefully navigates the balance between complexity and simplicity. She poses two simple questions before picking up her pencil: “What do I want to communicate?” and “How can I best communicate it easily?” This approach allows her to convey complex ideas with minimal cartoons, and Rocío finds pure joy in distilling her illustrations: “When a simple drawing conveys a lot, that’s when it is best achieved.”
Growing up stories: everyday life in lines
In her Freepik collection, Rocío displays a series of day-to-day situations that connect with those who live independently. She draws straight from her own experiences and imagination, adding that personal touch that makes each piece feel so real and relatable.
These lovely illustrations exhibit all the amusing and heartwarming things that can happen when you live on your own. Because while we experience awesome moments, like painting furniture or enjoying a relaxing bath, let’s be real― living alone also comes with its “fail situations”, like burning dinner or forgetting to water your plants. Rocío Diestra gets it all, embracing these moments too as part of the whole adventure: “The ideas for the situations came very quickly to me; I just had to illustrate things that were happening to me or that -very optimistically- I imagined could happen to me.”
To make her pictures extra cool, she uses three main colors and soft, pastel shades. This makes everything look cheerful and put-together, making it nearly impossible for us to take our eyes off them.
If you live alone (or even if you don’t), these cute illustrations are bound to make you smile and resonate with your own experiences. Discover Rocío Diestra’s exclusive collection, only available at Freepik, and remember: no matter what, you’ll never be alone!
