In 2023, as the winner of the Baba Kamo Illustration Award, I created the illustrations for the festival’s official visual identity. The event took place in Valencia, Spain, hosted by the Centre del Carme. My illustrations pay tribute to Kempo by Carlos Pérez (text) and Miguel Calatayud (illustrations), whose imaginary land—Baba Kamo—gives the festival its name. They also honor the picture book as an art form, as well as several books I deeply admire, whose authors’ legacies I find both profound and inspiring.

When developing any illustration project, I begin with a detailed study, as drawing is my primary means of materializing thoughts and creating new layers of meaning. The technical aspects of illustration come only after all conceptual, narrative, and major graphic decisions have been made. Color and texture, along with other artistic choices, take shape through a process that combines observation, reflection, and accumulated practice.

For this Baba Kamo poster, where picture books are celebrated, I brought together visual references spanning decades of picture book history, from the second half of the 20th century to more recent works. This is not a historical survey but rather an intertextual tapestry. The following books served as references, Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak (1960), Moon Man – Tomi Ungerer (1966), The Monster from Halfway to Nowhere – Max Velthuijs (1974), Tobias – Manuela Bacelar (1989), Alphabet – Kvêta Pacovská (1996), Mythological Monsters of Ancient Greece – Sara Fanelli (2002), Libro de las preguntas – Pablo Neruda & Isidro Ferrer (2006), Petites Météorologies – Anne Herbauts (2006), L’Alphabet fabuleux – Martin Jarrie (2007), O Chapelinho Encarnado – Hassan Amekan, Brothers Grimm & Eugénio Roda (2008), La Vieille plus rusée que Le Renard – Jamaloddin Akrami & Ali Boozari (2009), Les Points sur les Îles – Elise Fontenaille & Violeta Lopiz (2011), This Is Not My Hat – Jon Klassen (2012), Ir e Vir – Isabel Minhós Martins & Bernardo Carvalho (2012), Pacho Rada – Johanna Benz (2015), Home – Carson Ellis (2015), Un Grand Jour de Rien – Beatrice Alemagna (2016), Stories of the Night – Kitty Crowther (2018), Once Upon a Time There Was and Will Be So Much More – Johanna Schaible (2021).