Illustrator Stefhany Lozano’s childhood-inspired, futuristic pastel paintings

Colombian illustrator Stefhany Lozano describes her work as “figurative paintings” inspired by memories from her childhood, family, people she’s met and places she’s been. “I started painting with acrylics four years ago, and I’m still experimenting with it and learning. I like to have very clean, almost print-like paintings,” explains Stefhany. “Lately I like to use lots of geometric form to compose my characters and elements within my work. I love pastel colours and my last three series are sort of futuristic yet retro at the same time.”

These bright and busy works are in stark contrast to the last time we showed Stefhany’s work which was a simple, monochrome series about love. Here, the illustrator mixes reality and fantasy with ease, and the personal elements to her illustrations are what makes them so engaging. “_Familiar Memories_ is a simple project I started in October for my Grandpa’s birthday,” says Stefhany. “My goal is to draw a memory of a particular family member on their birthday and send it to them.” Her other recent projects have a slightly looser brief like with Visions of the Future, where Stefhany’s childhood imaginings of the year 2000 are realised in full technicolour with reference to the futuristic styles of the 50s.

Stefhany’s portfolio is chock full of beautiful commissioned work, and she sees each piece as a challenge she’s overcome. “I kind of get nervous every time I receive an email from an art director with a job to do because it’s always about topics I never would have thought about working on,” she explains. “I love that in every commission I try to explore new stuff and I end up discovering new things I later apply on my personal projects.”

The illustrator almost never creates sketches for her paintings, rather she’ll note down the concept on a piece of paper instead. “I write down the scenes I’d like to have in my paintings on my list. I always start painting the scene and then fill it with the characters – it’s basically like playing with a doll house!” Stefhany sees her illustrations as reflective for her audience: “I like to think that people make introspections when they see my pictures, that they reflect their own memories, their own visions, places and stories.”