Ep.62: Marta Nael about her distinctive style and building her community

Marta Nael is a Spanish artist currently working freelance and previously for the publisher Ediciones Babylon. 

Marta’s love for art started at a very early age because she always knew what she wanted to do when she grows up. She has a love for all artistic disciplines but after completing a Fine Arts degree she started to learn digital art, matte painting and concept art, something which has enabled her to embark on a variety of projects from books and musical album covers to background illustrations.

Art Side of Life Newsletter

Get in touch with Marta

• Website: http://martanael.artstation.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martanael/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/martanael/about

Key Takeaways

“Work, work, work, don’t give up and try to achieve what you want. Believe in yourself but stay humble!”

• Marta recommends starting with traditional media so you get used to using pencil, charcoal, oil, acrylics and only then go to digital. Digital is cool, but when you don’t have the feeling for the brushes it may look artificial
• Marta’s brand is “Femme fatale woman”. She tries to paint face as the most important part, more detailed than the rest
• Marta’s fav colors are turquoise, or pale orange – neutral color. Cold warmer colors – shadows and light – balance and accent colors that stand out from the rest
• Marta actually takes pictures of herself as reference for some of the poses
• In regards to social media, Marta thinks that a few years back, DeviantArt was good, then facebook, now Instagram and ArtStation. Instagram is good for sketches, ArtStation is more prof sional, because there is a lot of studios and clients there and YouTube channel is showing her WIP sketches

Resources mentioned

Note: some of the resources below may be affiliate links, meaning I get paid a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase.

• Marta is an author of 12 art books that you can find at the website of Ediciones Babylon
  • Impressions, The Digital Art of Marta Nael
  • Marta Nael’s Lux, The Clash of light and color
  • Sketchbook 01: Marta Nael
• She went to University of Barcelona – Faculty of Fine Arts
• Art Tools:
  • MacBook Pro and Wacom Intuos Pro for painting and she uses a 2nd screen for references
  • Brushes from other artists
    • DanLuViSi brushes
    • Leventep brushesi – Levi Peterffy
    • Charcoal and pastel feeling brushes
• Conventions
  • Barcelona International Comic Fair
  • Heroes Comic con Madrid
  • Video Games Comic con Alicante
  • Trojan Horse was an Unicorn (THU)
  • IFCC Croatia
• Fav masters
  • Sorolla – color & light
  • Turner – color & light, mood, full of color
  • James Gurney – light & color

Thanks for Watching and Listening!

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Special thanks to Marta for joining me today. See you next time!

Art Side of Life Newsletter

All artworks by Marta Nael, used with permission