Illustration spotlight – Fab Ciraolo

And as wonderful as it is seeing all of the magic that they can create, it’s even harder to have your own thing, that special talent that separates you from the crowd, making people recognize your work. It’s the ability to choose from all the subjects out there and find the one that defines you as an artist.  

And today we’re talking about such an artist - one that found his niche and made it art.  

Fab Ciraolo is a Chilean-born illustrator that takes pop icons, superheroes, cartoon characters and even historical ones and illustrates them with a modern twist. He also ads a fashionable angle as he changes their outfits but keeps, at the same time, a vintage vibe. He uses subdued colors and psychedelic backgrounds to create the impression of space.

His techniques involve“painting, a lot of drawing, acrylics, color pencils, mostly anything I have near that might work to get a final result that makes me happy. I can remember using coffee in some paintings.”

And even though this has been done before, in the sense that he is not the only one to bring into his work famous people from the past, he does it in an original way. Fab Ciraolo remains fluent in his work by keeping his signature “space” background and changes only his subjects. He creates this amazing mash ups, putting together elements from pop culture, science fiction and just a hint of wired.

While his characters still have their signature styles he transforms them into present day stars. They are somehow reborn into the hipsters and rock stars of our days.  There’s a lot of irony there, mixed in with humor and even a bit of social commentary - Fab Ciraolo’s work is provocative! Pop culture is his playground and I love it all!