Illustrator Nominee: Spain

Ulises Wensell
Spain, Illustrator

Pictures are the first attentive, interested reading for children who do not yet know how to read.

- Ulises Wensell

Ulises Wensell was born in Madrid in 1945. When interviewed, he often recalls that the most pleasant hours of his childhood were those spent watching his father painting while he copied works by the great masters at the Prado Museum. With his father, Wensell learned to draw, work with paintbrushes, apply colour and, above all, to enjoy it all immensely.

Wensell studied industrial chemistry at university because mixing materials and colours appealed to him, and his first job after graduation was illustrating educational series of publications for nursery schools. This was followed by further work illustrating children's books, and in 1973 Wensell joined the publishing house Editorial Santillana as head of the illustration and design studio. Following a period working on children's programmes for a television company, he decided to devote his energies to illustrating children's books and to commercial artwork.

An artist who believes that what is important is what is communicated by the medium employed in his work, Wensell combines whatever resources he feels most suitable to achieve his desired effect: tempera, acrylic, watercolour, ink, oil paint, markers, even asphalt, and he may use a computer to integrate these.

Wensell comments that the work he has most enjoyed illustrating features animals as the protagonists. He does not, however, try to humanise them by dressing them in clothes. Instead, he endeavours to show them through his artwork as creatures that can feel emotions and pain just like humans. Currently, he works with his wife, Paloma, who writes the text, in creating books featuring animal characters. The subject matter for his work varies widely, and includes stories from the Bible, and he says that he would like to illustrate the Odyssey at some stage in his career.

A winner of many national and international awards for his work, Wensell has exhibited his work in many international fairs and exhibitions, and contributes to conferences and seminars all over the world.