Xan López Domínguez: Spain Illustrator

Sometimes my lost stories come out and take flight, stories that sleep in me.

Xan López Domínguez

Xan López Domínguez was born in 1957, in Hugo, Galicia, a province of Spain. As a child, he enjoyed "playing on paper," but had no formal art training. After graduating with a degree in Art History at the University of Santiago de Compostela, he began by illustrating textbooks. In 1979 he founded, together with Fran Jaraba and Migelanzo Prado, the Collective Group of Comics Xofre, and published what is now considered the first fanzine in Galicia, an influential publication. Currently, he has illustrated more than 300 books for publishers in many countries and continues to produce designs and illustrations for fairs, posters, promotions, and campaigns. In fact, the poster for the 2010 IBBY Congress was his creation.

Domínguez is considered a pioneer in contemporary children's literature in Spain and one of the first to illustrate his own texts. His early work in comics influenced his lush, caricature-like style, but lately his style has evolved into a more minimalistic one. He still uses strong strokes to create his illustrations, but does not feel the need to fill every space.

Xavier Senín characterizes Dominguez's illustrations this way: "He draws the human shape with bold strokes to which he applies deceptively simple alterations, a dot for eyes, a curve for the mouth, elongated limbs. He reveals the variety of the human experience with surprising economy of expression, in impossible positions, twisted, flying, stretching to heaven or walking in space. He plays with the position of the different characters and elements, sometimes heaped together to give a feeling of movement, of dynamism, a balanced baroque style in which the character is at the center."

Xan López Domínguez's work has been recognized with many awards and honors and has appeared in exhibitions in Bologna, Munich, Rome, Barcelona, Tokyo, London, and beyond. He has influenced many of Spain's emerging illustrators of books for children and young adults.