Igor Bastidas creates surreal, 90s-inspired worlds “from his subconscious”

Miami-based illustrator and animator Igor Bastidas grew up in the 90s, which he cites as a “period with great visual culture that inspired me to study graphic design and also make my way as an illustrator”. Having studied design in Caracas, Igor soon drifted towards animation and taught himself the skills “basically by watching YouTube tutorials”.

“I think animation is necessary to tell stories and not always settling for static images to interpret the world,” explains Igor. “Motion has a beginning and end, or is infinite with gifs. Telling stories through animation is what I see myself doing for a long time and I feel lucky to do it.”

Since we last featured Igor in June 2016, Igor has picked up several big commissions from The New York Times, Converse, MTV and most recently Cartoon Network. “They were reaching out to a few different animators to create ten-second bumps to bring a little animation diversity to their channel. It was a concept for The Amazing World Of Gumball, they proposed the idea of couples going in and out through a dance, which I created with a surreal touch,” says Igor. In the fast-paced short, a plethora of colourful characters morph into one another seamlessly and the animator creates humour through silly gestures and movements.

Clean lines and solid colour give Igor’s portfolio punchy impact and he’s keen to make his work as communicative as possible, which stems from his time as a designer. “I try to be simple, but always close to the surreal to obtain a different and strange narrative,” he explains. Despite this love for the obscure, Igor feels his ideas are strongest when there’s a personal connection. “I try to make a mental collage when I get inspiration, whether it’s from a friend’s quote, a song or a memory from my childhood,” says the creative. “It’s all stored in my subconscious and emerges at the right time.”

Overall Igor uses his personal work and commissions to tell stories that will make people happy. “We all need to see other things to escape reality; I just want to do ‘those things’ through animation and illustration. It is an honour and a challenge,” he says.