Q: What are some of your favorite things about living and working in Oviedo?

A: Oviedo, the city where I live, is the capital of Asturias, in northern Spain. It is a small region with high snowy mountains, sea cliffs and lush forests. I really love nature so living here is a privilege. Besides, in Oviedo people are cinephiles.  This is the only place in the world that has a statue of Woody Allen!

Q: When did you begin to understand the importance of the sketchbook in your work?

A: From the beginning of my career 20 years ago, my sketchbooks are more important than final work. I always work in pencil, taking notes about everything that gets my attention.

Q: Does keeping sketchbooks help you impose a certain kind of discipline in your design thought process?

A: I don´t like to think of this work as a worker's discipline that clocks in. To me the sketchbook is a refuge, a shelter, not a factory.

Q: What role do sketchbooks play in your art practice? Do you sketch every day?

A: Ninety percent of my time is dedicated to my sketchbook on a daily basis. I'm not interested in producing final images but in finding some new ideas, even if many of them will not be published. I have resources and ideas that are born without a specific request. It is a space to draw freely and without coercion, a way of exploration and self-knowledge. My approach is  the opposite of the famous maxim attributed to Picasso; I would say, "I don´t find, I seek".

Q: How do you organize an assignment before you start drawing? Do you make lists and thumbnails?

A: My way of working has to do with intuition, memory and logic. It is a complex mixture. Drawing on paper, visual insights come to mind. Also, I never make lists. Sometimes the ideas that come have to do with the order, but many other times not. My sketchbook is my memory and I always visit it to find and discover paths that had escaped me. My logic allows me to find links with the order that I have at hand.

Q: How do you know when the art is finished?

A: When the ultimate idea is immediately recognized. Besides its aesthetic power, it is full of meaning and is even able to make sense without text. I dislike explanatory narratives. I just believe that the poetic look avoids redundancy with the text.

Q: If you had to choose one medium to work in for an entire year, eliminating all others, what medium would you choose?

Apart from my computer I don´t use anything but pencil and paper. If I have to choose one, I would go with pencil and paper. I am not able to start working in a project if I haven´t drawn it before in pencil. It allows me explore shapes and correct on the way. I really enjoy it a lot.

Q: What was your favorite book as a child?

A: Doubtlessly, Tintín.

Q: What is the best book you’ve recently read?

A: A book of stories by Guy de Maupassant.

Q: What was the painting or drawing or film that most affected your approach to art? [the Thunderbolt]

The Fountainhead (1949) directed by King Vidor reaffirmed my attitude about art in the present society. It is also inspired by the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright whom I admire.

Q: What advice would you give a young artist about applying to an art school or college?

In my opinion, the most important thing is to create illustrations thinking about the images themselves, not to create illustrations thinking they have to be liked in the market or by customers. If you respect your pictures, they will tell you the right way.

Q: What would be your last supper?

A: Something light for the trip.

Pablo Amargo periodically collaborates with newspapers and magazines:  El País Semanal, Jot Down Magazine, The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, La Vanguardia among others. 

He also illustrates and designs books covers and posters. His books were published by many international publishing houses.

His work has been recognized with several important illustration awards: The Award of Excellence from Communication Arts Annual in 2013 and 2014, Society of Illustrators in NY, Selected Winner in American Illustration Annuals. Pablo received a Silver Medal from the Society of Newspaper Designer´s Awards USA 2014 for an illustration created for The Boston Globe.

The book "Casualidad" won the CJ Picture Book Award  (Korea 2012), the Gold European Design Award (Finlandia 2012), the Junceda Iberia Award (Spain 2012) and the American Illustration (USA 2012). Blog