People often imagine faces and shapes in the clouds, but rarely do they turn them into art.
However, that’s exactly what Barcelona-based artist and illustrator, Vorja Sánchez, did in his series called “Interventions.”
Sánchez begins by snapping photos of scenic landscapes in his nearby countryside. Then, he uses a fine-tip pen with white ink to digitally draw his misty characters into the scene.
Each wispy cloud appears to emerge from the fog, grasping the hills and forests with its long, thread-like fingers. Their huge black eyes look like a swirling vortex that seems sinister. But a closer look would reveal that the cloud creatures actually appear wary, shy, and even gentle.
Their eyes could be interpreted as menacing, but they also give each cloud creature a kind of cute expression. Perhaps they just want to be friends?
“I really enjoy looking at the creature in front of me. There are cases in which it is very clear when its shape is perfectly defined and I just have to finish giving it life with a few lines. The magic is in nature, not in the drawings!” he said.
Sánchez began “Interventions” after walking through a series of high-altitude mountains. He noticed the misty clouds, and as he continued to walk, they appeared to be following him.
“It formed a consistent cloud that seemed to chase me throughout the route. I took a picture of him and when I got to the studio I decided to finish shaping that “creature” that had been following me all day,” he explained.
In his website, Sánchez further detailed his creative process.
“I try to be alert to those forms, generally of organic constitution, that I find in everyday life. In the notebook I usually make a quick note of the basic structure, or of how the different elements that share or inhabit the same space are connected. Later, I develop it in my studio.”
“It is fun to play at giving an appearance to fauna and flora that a priori (rationally) should not have. Nature, being ubiquitous, allows you to empathize with a creature even if you have never seen it before.”
“You can create a being with a new appearance, but if you follow the guidelines you observe in the natural elements, it will be familiar, friendly. That’s the point I’m trying to reach with my work.”
“Nature, in its inherent essence, grants the same dynamics of form regardless of the transcendence or size of each being, plant or element. In this way, a microorganism can have the same spheroidal structure as a galaxy, or the stone of a fruit the labyrinthine appearance of the shell of some type of invertebrate.”
Check out more of Sánchez’s ghostly cloud illustrations in the gallery below.
If you like Sánchez’s work, you can see more from his portfolio on his website, Facebook, and Instagram. If you want to get your hands on one of his drawings, you can buy them as prints from his online store.
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