EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 34 by Book Palace Books * 96 PAGES IN FULL EDITION

88 Arantzazu Martínez The first thing you notice when you see one of Arantzazu Martínez’s paintings is how huge they are, and then how life-like they appear. It’s almost as if you are in front of a person trapped inside a canvas. Martínez draws her inspiration from the many fairy tales she read during childhood, although she doesn’t consider herself an illustrator. “I like to tell a story with my paintings,” she adds. Most of her paintings could tell a story, but it’s up to the viewer to invent that story. And no, she doesn’t create any modern art with abstract figures. She belongs to the school of figurative painters, and her hyperrealistic paintings border on fantastic realism—the flesh and faces on her figures seem extremely real and breathing with life. It’s very hard to ignore any of her paintings. In fact, George Lucas, the Star Wars creator, took notice and asked her to be part of the Abrams’ art-book, ‘Star Wars Art: Visions’, published in 2010. This featured more than a 100 renowned artists from around the world illustrating an image inspired by the Star Wars saga, all done in their individual style. Seeing the painting Martínez produced, you might think that it had been done by some forgotten artist from the 18th or 19th century, rivalling any of the Great Masters. In reality it was done by young Spanish artist whose talent knows no bounds and whose brushes appear to have been wielded with the magical touch of an enchantress. Born on July 5, 1977, in Vitoria, Spain, Martínez is a realist painter based in Madrid who paints “because I love to and because I am driven to [it].” We visited her studio and discussed her life and work. Where were you born and where did you grow up? I was born and grew up in Vitoria in Spain where I lived until I was 23 years oldwhen I left for NewYork and learned how to paint. At what age did you begin to draw? At around 15 I began to seriously draw personal images. Until then I only filled the margins of books with scribbles. Who were your favourite artists? Mainly European painters from the nineteenth century: Pradilla (Franciso Pradilla Ortiz, 1848-1921, Spanish painter), Rusiñol (Santiago Rusiñol i Prats, 1861-1931, Catalan painter), Fortuny (Josep María Fortuny i Marsal, also known as Mariano Fortuny, 1838-1874, Catalan FACING PAGE: Rancor , oil on linen, 146 cm x 114 cm (47” x 45”), 2009. The painting Martínez created for the ‘Star Wars Art: Visions’ book. BELOW: Martínez in her studio.