Award season with David De Las Heras
19 February 2025
We catch up with David De Las Heras to talk recent new projects and a brace of awards for this wonderful Catalan artist.
We dropped in on David at his Barcelona studio a couple of years ago to get under the skin of his working practice and inspirations - you can see that conversation here. But this artist is rather prolific and we thought it about time to have a catch up, see what he’s been working on over the last year and hear about some much deserved critical recognition.
Tell us about a couple of recent projects…
La très catastrophique visite du zoo
"One of the projects that has made me happiest in recent months has been to illustrate the cover of Joël Dicker's new book ‘La Très Catastrophique Visite du Zoo’. This is the second time that this great author has trusted my work to illustrate his covers and I feel it is a great gift for me. The challenge was difficult, because this time Joël is expanding his literary world to a more general public, as his novels have so far been more in the thriller genre. This work is still a thriller, but with the cover image it was necessary to show a brighter style than on previous occasions. On a pictorial level it was difficult to create a scene where the girl and the animals had an effective and dynamic composition, so that they didn't look like dissected animals. I'm happy with the result and I hope that it reflects the spirit of the book successfully.
El Libro del Buenvivir.
Another of the jobs I enjoyed doing last year was a book for ONCE, the Spanish National Organisation for the Blind. This book was commissioned by the agency Ogilvy and I had to illustrate the texts of the writer Francesc Miralles. These texts generally talk about the little things in life; themes as diverse as time, personal relationships or finding our purpose in life. It was difficult on this occasion to illustrate such abstract concepts as ‘What is luck?’ ‘What you have, what you are’ but overall I think I managed to capture these ideas.”
And, we were excited to hear about some recent awards?!
“On a professional level, it has been a great year for the recognition that my work has received for the book Campos de Castilla by the great Spanish writer and poet Antonio Machado. This book, which I illustrated in 2023, won the Euskadi Prize for Literature in the illustration category, an annual prize awarded by the Government of the Basque Country to the best literary works. Another of the prizes that this work won was the Junceda Prize for the best adult fiction book, awarded by the association of Catalan illustrators.
Take a stroll through more of David's incredible work here.
News
