I’m a Spanish illustrator, actress and alternative model. I love to dance like a maenad, autumn, abysses, wind and bonfires; and I love to sing and listen to intimate, feral, whispering, and a bit terrible songs.
I strongly believe that art is a form of magic, and as such it can act like an emblem, a balm or a weapon with the power to shout, roar, laugh or caress in our name, and speak about all those things that are not talked about. I love to illustrate strange stories, and I have a soft spot for dark, mythological, esoteric, symbolic and ancient stuff with a contemporary touch. I terribly enjoy drawing powerful ladies and utterly queer characters from a feminist, intersectional and subversive perspective.
I have illustrated several books, being my favourite to this date “Rojo y Oro”, a young adult fantasy novel inspired by the Greco-Roman culture, written by Iria G. Parente and Selene M. Pascual and published by Alfaguara (Penguin Random House). I also work on commissions within my own style and on my own personal projects, that can be found on my shops on Etsy and Redbubble. Besides those, I also manage a shop of bastard and insurgent T-shirts designed by myself, The Slut Army.
As a singer and an actress, I understand performing as an invocation and theatre as a ritual. I was lucky enough to find some other souls that cherished the same crazy ideas, and together we founded the theatre company and multidisciplinary collective STRIGA, where I performed, sang my terrible songs, designed and took charge of other image-related tasks. Together we gave birth to Hambre, an adaptation of Sarah Kane’s Blasted.
As an alternative model, I love to participate in beautiful and raw projects, and you can see some samples on the Modelling section.
Regarding social media, you can find me on Mastodon and Pixelfed, where I’m happy and I would love to see you. I’m also on Twitter and Instagram, but I’m barely there because the algorithms on those platforms have us artists absolutely in despair, and besides I’m totally against their biases and permissibility regarding harassment and fascism. I have a Patreon that I update frequently and where I post lots of exclusive material for my patrons, although for now it’s only available in Spanish. Finally, I also have a Ko-fi in case you fancy to invite me to a symbolic coffee that I will thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I’m available for commissions as well as potential employment opportunities. If you want to ask me about possible commissions, collaborations, projects or other inquiries, you can send a message to info@mardelvalle.com and I will write back as soon as I can.