Tokyo-based, by way of Lisbon, Ema Gaspar is an illustrator and visual artist who embraces the childhood joys of nostalgia and playfulness within her drawing of characters and mythical creatures. Her adolescent love of anime and other animation styles have informed her sensibilities as an artist as Gaspar imbues the exaggerated and hyperbolic expressions of emotion within each character. These influences have undoubtedly given much of her work a narrative quality that feels like a story book.
NAME: EMA GASPAR
AGE: 29
HOMETOWN: LISBOA, PORTUGAL
TITLE: ILLUSTRATOR, VISUAL ARTIST
AFFILIATES: NIKE, HEAVEN, NEW YORK TIMES, MURA MASA
“I’m interested in the process of creating something and not being able to undo it, like you would digitally...What I do is create an outlet for my emotions and try to create a fun space that’s different from reality,” she says. “I hope that people see themselves in it – I want it to be a space for their emotions, but they don’t have to feel the same things I do.” (It's Nice That)
For her collaboration with le PÈRE, Gaspar applied her whimsical illustrative style to imagery not typically associated with children's books or animated characters –– football club crests. We came up with absurd, tongue-in-cheek club names to give to Ema that she then turned into unique drawings for each club. The resulting illustrations were these mythical, fantasy-driven club crests with the fictional names that were embedded into the print pattern itself.
