Personal work

The fun stuff.

Some things I made with no brief, point, or purpose. Just work that scratches the creative itch and keeps the former-art-kid in me satisfied.

01 · Video

Who Am I?

So, I made a short animated film to get out of the “tell me about yourself” question. It covers how to say my name, where I’m from (it’s complicated) and my habit of teaching myself new things at 2am. This film was one of those things.

I am…

02 · Comic

A Cat Named Molly

Molly lives next door to a café my parents and I have been going to for years. She has no idea who we are. We’ve turned spotting her into a little game anyway. It started life as an Instagram carousel, so it reads best one panel at a time.

Title panel: “My parasocial relationship with a cat named Molly,” with a fluffy cat holding a coffee cup.
A café called Abisinia. “There is a café a few blocks away from my house that my parents and I have been frequenting since its opening. (Although I can only partake in the tradition when I’m in Lima.)”
Molly sitting in a window under rays of light. “Sometimes, a cat appears: Molly. She lives next door to the café. She’s been part of the scene for years.”
Molly glowing in yellow. “We don’t see her that often, even though we pass by all the time. So when we do, we feel lucky. Like she’s a good omen.”
Molly seen through a magnifying glass. “It’s almost become a little ‘inside’ game with my parents: to see if we get lucky and spot Molly when we go for coffee or pass by.”
Molly licking her paw in a spotlight. “She probably has no idea who we are. But we adore her. To us, she’s a celebrity. Especially to me, since I only get to see her when I’m back home.”
Two hands holding coffee cups, Molly’s silhouette between them. “There’s nothing profound about it. Just a small, silly attachment to a cat who’s (sometimes) there when I have coffee with my parents.”
Fatima sipping coffee. “Maybe it’s the rarity. Maybe it’s my love for cats. Maybe it’s because I don’t live here anymore, and these coffee moments feel fleeting.”

1 / 8

(Drag it, or use the arrow keys.)

03 · Illustration

Made in Peru

You might be thinking, “Okay, flat illustration. How is this impressive?” Well, it isn’t. BUT! This was my first illustration made fully in Illustrator, as a bunch of vectors, and it was a bit of a nightmare. I’m a pen (digital or otherwise) and paper (or tablet) kind of gal, so this was more of a skills exercise. Vectors make you commit to every curve, which was kind of the point.

Illustration: a woman with a black bob hugs a fluffy brown alpaca among purple and blue flowers, under the words “Made in · Hecha en Perú”.
(For the record, this was a while ago. I’d use way fewer points now.)

04 · Book cover

Breasts and Eggs

I read Breasts and Eggs over one summer and highlighted about half of it. That much feeling had to go somewhere, so it went into a new cover for Mieko Kawakami’s novel. It’s more abstract than what I usually make, but that’s where the concept went.

  • Breasts and Eggs cover redesign on a stack of two books: an egg yolk dripping down a pink face, with quotes from Haruki Murakami, Sarah Moss, the Financial Times and Naoise Dolan.
  • The same book with its cover lifting open, showing the spine and the inside flap.
  • The book opening further, showing the back flap: “TIME, the 10 best fiction books of 2020” and “New York Times Notable Book of the Year”.
  • The book open with the back flap readable, including a quote from Yoko Ogawa, author of The Memory Police.

That’s the fun stuff. The paid stuff lives over in Work