08 
ILLUSTRATOR AND DESIGNER
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
JORGE ALDERETE
Jorge Alderete is a pop illustrator, influenced by trash culture, 1950s science fiction movies, wrestling, and surf music. His illustrations, animations, and comics have appeared around the world. He graduated with a degree in fine arts from Universidad Nacional de la Plata, Argentina, as a designer in visual communication. He has done animations for MTV Latin America and Japan, and Nickelodeon Latin America and Brazil, and he was the animation de-partment coordinator of MTV Latin America.
MOST OF MY INSPIRATION IS FROM JUST LIVING.
My work is a mix of the city, the street, real things that I see, and fantasy things like monster movies. But most of my inspiration is from just living. I work across all mediums—toys, posters, books, CDs, I even illustrated a football for the NFL experience. I am a creator of fantasies. I indulge in those fantasies with my own design store and gallery.
I started to think about my ten years in Mexico City and my friends, and I wanted to celebrate. Maybe I could do an exhibition, a movie, a documentary, a poster, or even a book—I wasn’t sure. But I was thinking about the concept, not the product. It wasn’t until later that I would figure out what the best thing would be. The inspiration for this project would be my friends and our experiences.
This is my soft-cover Moleskine that I carry around with notes of things that I see, places I go, and just stuff.
Sometimes, I just scan these small drawings and make a poster. I try to go everywhere with this sketchbook. I never know when I’m going to see something and get an idea.
Maybe I’ll be in the subway and see or think of something. So, I make a fast sketch in my book. You never know where or when an idea will come to you.
This is the first time I’ve drawn real people. On this project, I moved toward making fantasy characters out of my friends where I mixed reality and fantasy. All of my work generally is moving from fantasy to reality, and this time it was moving from reality with a small mix of fantasy. I went everywhere with my Moleskine and my camera. I met my friends casually, without an appointment, and I went to places where I thought I could find friends I haven’t seen in years.
This was a personal project, and I didn’t even think about making any money from it. I just wanted to reconnect with the forty-four people in the book, but instead of throwing a party, I created a book that celebrated my friends.
I was lucky in that I found a French publisher that liked the idea of the rock scene, the underground, and the clubs in Mexico City. I didn’t have to change anything. They understood the concept of the book and gave me total freedom.
When I was working out the book in my head, I started to think as the book characters would think. When I remembered something from one of them, I tried to put something in my sketchbook. Some of the first drafts of the drawings are in pencil and some are in paint.
When I found my friends, I talked to them and took a picture. I took notes while I talked to them. The most difficult part was writing about the people, because I naturally draw to put down my thoughts.
I was able to silkscreen and letterpress posters and T-shirts from the book images as well.
The book was printed in Mexico City, so I could be there for each step, including the printing and distribution of the book.
I’m very happy with the finished book because I was able to take it from the beginning to the end, each step along the way.