Meet the Judges: Daniel El Dibujo
The quiet intensity of a portrait
For Daniel El Dibujo, the solitude of standing before an immense sea is a feeling that finds its way into a portrait. Growing up in the coastal town of Águilas, Murcia, he was surrounded by fishing traditions and the scent of salt air. Even his artist name carries a piece of that childhood. Born Daniel José Cabrera Castro, he adopted the name El Dibujo in tribute to his grandfather, a fisherman whose resemblance to a graphic novel character earned him the nickname “Dibujo”. This year, Daniel joins the judging panel for the 12th FIDA Fashion Illustration Awards.
Portraiture has been at the centre of Daniel’s practice from the beginning. His figures give shape to feelings that can be difficult to put into words, from love and longing to fear, heartbreak and solitude. Personal memories and imagined experiences often meet in the same image. He leaves the story open enough for viewers to recognise something of their own lives in it.
Much of his work centres on the male figure. In his portraits and nudes, sensuality sits alongside tenderness, and the body becomes a way to explore vulnerability as much as beauty. He keeps that exploration open through experiments with colour, materials and the surfaces he works on. His interests extend beyond illustration and painting. Having studied interior design, he also collects handcrafted objects, antiques and work by contemporary and emerging artists.
Daniel has collaborated with Editorial Planeta, Estée Lauder and ING Bank, and has shown his work in solo and group exhibitions in Miami, Boston and New York. He is currently preparing two solo exhibitions, in Miami and Palm Springs, both planned for early December.
Asked what he’ll look for as a judge, Daniel returns to two qualities that shape how we first experience an image.
“The most important thing for me in an illustration is good colour harmony and composition.”
He’ll be looking closely at how colours complement one another and how the elements of an image find their balance on the page. In Daniel’s own portraits, those choices help set the emotional tone. They can give a solitary figure a sense of intimacy and leave room for the viewer to decide what that figure might be feeling.
