While interning at Levine/Leavitt, I had the opportunity to interview the Mingarro brothers, Juan and Alejandro, of Brosmind studio. I was eager and excited to learn more about the brothers behind the optimistic, colorful, and original style of illustration that Brosmind creates. From their studio in Barcelona, the quirky duo discussed with me different aspects of being a working illustrator and running Brosmind. It was a pleasure to talk with the brothers about their work, and I was able to learn a lot from them about being a working artist in their field.
Do you find that you have less time to work on personal projects since your work has become more popular and more people are looking to hire you?
Juan Mingarro: “Well, the good thing about getting more popular is that you can actually really choose the clients, or you can really say yes or no, and the projects are usually bigger. That gives you a little bit of extra time to do your stuff. The good thing about getting a really defined style, or a kind of a brand, is that the projects that you get are really close to personal projects.”
Did it take time and practice to be able to draw in the same exact style as each other, or did it just happen naturally?
Juan Mingarro: “In the beginning, we had to put in an effort…We started learning from the other, until a new style appeared. We started learning from the other the things that could be better, so at the end something new appeared. It took us a few months, or maybe a year, to create the Brosmind style.”
Alejandro Mingarro: “Technically, we had to learn from each other, because I was maybe not as good as him drawing characters, or he was not as good at another thing, so technically we really had to put in an effort to find the line, the Brosmind line. But more importantly, there was the concept behind that. Of course we had differences of opinion, but if you were to tell us to draw a pizza now, we will draw it probably the same way. We kind of have the same background.”
Is there any form of commercial work that you prefer doing? You’ve worked in many fields, doing work for musicians, restaurants, large companies, and more. Is there any work that you particularly enjoy?
AM: “We really like to draw foods.”
JM: “From the beginning, we never really expected to have clients, we thought illustration would be like a hobby, so when we got professionally into the illustration world, we kind of were really lucky to get Levine/Leavitt as an agent because they introduced us to the advertising companies. But our favorite stuff is when it’s related to foods, because we think our style fits really well with food.”
What is your favorite project you’ve been hired to do so far?
JM: “Well, it’s difficult to say. We always say that its probably one of the latest, because I think our style is always evolving, and I think it gets better all the time. But talking about projects, our favorite projects are usually our personal ones, instead of the commercial ones. Because each time we finish a personal project, it’s kind of like a success for us because we try to do them in our spare time. We try to experiment with different disciplines beyond illustrations. So probably our favorite projects are those ones.”
Would you say it’s easier or harder having two people run the studio rather than one?
AM: “The cool thing is not really about having two people, but rather about being brothers. I can shit talk his work, and he can do the same to me. We can be more clear and direct with really not trying to defend our work. And you can’t do that to another person that’s not your family probably. So that makes things really fast. We share the same background, we grew up together so communication is really fast and easy. We are different but we kind of have the same ideas.”
What do you think is the hardest part of creating an illustration?
JM: “Well, of course, it is the idea and the first parts of drawing. That takes the most time to do. It is a really long process when we do all the composition and make all the decisions.”
What advice would you give an aspiring illustrator looking to work in the commercial world?
JM: “Be really exploring your personal style, or try to explore ways of how you will represent yourself in that. So if you explore your personal side and if you explore different mediums and everything, I think that will help you create your own world, and once you have your own kind of imaginary world, its just a matter of finding how to apply that.”
AM: “Relax. Work all the time. Create new artworks all the time, so that clients can understand what you can do.”
Stay tuned for the next interview by Isabella with photographer/filmmaker Danny Clinch.
