Born in New York City, Maia Valenzuela grew up in Sydney and after graduating from uni, she moved back to the US and has been living in her city of birth for the last decade.

What type of artwork do you do?

Well, right now I’m getting back to basics- creating detailed black and white pieces using a plain old drawing pen and some good Japanese paper ( I find that Japanese sketchbooks have the best quality paper for intricate drawings). I was doing a lot of digital illustrations before but I get more satisfaction with drawings made by hand, it feels more accomplished and genuine. This year I’ve been busy with my day job, so along with my hand drawn illustrations, I’ve also been creating a few digital collages in my spare time.

How did you get into it and how long have you been doing it?

Basically, I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember, one of my first memories was drawing deformed orange bunnies with my dad, and I remember going to preschool, drawing a big shrimp, and asking the teacher to write “chicken” on it. My father was always collecting old maps and wooden carvings, so he would always encourage me to sketch the patterns in the woodwork, and just having those maps around the house was very interesting. I’ve always been creating things all through grade school, high school and college, and now I’m working as a graphic designer, so I guess you can say that art is a big part of my life.

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