"The best way of facing the situation that we have to live in is with humour"
Bàrbara Alca is an expert in picturing all the ups and downs of the Millennial life in her comic strips. Her style is colourful and a little naive, but underneath there is a macabre layer, with a touch of sarcasm that we love. That’s why we didn’t hesitate to commission her for the hilarious latest strips of our series #bacoastories.
Bàrbara has worked for media such us El País, El Jueves, Planeta, Alba Editorial, and Sapristi, among others. She has also published Fanzines and comics such as “Llámame Feminazi” [Call me Feminazi] or “Pizzachica y las lloronas” [Lady pizza and the whiny women]. Don’t miss her artwork!
Where does your interest in comics and illustration come from?
Actually, I’ve been interested in them since I was a little girl. My brother and I spent days drawing, either copying characters from comics or drawing music videos that we had seen on MTV. We also read old comics. Then, in high school, I started drawing on the tables and reading comics. However, I didn’t think about this professionally until the last year of my degree, when I took illustration and it changed my path a little bit.
How would you define this sector? Have you encountered difficulties in surviving in the industry?
I think it’s so so so so hard to make a living in this sector, and I think you have to be very lucky and be at the correct place at the correct time. In my case, I plan as much as I can and I keep going, but it’s true that I can always become a public servant.
What would you do if you weren’t an illustrator?
I’m very interested in understanding people, that’s why I felt so tempted to do something related to psychology or anthropology.
Animals, vampires, and even a slice of pizza. In your universe we find all kind of characters that live topical and up-to-date situations. Where do you get the inspiration to create them?
Many hours watching memes and some bootleg of characters that influenced me as a child.
Apart from Bojack Horseman or Simon Hanselmann, what other references have influenced your work?
Ghost World, Gloria Fuertes, The Simpsons, Anouk Ricard, Nazario, Love Island…
You are an expert in depicting our generation’s miseries, always with irony and sarcasm. Do you think it’s more difficult to laugh at the world nowadays and at ourselves than to make people laugh?
It’s easy to make some people laugh, but maybe that’s not the kind of humour that you would be proud of. I prefer to publish stories that make me laugh when I think about them. And if other people like it too, great. I also think that the best way of facing the situation that we have to live in is with humour. That doesn’t mean that then you are not sad thinking about how the hell you will move forward.
Tell us about a dream project that came true.
Having my own cartoon series 🙂
Lastly, an essential question in our interviews: what’s your favourite food?
Although I will look like a traitor since the main character of my comic has a pizza face, I’m team burger.