"Most of my animations are dedicated to real people that I hate"
We’ve all lived more than once some of the funny situations that Rocío pictures on her animations. From taking French leave in a party to the difficulties of being a freelancer, the fight against procrastination, expensive rent, or frivolity and hypocrisy in social media. Rocío Quillahuaman is able to take all these daily problems so difficult to overcome and turn them into hilarious videos, starred by characters that scream and that end up with their heads exploding. Although we may not admit it, we ourselves can relate to these caricatures of the current society.
We fell for her art and her sense of humour from the very beginning. We didn’t hesitate to choose her for illustrating our Winter Fanzine, in which she gifted us with zombies scoffing down burgers among other amazing illustrations.
When did you decide to bring your illustrations to life? What technique do you use to animate them?
When I started with animations I was having a tough time, I needed to vent. I had some ideas about horrible people in Barcelona which I hated and wanted to make fun of, but I didn’t like shootings, so filming with people was not an option. I thought that, since I drew badly, I could also animate badly. I tried to create the animations in a very simple way, with two or three drawings per movement, and then I animated them with the editing program I had on my computer. The result is very simple, but effective. I’m not looking into learning how to animate better or in a more complex way because this technique is perfect for me. Animating is just a mean to explain my ideas.
In many of your animations you criticise the hypocrisy and posers of the creative world. Have you accumulated all this hatred and destruction from your own experiences?
Yes, most of my animations are dedicated to real people that I hate. In general, they are always about situations that I lived and that made me feel bad, uncomfortable, and anxious. I try to reflect these feelings in the animations, that’s why the voices are so unpleasant, the set up so jumpy, and in the end, someone always loses their head.
You have a pretty unique style. What would you say are your references?
The truth is that it’s a style that appeared very naturally, I didn’t think that much about it or had specific references. I made my “fanarts” with pencil and paper, so I continued with that style for the drawings of my animations. As regards comedy references, when I watched “Reviews Fuertecitas” by Isa Calderón, I realised that it was possible to create a different kind of humour. Isa is wonderful. I also like to think that one of my main references is that episode of “Seinfeld” where Elaine explodes because she doesn’t understand why everyone likes The English Patient.
"I started drawing portraits as a joke. It was one of my friend’s birthday and I drew him a portrait. The fun part was that I didn’t know how to draw and the result was horrible. I found it hilarious, so I started drawing portraits of all my friends, of my favourite celebrities and even of people I didn’t know. I really enjoyed drawing badly. I call them “fanarts” because I really like people that draw their idols without really knowing how to draw. They are horrible but lovely. "
Picture by Nestor Fernández
Have you already run into plagiarism?
Once a TV show copied the style of my animations for an ad. It was very weird because I had already collaborated with them and they could’ve just asked me to do it instead of paying someone else to copy me. I guess they couldn’t come up with this idea even if the publicists and the artists had gathered their few neurons.
What is your relationship with Yorokobu?
I make two animations per month for the magazine. I suggest my ideas and they always love them. We communicate very well, and I always have total freedom. I’m aware that this relationship is a miracle in the creative world, so I’m very grateful.
The head of many of your characters explodes as they are unable to deal with daily life problems. What makes your head blow up?
Right now, my head explodes when I see people denying the coup d’état that recently took place in Bolivia. There is one woman that proclaimed herself president helped by the military forces and a giant bible on her hands. She has signed a document that allows soldiers to kill demonstrators with total impunity. However, there are still people that don’t see the coup. What is happening in Bolivia is a coup d’état and it’s ridiculous to deny it.
In the creative context, my head explodes when I remember that there are a lot of people working for free in the audiovisual world because agencies or producers don’t want to pay. That doesn’t make any sense and it’s unbearable that it’s still happening. Whenever a friend tells me that they are in this situation, I can’t understand it and my head explodes.
Lastly, a question that we always ask: what’s your favourite food?
My favourite food is called Arroz Chaufa and it’s an exquisite Peruvian dish. It’s like fried rice with different types of meat, soy sauce, fried egg, and chive, among other ingredients. It’s the perfect mix between Peruvian and Chinese gastronomy. You can take chicha morada, a Peruvian drink made of purple corn, to go with it – it’s even better.