Rafael López, illustrator and artist
| Rafael López | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
August 8, 1961 Mexico City |
| Nationality | Mexico/United States |
| Alma mater | Art Center College of Design |
| Spouse(s) | Candice López |
| Awards | American Library Association Belpré Medals Américas Book Awards Tomás Rivera Book Award International Latino Book Award |
Rafael López (born August 8, 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico) is an internationally recognized illustrator and artist. A children’s book illustrator, he won the 2016 Pura Belpré Award with his illustrations for Drum Dream Girl and the 2010 Pura Belpre medal for Book Fiesta!. Lopéz has also been awarded the 2017 Tomás Rivera Book Award, three Pura Belpré honors for illustration in 2014, 2012 and 2004 and two Américas Book Awards. In 2012, he was chosen by the Library of Congress to create the National Book Festival Poster and has been a featured book festival speaker at this event. López has illustrated seven stamps for the United States Postal Service. In 2012 and 2008, he was selected by the Obama/Biden campaign to create two official posters at Artists for Obama called Estamos Unidos and Voz Unida.
In Mexico City, López attended the Manuel Bartolome Cossio, an experimental Freinet school where he began drawing and painting at an early age. He attended after school workshops there in photography, painting, puppet making, carpentry, ceramics, tablas huicholas and theatre. In school he was able to study classical music and also learned to play a variety of folkloric instruments including the quena, guitar and drums taught by members of Los Folkloristas. Music is a prominent theme found in his illustrations and books. Both his parents were architects and teachers at UNAM. As a child, he often visited the flea market with his father looking for used books and the family had a large collection that lined the walls of their living room from floor to ceiling. López regularly traveled by metro over an hour to visit the library, immersed himself in books, especially art books and grew up with a fascination for images from a variety of cultures. The illustrator describes Mexico as a place where there are hundreds of myths and legends as well as 67 native languages. This early exposure to diversity and storytelling shaped his thinking. When he was 10 years old, his parents sent him to Exeter, England to live for a short time with Mexican-born conceptual and performance artist Felipe Ehrenberg. There he explored drawing and learned to make books and use a printing press. His first book was an illustrated journal where he recorded his experiences to share with his family. In 1982, he left Mexico to study illustration at the Art Center College of Design, in Los Angeles where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration.
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