Natalia Sanabria - Fashion & Beauty illustrator, Costa Rica

Beautiful women who have confidence, style and a touch of attitude come to the forefront in the work of Costa Rican fashion and beauty illustrator Natalia Sanabria. A talented watercolor artist, she’s an expert when it comes to accentuating the positive and catching the eye with her bright colors and realistic shading.

Working mainly in fashion, publishing and editorial, Natalia Sanabria is influenced by fashion designers like Meadham Kirchhoff, Tsumori Chisato and Prada. Equally, she’s inspired by artists like Gustav Klimt, Toulouse Lautrec, Degas and Egon Schiele because they could make women look powerful yet delicate at the same time – qualities that are clear in Natalia’s work as well. She studied Graphic Design and Painting at the University of Costa Rica.

Approach

Natalia bases her work in reality, but heightens its appeal with splashes of color and collage. This she fits around the hand-drawn elements to build an appealing composition. She blends colored graphite pencils with watercolors, and experiments with her technique to find new looks for her clients.

Styles

Delicate, youthful and feminine but with some attitude, Natalia's style brings personality to each illustration she creates. By using mixed media, she’s adept at varying the tone, creating strong characters with an extra dimension or quirkiness to lift the image.

Client list

Natalia has been commissioned by clients including NYLON, Sunglass Hut, MAC Cosmetics, St Regis New York, Stylist, Cosmopolitan and McCann Erickson London.

I commissioned Natalia to create the namesake for my brand Tommi Loves. I was drawn to the energy of her previous work and the playful way she uses colour. The end result was inspiring. She captured qualities of warmth, independence and strength in the illustration of Tommi. Natalia was a pleasure to work with. She is creative, intuitive and really listened to what I wanted to achieve for the brand. I can't wait to commission Natalia to further develop the character of Tommi - its exciting to think of what she will come up with next time!

Louise McArthur, LHC Studio