We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alejandra Macouzet a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alejandra, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I believe that one of the most wonderful things about working as a professional artist is that you have the chance to be a part of projects that have an impact on what matters to you, what you want to contribute to the world, and which messages you want to share.

Education has always been one of my main interests since I believe the big changes start with small people in classrooms, and also outside of them, in books, in lessons, and even in play! I think children’s books have great power and influence on a kid’s life, they help them learn about important things; it also helps them understand and communicate their feelings and their emotions, it allows them to connect with their caregiver while sharing stories. One of my biggest dreams was to become a children’s book illustrator, and now I have been able to start my journey working as an illustrator for books that talk about some of the topics that interest me the most, like the environment and child development.

One of the projects I would like to share is the book “Este Rugido no es Mio” which translates to “This is not my Roar” which narrates the journey of a jaguar who is trying to cross the jungle after it got destroyed to build farms and roads, I think allowing kids to learn about this stories from a young age motivates them to develop empathy for other beings.

For the last year, I have also been lucky to be a part of an amazing project that gives access to free educational content to everyone; I have been working at an animation studio called “Thought Cafe” where I have had the opportunity to illustrate animated content for the Youtube series “Crash Course”.

Knowing that my work is having an impact on kids, and other adults’ education, motivates me to work harder and gives me purpose every day, but sometimes just knowing that one of my drawings made a person smile is enough to know that this long (and chaotic) journey has been worth it.

Alejandra, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Alejandra Macouzet and I am a Mexican illustrator, I live and work in the city of Toronto, Canada, where I have been pursuing my career as a children’s book illustrator. My artwork is narrative, whimsical and playful; I love telling stories and sharing messages with my art, exploring themes like environmental care, female empowerment, equality, education, and child development.

I enjoy knowing that my illustrations have the power to bring positive emotions and warmth to the viewer. I believe art should be for everyone to enjoy and connect with, and Illustration has that power!
I want my work to help inspire others to create. If we learn to create we will most likely stop destroying.

I am always open to new projects and work opportunities, my main interest is children’s books but I have tons of experience on a variety of projects. I love creating illustrations for magazines, all types of books, products, and even apparel; I have made art for t-shirts, card decks, stationery, and even shoes!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think society could support artists by appreciating their work and taking it as seriously as they do with any other type of career, valuing artists’ time, knowledge, and experience by offering fair and well-paid contracts, understanding that not because they are artists they should give away their work for free nor believing that artists should exchange their hard work for exposure without any type of remuneration.

Although creative careers, especially those of artists and illustrators, usually follow a different path than traditional careers, these jobs are just as complex, valid, and demanding.
I think that sometimes society does not appreciate the time, effort, and knowledge that creatives have and offer in their jobs, which results in the devaluation of artists’ work.

Many times I have faced and heard stories from other artists and illustrators, where people expect them to give away their work for free, with the excuse that art is just a hobby. Artists have the great privilege of being passionate about what they do, but unfortunately, this sometimes makes people believe that we do it just for fun; the truth is that we are professional people who follow equally demanding schedules than any other conventional job.

I hope artistic jobs begin to be taken more seriously, because at the end of the day, although we love making art we also have to pay our bills!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

As I mentioned before, I think the most incredible aspect of working as an artist is being able to be part of projects that make you feel proud, working towards creating change or impact on issues that interest you.

But also, I think one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had as an illustrator is being able to witness how my artwork can affect someone positively.

I always try to talk about important matters through my art, but I also really love to create work that expresses happiness and portrays the simple aspects of life, those little quotidian moments that bring us peace and make us ‘feel at home’.

I remember a very specific experience I would like to share. I was showing and selling my work at an art fair in 2022, I was feeling a bit self-conscious about some of my art pieces not having a strong message and just being “pretty”; in art school, we were always encouraged to get away from “decorative” art and create more disruptive pieces, but my work is sometimes very decorative, which being honest, gave me some insecurities regarding its value.

But this art show changed my personal view on my work, I had so many people come in my booth and express how happy my art made them feel, they expressed how looking at my illustrations sparked a smile in their faces, how it reminded them or happy moments, their childhood and even their beloved pets. Some of the people who bought my art pieces during the fair told me that they wanted to have it somewhere where they could look at it and remind themselves to slow down and bring a bit of color to their day.

This is where I realized what I wanted to do with my artistic voice, create art that brings a bit of color, that by looking at it you feel warmth, the same emotions you feel when you look at the illustrations of the children’s books you use to read as a kid.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.alejandramacouzet.com/
• Instagram: @alemacuu

Image Credits
All illustrations are made by me (Alejandra Macouzet) and I owe all rights to them.