Toni Llobet

Artist and naturalist, born in Barcelona but well-settled in the Terraprim, a welcoming, undulating and gentle landscape halfway between the Empordà plain and Banyoles Lake, in north-eastern Catalonia.

I think of myself more as a naturalist than an artist, even if in the former capacity I am a perpetual – but rigorous – amateur and no professional. Wildlife art – or illustration – has been, however, my profession for almost 20 years and in that time I have acquired a certain amount of experience.

For the last six years I have been, above al else, a father to three children with my partner Valentina.

In 1997 I began working with digital technology and I now draw with a computer and a graphic tablet. This has allowed me to improve my technique and, at the same time, benefit from the greater productivity delivered by Macs. Without ever turning my back on the landscape and its wildlife as sources of inspiration and raison d’être for my work, I have been able to go beyond simple brushstroke-by-brushstroke watercolours thanks to the bytes and pixels of my computer. In my website you find a wealth of examples.

Current projects

For the last five years I have been immersed in the illustrations for the Handbook of the Mammals of the World (Lynx). It is a mammoth project that consumes much of my time and energy. I have still found time, nevertheless, to produce the illustrations and texts for a series of Guides to the plants and animals of the protected areas in Catalonia (Brau) that we are now looking to extend to sites outside Catalonia. I make time wherever I can for other projects – posters, books and other media – and am currently looking to find time somehow to start painting again and to develop my own personal audio-visual and publishing projects. I write a blog in Catalan, I altres animals (And Other Animals), for the ARA newspaper in which I share with readers a few reflections – always linked to natural history – on my most important activity, that of being a father of three children (and owner of three donkeys, five chickens, a goat and a vegetable garden!!!)