Meet Catalina Matamoros | Animator & Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Catalina Matamoros and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Catalina, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I always wanted to be an artist!. I remember when I was a kid I promised my grandpa to draw him 7 paintings (So far I have delivered 2) I enjoyed going to the garden in my grandparents’ house and I pretended to take pictures of all the flowers and trees, I liked to make chocolate figures and to draw all the time.
When I was about to finish high school I was torn between Design or History, I ended up choosing to study Design and since there I started my professional path in the creative world.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My art is playful and joyful, full of shapes and colors, I like using textures such as crayons to create unique characters and carefree lines. I would say believing that I am an artist or that I could do something worth showing wasn’t easy. I believe fear and rejection are big blockers in a creative process, so you need to overcome these by just starting to create and enjoying the things you do and forgetting for a moment about the outcome. You just need to try and keep trying, probably the first thing you do won’t be good, but the second will be better, and so on. We are used to thinking it is about being gifted but in reality, is about being persistent, or at least that is my experience.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If I was in LA, I would start with a healthy breakfast at Urth Caffe and then a day bike trip along the coast. From Santa Mónica all the way to the south, stopping here and there to eat food truck tacos, and to finish the day by sitting on the beach and watching the sunset. (LA has the most amazing sunsets!) I would also take them on a foodie tour, some bibimbap and soon tofu at BCD Tofu House, and Korean BBQ at Kang Ho-dong Baekjeong in Koreatown, hotpot at Haidilao in Arcadia, I would take them to eat everything at Sticky rice at Grand Central Market and if we feel fancy we would go to Bestia in Downtown LA.
For partying I would take them to the speakeasy at The line Hotel, and for some cultural stuff LACMA is a must.
And of course Disneyland or Universal, why not! 🙂

Now that I live in Berlin, I would tell them to bring their most comfortable shoes and we would spazbiergang the whole city! This means to grab a bar in your local Späti and walk around all Berlin talking with your friends and meeting the city.
For food, Korean fried chicken at Kokio, ramen at Cocolo, some nice coffee and good baked stuff at La Maison and pieroggis at tak tak.

By this point you might realized I am a big fan of asian cuisine. 🙂

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
So many people need to be recognized here, because it also takes a village to be an artist, hahaha. My family and friends have been great cheerleaders throughout my career, always supporting me and encouraging me even when I thought I was not good enough to live from a creative career.

But I think Jairo Carillo, my first animation teacher, deserves big recognition here.
He was the first person to see potential in me, he gave me my first opportunity to work as an animator, and that was the first door that opened to me and put me on the path I am today. So I am always very grateful for him.

Website: https://catalinamatamoros.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catalinamatamorosp/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catalinamatamoros/

Image Credits
Natalia Mahecha, Milena Hacker, Juan Sebastián Sarmiento