It's safe to say Marga Castaño is a bit of a workaholic. When the illustrator and designer is not working on a commission, or collaborating, she's working out personal projects or sitting on judging panels. And how does this translate into the kit that she relies on for her creativity? If it's not broke, don't fix it – or more to the point, if it works, don't upgrade for the sake of it.
Two of her favourite bits of kit would have sat comfortably in our guides to the best laptops for graphic design and best drawing tablets – five years ago! Marga's kit essentials include, "my five year-old MacBook Pro, my seven-year old Wacom tablet, and Adobe Illustrator." Then there's her sketchbook of choice: "I always have my Moleskine to sketch out initial ideas or concepts when starting a project," she says. "Using one is a way to loosen up my hand, and it’s less intimidating than a large format."
Marga Castaño, represented by Art Lab Agency, is creative director of studio Apéritif. She is a former executive creative director at Publicis Groupe, who pivoted her career to found Apéritif in 2014.
At the same time Marga began her career as an illustrator, collaborating with clients such as Madrid Town Hall, Planeta PH, El País and The Wall Street Journal.
Her personal projects include Hardcore Maternity, a comic book that takes on motherhood with humour and a touch of sarcasm.
Marga's favourite kit
Marga's Apple laptop may be five years old, but with its 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 6-core processor, it's no slouch. Released in 2019, it retailed at $2,200, and today's equivalent would be the MacBook Pro, 16-inch, with M3 Pro chip at $2,500.
"I like it," says Marga, "because despite being a laptop, it has a large screen and allows me to work from anywhere."
As an illustrator and designer, Marga has long utilised the expertly made Wacom drawing tablets. "I have an Intuos Pro Medium," she says, "and I think it’s my second Wacom in about seven years old."
And this is a model that Wacom has largely left untouched since it first got released over a decade ago. It's actually the 2017 model that Marga has that made the most meaningful changes to the tablet, offering USB-C and Bluetooth. It's a worthy inclusion in our list of the best drawing tablets on sale today.
It's not hard to share Marga's love for this specific type of notebook. "I love Moleskine for several reasons," she tells us. "I'm also a designer, and it's an object that I like – I keep them and enjoy revisiting them."
And Moleskine offer loads of different types of paper, "which allows me to try different things – like drawing with ink, even if it’s in a more freeform, artistic way, without any commercial purpose... just to relax."
Is there such a thing as a typical day of work for you?
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