”Girls and Birds” or “Chicas y Aves” by Spiros Halaris and Robert Tirado

Collaborating with another creative can be a rewarding experience, we recently interviewed two successful creatives Spiros Halaris and Robert Tirado about their collaboration Girls and Birds.

Why “Girls and Birds” or “Chicas y Aves”?

Spiros: The title was inspired by the visual composition that Robert’s birds and my girls had.

Robert: However, we never talked about an ideal or hypothetical title for our collaboration, so I think it came spontaneously. Then came various compositions and both titles (in English and Spanish)

How did the project come together?

Spiros: I approached Robert about creating an illustration together as I knew it would be great fun. You see I had collaborated with creatives before. We discussed a few options of what each of us wanted to do and came up with the idea of combining Robert’s trademark birds and natural elements with my adding a more fashion touch with my girls. After playing around with various compositions our series was created.

Robert: I was delighted to accept! I found it a great idea!!!

Why work on a collaboration? What were the benefits and what were the challenges?

Spiros: We both admire each other’s work and style and we thought that it would be great if we were to combine our styles and create a collaborative piece that would showcase our aesthetic and love for illustration. The benefits were that we had lots of fun and we enjoyed working on the collaboration and exchanging ideas. I don’t think there were any challenges as we collaborated effortlessly.

Robert: I thought it would be a good way to work as a team with a professional illustrator and colleague that I admire. we found affinity between our styles and communication flowed among us when proposing ideas and reach a good results. I think the main benefit we have gained was the production of new good pieces for our portfolio and the experience of work together. It also helped us to promote our work and to reach to more people, in fact, part of our collaboration has recently been published in a print magazine from Bilbao/ Spain, called “actitudes magazine” : http://www.espacioactitudes.com/am/actitudes-magazine.html. Overall, I think the process was fun and as I said before, the result was really good! I do not think there was any challenge, our styles were well supported and we get a nice harmony together.

Has the work produced in the collaboration had an effect on the direction of your work?

Spiros: It was a great experience working on an illustration with another creative and seeing the process of creating an image and getting to the final result.

Robert: I think there was a lot of spontaneity… And of course, respect and good communication between us.

What or who would be your dream collaboration?

Spiros: I would love to collaborate on a piece for a major advertising campaign. I think for a creative it is a great challenge to break boundaries every time he/she creates something and to think bigger and bigger each time.

Robert: I’d like to make any kind of collaboration with a great clothing brand, because I think it would be a good way to show my work to many people. By now, I am able for more collaboration with other artists (a very nice one is coming!!!), if I have the time. I would be delighted.