Gualter Amaro

Portuguese, Barreiro-born illustrator and designer. Educated at António Arroio and IADE, he began in information graphics at Diário de Notícias before moving through several advertising and creative agencies. Today he spends most of his time drawing for clients and exploring new subjects and techniques.

In November 1974, on the south bank of the Tagus river, in Barreiro, a working-class city whose industry was slipping into decline, another child was born like any other. He played in the street, invented adventures with his friends and, yet, loved spending hours alone with his pencils and sheets of paper.

Hours turned into years, and that child grew up. The games changed, and some of his friends did too. But his passion for drawing never left him. At 16, he crossed the river to the António Arroio School of Visual and Decorative Arts, where he met kindred spirits and learned a great deal about the art of living.

Over the years he won several drawing contests promoted by TV channels, newspapers, and radio stations. Among the prizes: a sheep (yes, a sheep), a bag of Disney candy, and a trip to London to see Van Halen live. After winning a sculpture-and-drawing competition on SIC’s show Portugal Radical, he was invited to design and produce the trophies for the program’s awards gala.

He completed his degree in Visual Design at IADE in 1998 and started out in information graphics at Diário de Notícias. A little later, with the internet boom, he worked at agencies such as Ogilvy and Fullsix, creating websites and web campaigns for a range of national and international brands. He’s proud to have worked with Claro, a company devoted to plain language that helps businesses and the public sector embed clarity in their strategies and cultures.

Illustration has always been there alongside this path as the perfect complement to his design practice.

Today, in addition to being a product designer at OLX Group, he collaborates as a designer and illustrator with Cadernos de Campo and still regularly joins his city’s Urban Sketchers, because he’s an obsessive sketcher.

Gualter is a versatile illustrator and a dreamer who believes the best project is still to come.