Raquel M. Varela is a self-taught illustrator, also known on social media as Rei. She is from Galicia, although she currently lives in Toledo. She studied Early Childhood Education, and her final thesis was titled “Analysis of Artistic Style in Children’s Stories and Children’s Visual Culture.” This led her to redirect her career towards illustration.
Since then, she has worked on editorial projects including: Hielo y Plata by Alena Pons, La maldición del Holandés Errante by África Vázquez, and Dejad que ardan by Kamilah Cole (all published by Nocturna Ediciones); she contributed illustrations and her own short comic to the magazine Planeta Manga (Planeta Cómic); she works with Estudio Fénix, inking the Galupys comics (a children’s adventure series about winged ponies); she has designed covers for the French publisher Editions Bookmark; and she participated in Character Design Quarterly magazine, published by the British company 3D Total Publishing.
Her work stands out for its magical quality—she loves drawing movement through her characters, their hair, their clothing… and conveying emotion. All of it framed within fantasy settings with designs from other worlds.