Yago Partal is the Barcelona-based artist behind the playful Zoo Portrait animals. These animals dressed in human clothing are an artistic (and ironic) means of helping people identify with animals, bringing them closer to the animal world. Yago is talented in a multitude of visual disciplines including photography, video production, graphic design and illustration.

Design Inspiration described Yago’s animals as “Captivating and surreal pictures that blend the animal world with the iconic fashion and poses identified with celebrities and models.”

Yago initially came up with the idea when trying to think of an idea to promote a photography website for actors, actresses and models. Previously teaching in a make up school for a year had given him an eye opening insight into the power of transformation and identity. Whilst brainstorming ideas on how to stand out from conventional headshots, he noticed that certain people held slightly animal like features and began to think of ways to merge the two personas.

His process is one of skill and attention to detail, taking extra care to seamlessly blend and carefully construct these incredible portraits. Using fragments of photographs and textures, he works in Photoshop to create a layered collage of these different effects. Adding volume and light to the image, he repeats the same process for the clothing, gradually building a detailed character profile. Bearing such a close resemblance to a realistic image, it really is extraordinary just how natural Yago manages to produce these textures look digitally.

To find suitable attire for each specimen, he searches the internet for ideal outfits and tries to find clothing that best fits the personality of the animal.

As this is an ongoing project, Yago still hopes to add many more to his already large collection and has a growing list of other animals he’d like to produce for the future. With an animal to suit everyone, these cheeky critters liven up any wall space, starting from £35 unframed or £85 framed.

Zoo Portraits by Yago Partal is a series that was available from Evermade. For more art series like this one, be sure to follow our social media channels. Check out our Animal Edit collection here.