I'm Nayeli Lavanderos, a Mexican artist based in Portugal. I create Power Animal drawings in black ink and color, exploring the relationship we form with certain animals and the meaning they can hold in our lives.

My work is rooted in the Mexican tradition of the nahual and shaped by my own lifelong connection to animals, as well as my training in shamanic practice.

How I Arrived Here

My path to this work wasn’t direct.

I studied Graphic Design in Mexico City and later moved to New York, where I completed a master’s in Motion Media Design and spent many years working as a motion designer and illustrator. That career taught me a great deal about image-making and visual storytelling, but over time I found myself wanting to make work that felt more personal and that I could spend much longer with.

After moving to Portugal, I trained in shamanic practice and began exploring my own relationship with Power Animals more deeply. The two parts of my life — the artist and the shamanic practitioner — gradually began to come together.

Drawing became the place where that connection took form.

What started with smaller black-ink pieces has slowly grown into a larger body of work, and more recently into large-format drawings that bring color into the practice for the first time.

Why Power Animals

Certain animals seem to stay with us. We feel drawn to them, recognize something of ourselves in them, or return to them during different moments of our lives.

In the Mexican tradition of the nahual, the relationship between human and animal goes even deeper — the animal can be understood as a companion, a mirror, and a reflection of qualities we carry within ourselves.

That idea has become central to my work. I’m interested in what happens when we look closely at an animal — not only at its physical form, but at the qualities, stories, and symbolism we have come to associate with it.

For me, drawing is a way of spending time with that relationship.

The Practice Today

My early Power Animal drawings were mostly small, black-ink works. Over time, the scale began to grow, and more recently I started introducing color into the practice.

The newer pieces are larger and more immersive, built slowly through layers of line, pattern, and detail. I work primarily with black ink and watercolor pens on paper, allowing each animal to develop its own visual language and palette.

Alongside the original drawings, my practice has expanded into commissioned Power Animal portraits and private Power Animal Journeys, where a guided drum journey becomes the starting point for an original artwork.

I also facilitate group experiences that use journeying, creativity, and reflection as different ways of exploring our relationship with animals.

Background & Exhibitions

Before developing my fine-art practice, I spent more than a decade working internationally as a motion designer, illustrator, and art director. My background in design continues to shape how I think about composition, rhythm, color, and visual storytelling.

I hold a master’s degree in Motion Media Design from SCAD and have worked with clients including Amazon, Google, NBC, MTV, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and Cartier.

My fine-art work has been exhibited in Portugal and New York. In 2025, I presented my first solo exhibition, Sacred Power Animals, in Ericeira, Portugal.