Hi | Olá,
I'm Rosário Durão, a Portuguese illustrator and the artist behind The Warrior Muse, a shop of contemporary feminist art.
I create art about women as they actually are: complex, contradictory, powerful, feeling. Every piece begins with something that draws me in, a look, an expression, a quality I want to understand. Somewhere in the process of drawing her, I fall in love with her. That's when the work comes alive.
The result is what I call visual mantras: images of women that affirm female agency. Art that makes women say "I am like that."
Shop my work
You'll find my art prints, cards, and apparel in my Etsy shop, The Warrior Muse, and at local markets around Portugal. Whichever piece finds you, my mission stays the same: to bring women-centered art into your walls, your wardrobe, your everyday.
Art should be lived with, not just looked at.
Background
I bring over 30 years of experience in visual communication, rooted in creative practice and academic rigor.
Before turning to illustration, I was an Associate Professor teaching visual and technical communication at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
I hold a PhD in Translation Studies from Universidade Aberta, Lisbon, a Digital and Graphic Design Certificate from Parsons School of Design, and completed The Lettering Seminar and The Big Leap with Martina Flor.
That foundation (research, language, design thinking) is invisible in the finished work. But it is in every decision.
How I work
My illustrations begin as sketches on paper, sometimes directly on my tablet or computer. When the idea of the woman I want to draw is shaped, I bring the sketch into Adobe Illustrator and finish it digitally, refining line, color, and lettering until she feels right. I do not use AI to create my artwork.
I work from my studio in Oeiras, near Lisbon. My illustrations live on art prints and on everyday pieces: tote bags, women’s clothing, mugs, greeting cards and phone cases. Each product is made on demand by professional print partners, so it’s produced when you order it, with less waste.
Every design is released in limited editions of 100 per product. Once 100 prints, 100 mugs or 100 totes of a design have sold, that edition closes and won’t be reproduced.