Ada Reyes

Commission a piece

Open for commissions

Pictures cut from paper, one shape at a time

I am Ada Reyes, an illustrator and paper artist in Porto. I make collages for magazines, books, and walls, and prints for anyone who wants a small sun in the hallway.

See the work
Commission a piece
Cut-paper collage of a tomato-red sun with zigzag rays rising over three pink hills
Cut-paper collage of blue waves stacked in bands with a small red sailboat on the top wave

New work

All the work

Six series, three pieces each

Every series starts with one shape that will not leave me alone, and ends when it finally does.

Detail of a sun made of rings of yellow, orange, and pink paper

Small Suns

Three pieces, 2026. Warm, loud, and mostly round.

Detail of a blue fish made of overlapping paper scales among curling waves

Tide Tables

Three pieces, 2026. The sea in every blue I own.

Detail of patterned paper moths circling a round lamp at night

Night Garden

Three pieces, 2026. Bright things on black paper.

Detail of big paper lemons with leaves and white blossoms on pink

Loud Fruit

Three pieces, 2026. Still lifes that refuse to be still.

Detail of two round red-breasted paper birds on a wire in front of a yellow sun

Paper Birds

Three pieces, 2026. White, black, and one red, on kraft.

Detail of a yellow paper tram crossing an arched bridge at dusk

Folded City

Three pieces, 2025 and 2026. The view from the studio window.

Ada Reyes in her studio in a mustard cardigan, holding small scissors and a red paper circle

Hello, I am Ada

I trained as a printmaker and fell for scissors instead. Since then I have made pictures from colored paper for book covers, magazine pages, record sleeves, market posters, and one very long wall at a primary school.

Every piece is cut by hand and glued on board, then scanned for print. The originals hang in the studio until someone takes one home.

Currently cutting: a great deal of blue.

More about the studio

Commissions, from a spot to a wall

Tell me what the picture has to do and where it will live. A pencil sketch comes back within a week, one round of changes is included, and the final art arrives as a high-resolution scan, with the cut original if you want it.

Start a commission
  • Spot illustration from $450
  • Editorial full page from $900
  • Book cover from $2,400
  • Posters and walls quoted for each job

Ada sent three sketches on a Tuesday and the cover was glued down by Friday. It is still the book people pick up first.

Mira Soto, art director, Kite and Compass Books

Get the studio letter

New work before it goes up here, print drops, and where the next show is. Once a month, and never more.

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