Interview with:Laura Di Francesco [lauradifrancesco]
ILLUSTRATION
 | What is your specialty in illustration? I have watercolors, ink, Ecoline and chalks by my side. This is my personal team!
Then I scan them and mix all the images that I've previously thought with Photoshop.
There are no limits in therms of materials; sometimes I save textile's retails, patterns, recycled paper or old book's pages where I paint my characters and scenes on. |
| What are your regular clients like? What do they expect from you? My clients are publishers. I often work for children's book illustration. In that case the editors like to receive some sketches regarding the principal scenes of the story and the definition of the main characters... I mean, it's expressions, how it looks like.
I always like to introduce each illustration with a brief description, telling why I choosed that style instead of another one, and so on.
I think that each publisher needs to see realized its own project's idea, and if the project it's up to me... I expect to give him a very special impression! |
| Is there a web address where we can see some of your work? |
| Have you completed formal art studies, or are you self-taught? I paint since... I can't remember myself without crayons!
My mother was a good painter, she introduced me to the colour's magic. It' so special for a child to have someone who can help him to express ART.
I had this fortune.
I studied in the Art Academy of Rome till 1998, then I left Rome for Tokyo where I learned the lightness and delicate art of Japan, self-teaching my self drawing on the streets, or at home after seen it's landscapes... It's secret gardens compared with it's caotic cities!! So cool... |
| How did you get your first full assignment? What did it involve? I got my first book assignment in 2006, from Sinnos Editrice, Rome, Italy. It was my first great adventure throught "Kyoko e la nascita del Giappone" (Kyoko and the birth of Japan).
It involved me to be finally known throught editory, where other publishers committed me some others books and exhibitions. |
| What past or present day illustrators do you admire most? I really love BRUNO MUNARI, he's my Maestro. |
| How similar are your current drawings to those you did as a child? It's funny how I lately "cleaned" my foolcolour's style untill I got pureness... like only a chid can do! |
| What was your favorite comic book as a child? This is not exactly a comic book but... I loved Barbapapa...
And all the Sanrio saga like Little Twin Stars... Pochakko... My melody...
I really was a child! 1980........ |
| Do you have a particular style, or does it vary a lot? I'd love to have someone else to answer this question instead of me....
I can say that my style is always the same 'cause it comes from me... But it changes as I'm a human... and it changes together with me and my exprience.
So boring to paint always the same things! |
| What is hardest to draw? It's hard to draw unknown situations... But "miss Fantasy" uses to help me a lot in that case. |
| What type of music do you listen to while you work? I looove this question, and I could write miles and miles of paper but, lately the french band "AIR" is my favourite.
Other are: Kings of Convenience,
Björk,
the swedish band "El Perro del mar"
The Knife
Emiliana Torrini
The Cardigans
Jose Gonzalez |
| What do you do when a client simply says "I don't like it"? I try to ask which are the unliked things to get involved from my mistakes. |
| What new techniques have you been experimenting with lately? Simplicity as ink decorated with hand-made patterns... lots of white.... |
| What part of your work do you do on paper and what part digitally? I use to draw anything on paper, from the characters till the background. But I love to compose them digitally. |
| What research do you do for your illustrations? I don't like to use other illustrators as an inspiration of mine. I prefere to pass one day in the wood, or in a second hand fashion shop. But sometimes, as you could see on my blog, I find a lot of beauty into people's art. And this includes photography, fashion, illustration, design... |
| Do you have colleagues with whom you share techniques, tricks, ideas, etc.? Yes, and some of thee are special friends for me. |
| What are you working on now? I'm working with three writers, two of them come from Barcelona. The third is from Dublin. All these projects are full of creativity and I really hope to realize my best. |
| What advice do you have for someone who likes to draw and would like to make a living from it? Follow your heart, your own inspiration. Find your only way to translate words into pictures. That's a good start. |
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606 visits Whohub
Laura Di Francesco
Stockholm, Sweden
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