Laura teaches us that there is nothing more educational than illustration. Creative freedom without limits, a meticulous technique and attention to lines, an explosion full of colors. But the profound message is educational formation through the world of innocence, purity and childhood: the world of animals. Laura works for the Anglo-Saxon children’s book market.
Let’s get to know her visual poetry better.
Hello Laura, tell us a little about your work.
I have been an illustrator for almost ten years, that is I create images that will be used for commercial purposes by customers around the world.
It’s a very creative job, but above all very free: it allows me to organize my day as I want and to choose the type of customers to work with.
During the early years of my career, I illustrated everything by hand, using the digital technique only to color the finished drawing. Now I do everything on the computer instead, using Photoshop and a graphics tablet.
From the beginning, and almost by chance, I found myself working mainly for the children’s book market, especially for publishers of the Anglo-Saxon world (UK, USA, Australia). I also occasionally create pictures for magazines, websites and advertising.
When did your passion for illustrative art begin?
Since I was a child, I have always had a great passion for various disciplines concerning visual arts: comics, photography, cinema. Illustration came later, when I had finished my studies in film and lived in Melbourne, Australia.
There, I discovered to my surprise that there were people who made a living out of drawing. I couldn’t believe it was possible. No one had ever told me! I did some digging and discovered that there was a world called "illustration". It was like love at first sight, something I saw myself into right away. I decided it was something I absolutely wanted to do, so in 2011 I enrolled in an illustration course, where I learned the basic techniques of the trade. I haven’t looked back since...
Your work is an explosion of color. What value do you give to the choice of color in your work?
The chromatic choice really matters a lot in my work! I would indeed say that, in some cases, it is the most important element of an entire illustration. In fact, I always take a long time to find the right palette for every image. Finding the right palette to create the right mood and the right setting is really crucial. Maybe because, even in other people’s illustrations, color is always the first thing that strikes me.
Lately I’m trying to build a portfolio with pieces of work that are a bit different from those made in recent years, something that is different from publishing for children, with more adult and abstract tones. And the undisputed protagonist of the new work is precisely color: brilliant, super pigmented, at times phosphorescent, with great contrasts, and I would even say a little insolent.
I don’t know what’s gonna come of this research, but I’m glad I’m back to exploring and experimenting, just like I did at the beginning.
Does the animal world have a poetics that is completely different from the human, artificial, present one?
Yes, definitely! As far as I’m concerned, the animal world evokes childhood, innocence and, in general, a fantastic world where everything is possible.
As a great animal lover I like to draw them and give them life in my illustrations, which in fact are full of them. They have always been my favorite characters, especially anthropomorphic animals, those who talk and move like us... they are so tender and funny!