At the edge between imagination and reality, there is a little corner in watercolors. And it’s right there that Giuditta, a talented Italian illustrator, gives life with pen and brush to a magical world imprinted in color on paper. Wind, poetry and a whiff of chaos animate her works that, just like only a few artists can do, find the soul of everyday life in simple things, discovering that art’s real secret is hidden in the edges of the main roads and in the scraps of time spent on public transports.
Keep reading if you want to know more about the pleasant chat we had with Giuditta and get ready to be amazed by her magical illustrations!
Hi Giuditta! Tell us about you.
Hi Dare Clan, my name is Giuditta and I am an Italian illustrator.
I was born in a microscopic village near Varese, a town in northern Italy, and that’s where I spent my whole child and girlhood. In my most precious memories you’ll find walks in the wood, nights spent chit-chatting with my besties while leaning on bales of hay, paper planes and lots, lots of drawing. Oddly enough, I decided to study anything apart from art: I first graduated in Oriental Languages in Venice (my home-by-marriage, my personal fishbowl) and then I majored in Anthropology in Milan. Anyways, in the meanwhile I have attended some drawing courses and my fondness for illustration has finally blossomed.
Looking at your works, we have to say your illustrations are really one of a kind. How did you come up with this unique style?
I actually think my pen tries to chase too many different styles, and that the overall result is a big chaos and a lack of coherence…but if I think about it, I can see what you mean: in each and every creation of mine you can feel movement and a little whiff of chaos, I don’t like too straight and well definite lines. And then, I have to admit laziness is my weak point, I get bored in no time when drawing too realistic subjects or landscapes.
Have you ever ventured into other illustration techniques? How was it?
I’ve quite always painted in watercolors, which I consider to be a great tool if you like to give your illustration world a hint of impressionism: with a single blot of color you can give a plain drawing the depth and the bold texture that complete art’s magic. Recently, though, I’m really getting into simple ink stroke technique, which I employ for hatching and for drawing spirals and curls. I feel like ink helps me better reproduce in my works the vague borders of the things that surround me: the blowing wind, the slight changing of people and objects in my everyday life.
Drawing, illustrating, what do these words mean to you?
Illustration is my absolute favorite tool for observing the world and stripping it of its outer layers in order to reach its true nature. The right drawing made at the right time is what allows me to show my true self to the others: nothing inside me stand stiff and still, everything keeps moving and constantly intertwines connections to boundless thoughts, colors, lights. I like capturing in my illustration the wind that carries fragments of this shattered world, connecting places and people who seem to be far away and yet are so close. Deep down, what are we made of, but of fragments of shattered lives collected by the wind?
Let’s give us some artistic advices. Who are your favorite artists?
Speaking of “unveiling” the true nature of things I was mentioning before, I have to say I am a big fan of the poetry of Montale, one of the most important Italian poets of the XXth century, awarded with a Nobel Prize for Literature. I find his words so inspiring: his verses tell about a constant and almost sacred quest for “the still point of reality, the missing link that will not hold, the thread we cannot untangle in order to get at the truth”. I want to find my own way to run after this dart of blue, the fragrance of the lemon trees.
What role does illustration play in your everyday life? Do you think it might become your profession?
It is quite difficult to fully understand the world of illustration. I'm slowly building my niche, even if, for now at least, it all still seems a big chaos, my leitmotif. I draw always and everywhere, and now I'm trying to make a profession out of this passion. Who knows where this path will take me!
In your works there’s a strong predilection for female subjects. Why is that so?
That’s absolutely true. The female figure allows me to talk about myself but also about women’s incredible beauty. I suggest you listen to the album Semper Femina by English singer-songwriter Laura Marling, where she sings the complex and intricate, vulnerable but free lives of some women. Just like her, I try to recreate the woman macrocosm, even including some feminist cues.
Some of your illustrations completely come from your imagination, while for others you take a photograph to which you add a personal touch. So the question is, reality or imagination?
I’d say reality, which I believe to be a big imagination trick. For example, let's think about dreams: our brain perceives them as experiences that have actually happened, when they really are not. In my opinion, there are many more imaginative constructions than we like to believe.
Which materials do you prefer to work with?
Ink, watercolors, acrylics, spray cans… but also digital supports.
Past, present and future projects. Tell us a bit about the projects you have participated in, are participating in or will participate in.
In the last few years, I've had lots of fun illustrating stories and poems (for example for the Italian magazines Verde Rivista, Narrandom, RISME, Il Rifugio dell'Ircocervo, La Città Invisibile), creating covers for musical projects, messing around on photographs and making maybe too many portraits on my notebooks. Since 2018, I've been part of the feminist collective “TUTTE Collective” , a den of girls who do beautiful things and rock. At the moment, I'm starting to explore an artistic field that I've only studied anthropologically until now: street art. The use of the wall as an artistic support overturns any certainty and creates new expressive possibilities that I can't wait to discover.
Finally, what is your secret wish?
Being able to make a living out of what I love the most: drawing, travelling, talking to people. I would like to leave my mark everywhere: on clothes, ceramic cups, on people's skin. I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn, and the idea of a constantly learning path puts me in a good mood right away.
To see more of Giuditta's work follow her on instagram.
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