Category Archives: Spring

Name: Cristina Amodeo
Location: Milan, Italy
Website: www.flickr.com/rubalaparruccarosa

How about a brief introduction?

6 years ago I came to Milan with the idea to become a phisician…luckely I failed the test!
from that moment my interest for illustration grew day by day and now I have troubles to figure myself in character different from an illustrator.

Who/What inspires you?

I find inspiration in many things, in works of many illustrators. I love, such as Lorenzo Mattotti, Ericailcane, Blexbolex, Beatrice Alemagna…
I like swedish graphic and viennese secessionism too.
Some of my friends and some young illustrators I knew through internet have also an important role in my professional development

What message would you like to send out about your work?

My message is always connected to the illustration theme. If someone orders me some illustrations, they must communicate at the best what they represent, a product or a tale; other works arrive from myself, personal researches or ideas that become real
Usually what I try to do at best is to create armonic illustrations, paying attention to composition and to the importance of colour

What is your biggest accomplishment to date?

This is a good moment, I’m working to my first children’s book and I’m leaving to New York where I will live for two months!

Share a secret with us!

two teaspoons of coffee powder inside “tiramisù” cream…much better!

Name: Allison Cole
Location: Providence, Rhode Island
Website: www.allisoncoleillustration.com

How about a brief introduction?

Hello! My name is Allison Cole, I am an artist living and working out of a former tinsel factory in Providence, Rhode Island. I graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2003 with a BFA in Printmaking. Since graduation I have dedicated my time to freelance illustration, participating in gallery shows, and creating cute and fun things for my online shop, Bang Bang You’re Thread. In 2004 my first full-length graphic novel, Never Ending Summer, was published by Alternative Comics. I have recently signed on as an illustrator with Lilla Rogers Studio, who are some of the most wonderful people in the world to work with.

Who/what inspires you?

I love going to antique stores when I’m in a rut, it usually channels some major inspiration. But one of my biggest sources of inspiration is my husband, he has a never-ending shortage of zany but good concepts – a conversation about ideas with him always gets my brain going.

What message would you like to send out about your work?

What is your biggest accomplishment to date?

I don’t know yet, I feel like there’s always something around the corner that I’m excited about! At the moment I am working on putting the pieces together to have a real silkscreen studio up and running – I currently print in our apartment and it has some major limitations. I hope to expand the crafty side of my business with new products and a new focus. I guess this is more of an accomplishment-in-progress, ha ha!

Share a secret with us!

I may or may not work full time as an Art Director (shhh!)

Name: Cloudery
Location: SW United States
Website: http://somethingcloudery.com

How about a brief introduction?

I’ve been drawing in my current incarnation for a little less than two years. As a child I loved drawing, but as happens with many people, as I “grew up” I became hyper-critical of my work, and stopped. It was only when I decided to completely let go of all “rules” and all self-judgment, and just draw as a meditative exercise, that I found my voice. I use black pigment pens with teeny points (.2mm), and my drawing is like a stream of consciousness: organic, abstract, whatever flows out of my pen at that moment. No pencil, no eraser, no planning. It’s totally freeing.

Who/what inspires you?

Who: My significant other inspires me in all things, whether drawing, making chain maille jewelry, my work as a graphic designer, or simply life every day. Her feedback — objective and subjective — is invaluable. What: When drawing, sometimes I get a word, or a snippet of a song lyric or line from a novel, stuck in my head, and that tends to influence my path, even if only very abstractly.

What message would you like to send out about your work?

I don’t draw for others — meaning, I don’t draw what I think will necessarily appeal to the public at large, or be popular and saleable. It’s very private. However, I have a shop on Etsy where I sell limited edition prints and the like, and almost all of my sales benefit the non-profit First Book, which gives children from under-privileged communities their first new books to own and read. An avid reader and book designer myself, I find this a compelling reason to draw in those times that I might not otherwise feel like doing so, or when I feel stuck.

What is your biggest accomplishment to date?

Last year a design firm in the UK found my website, and commissioned a drawing for a series of wine labels for a new line coming out this fall. I’ve long had a small “art collection” of beautiful wine labels, so this was a particularly big honor.

Share a secret with us!

I aspire to: illustrate children’s books.