Welcome back to another KidLit Creator Interview with All Ages of Geek’s kid series “Galaxy-Boy Delivery”. Today we have Ingrid Constantino joining us for a discussion about art, passion and goals. What inspires you as an artist? What makes you create?
An illustrator based in Bologna, Italy Ingrid Constantino loves W.I.T.C.H., Geronimo Stilton’s work and Disney. She has worked as a Visual Designer and Art Director and has taken the time today to talk to All Ages of Geek and “Galaxy-Boy Delivery” all about her work.
And if you’re looking to hone your skills as an illustrator consider taking a class from Skillshare with 30% off when you join with All Ages of Geek’s affiliate program.
What makes you create? What drives you?
I draw since I was a little girl. The passion comes from my mother and grandmother. I remember the two of them always helping me copy my favourite characters from the picture books and comics that I loved. I was a very introverted kid (I still am, actually) so books were my best friends: I grew up reading all of these amazing stories filled up with beautiful illustrations and it made everything better. So what drives me it’s the hope that maybe, one day, I could make that happen to someone else. I want to create beautiful things that can make people smile.
How did you get started in your craft?
As I said, I draw since forever. It became real to me when I was in high school: I used to make comics out of every little thing happening during class! One day, one of my friends told me “omg you should be an illustrator” and it felt right. The next year I enrolled in art school.
What’s your favourite part about your craft?
Mmmh, I think that the best part is collecting ideas and elaborate the concept. I always say that my greatest talent is “connecting the dots”, so I like to get lost in symbolism and metaphors before actually drawing. I also LOVE colors— choosing the palette is the funniest part!
Some struggles along the way?
JUST SOME? I struggle a lot! First of all I don’t believe in myself so much – ahah – then I usually struggle very much to get the ideas out of my head. Sketching takes a lot of time and references, sometimes is very frustrating! But in the end everything eventually falls into place.
What would you change about your industry?
Oh my, I could write an entire article about what to change in this industry. But for now I’ll stick to what hurts the most: we are taken for granted. In this multimedia era we live in, people expect to see colorful ads, elegant websites, stunning book covers and movie posters. You expect to attend an event and enjoy beautiful set ups and scenography; when you step in a new coffee place you expect to find amazing art on the walls, and so on. And yet we struggle to get employed; when we’re employed we struggle to get paid properly. We struggle to make people believe that art is a real job and not just an hobby. Almost no one credit us for our work, even if it’s needed everywhere.
Your inspirations and favourite creators?
I have so many! Alessandro Barbucci e Barbara Canepa will always have a special place in my heart, because it all started from W.I.T.C.H. And of course I love Loish – her art is stunning! But I also take inspiration from Riccardo Guasco, an Italian designer who works with shapes very beautifully and elegantly. I also follow lots of fellow artists and every single one of them is somehow inspiring: my favourites at the moment are Mila Useche and Izzy Burton.
Any rituals when you create things like drinking tea or breathing exercises?
Nothing more than trying to keep the cat out of my lap/ipad/keyboard, ahah.
What makes your art stand out from the crowd?
D-do I stand out from the crowd? I don’t know, I don’t think so. Other people should tell me if I do stand out from the crowd 🙂
Your favourite piece of work from your portfolio?
Uhm, I think that at the moment I’m pretty happy about my Magic Apprentice from this year’s Inktober. She’s a character I created for an IG challenge early this year and that I liked so much that I decided to explore more. Also, I’m very proud of my personal project “Queendom”, a card game concept I developed in school last year.
Any tips to give about your craft for beginners?
But hey— I’m a beginner as well! The only valuable tip that comes to my mind is: draw what you like. Don’t draw to please anyone, not even the algorithm. Don’t give up: you’ll have to collect a giant amount of “no”s before you land the smallest “yes” that will change your life, so try to be strong enough to keep trying.
What do you think about All Ages of Geek? Who do you think we should interview next? Any creators you want to give a special shout out to?
It’s a very interesting project! You really do a lots of things— I’m very happy to be a tiny part of it! Thanks again for the opportunity! And I think that you should keep giving voice to small artists because we need this A LOT.
Where can people find your work online?
Well, since the current social-mayhem is forcing us to constantly migrate, I’m on every social media platform, ahah. I am to lazy to use them all though, I just post on Instagram (https://t.co/FH1iSSyceW) and Twitter (@ingridevil_jpg) and I regularly use Behance (https://t.co/rl8jLWi8SV) to showcase my best work. I also have a website (https://birgheed.art/) as a professional portfolio.
