Takeover Tuesday with Nicola Gigante
An interview with Nicola Giganta: an illustrator based in Orlando, FL whose focus lies in signage design, illustration, background painting and concept art for both the film and themed entertainment industries.
Interviewer: Bella Alfonsi
Read time: 5min
Bella:
Yo Nico! Can you give a lil' introduction for those who aren't familiar with you?
Nico:
Hi y’all my name is Nicola but my friends call me Nico. I’m an illustrator and concept artist originally from Mexico but based in Florida for the past 16 years. If I’m not in the studio working on a project you’ll catch me painting outside, playing soccer, traveling a la backpack, or trying to tire out my restless Aussie.
Bella:
What led you to a career in the art world?
Nico:
I feel very lucky to have discovered art long before I knew it could become a legit career path. When I was a kid, I’d fill out my homework papers with fantastical sketches from top to bottom, my teachers weren’t necessarily happy about that, but everyone sort of knew I was “the kid who can draw”. I also feel very lucky to come from a family who fostered and encouraged me to do what made me the happiest, and that was art! (but trust me, they weren’t very happy about me sketching on my math homework either). My mom is an award winning chef and my dad an architect and pottery artist, so if I wasn’t hanging out in the kitchen, you’d find me making clay sculptures. This cross-pollination environment helped a lot with fueling my creative imagination. Fast forward a bunch of years later, and I found myself making both the hardest and easiest decision of my life, should I go to art school, or should I pursue another non-creative career path at a more “traditional” university. I ended up choosing to attend SCAD for illustration. To me that was a “no-brainer”, easy choice because I knew I’d be pursuing my passion and love for art, but it was also hard because I still wasn’t unsure about what a life as an artist outside of school and home might look like, and all the challenges that my decision could bring in the coming years. That was certainly scary.
A self portrait of Nico.
Bella:
How do you think your time at SCAD made a difference in your life?
Nico:
My time in SCAD made a huge impact in my life. It was very much a right of passage for me, and I’m very lucky to have had that experience. I joined as a transfer student in the spring of 2015, and made a few friends on the first day, many of them whom I’m still very close to. SCAD is located in Savannah, a beautiful Spanish moss-adorned city just by the South Carolina-Georgia line. Living there was very inspiring in so many ways, and my peers, professors, and friends all contributed to my growth as an artist.
Bella:
Is there a project you've worked on that stands out as a favorite to you?
Nico:
I’ve been a part of many projects that have been in a way cornerstones in my career, most of them spanning different industries. When I’m posed with the “what’s your favorite project so far” to me is like asking a parent to chose a favorite child! But one project that I really enjoyed doing was the concept art I was tasked to do for the award-winning short film FATHEAD. Within the first meetings I had with the film director c. Craig and the producers, I knew this was a passion project for many in the production, and I immediately felt both very lucky and the pressure to do my very best. During the production, I got the chance to collaborate with many talented people in all departments of the filmmaking pipeline, and I got my first end-credits mention in a movie! FATHEAD has been shown in many film festivals around the world, and it’s won a lot of awards so far such as gold at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in France! It is also the first film to be produced in Amazon’s LED volume, a new technology in filmmaking that’s already breaking ground in the industry, with shows like The Mandalorian and HBO’s House of Dragons using it after FATHEAD paved the way.
Concept art from FATHEAD.
Bella:
It must be so cool to see your work out in the world, like at The Children's Music Museum in Upstate/Greenville, South Carolina. What was the workflow like for this project?
Nico:
The Marsh Music project at the Children’s Museum in Greenville has to be also one of my favorite projects I’ve worked on so far in my career. No short in challenges though, I was very fortunate to have worked alongside creative powerhouses Jessica and Henry Marchant of Marchant Creative Group to bring this space and it’s characters to life. It started with a story about a frog and his swamp friends, all living in the South Carolina marshlands. The big element to the story is music and education. Each section of he story, or “beat”, features a different musical instrument that kids can learn to play as they go around the room. The concept/beginning stages of this project involved a lot of meetings to come up with the instruments that needed to not just sound good and work well but tie in to the story and setting, so we designed them all to fit the swamp/marshland theme. After a few brainstorming sessions, we came up with a lot of fun things, from rain wheels in the shape of lily pads, drums shaped like turtles, to a giant banjo/harp instrument that looks like an alligator! I then proceeded to illustrate 12 murals, character designs, and a few posters in an animated style that was quite new to me, but one that I’ve adopted well into other projects and personal pieces afterwards. If you’re ever in the Greenville area make sure to stop by and check it out!
Bella:
What advice would you give someone who is trying to "find their style”?
Nico:
When I was in college, and slightly after graduating I had a really hard time being happy with what I was producing as an artist. I remember being surrounded by lot’s of very talented illustrators and artists whom styles were so well defined it left me thinking “I’m so behind”. Finding your style isn’t a straight path, but a windy and bumpy one. It takes a lot of trial and error. One of my favorite quotes from a mentor I had earlier in my career is “practice makes progress”. If you find yourself having doubts about your work and your own style, just keep producing, don’t stop. A baby who stops at the crawling phase will never learn how to walk. I don’t mean to sound cliché or anything like that but everyone has a style, just like we all have different fingerprints! It’s just a matter of time before you find it and hone your skills, because most of the time you’ll likely be the last to notice it while people around you will see it first.
Bella:
Where do you find inspiration? How do you combat creative burnout?
Nico:
Inspiration is everything, everywhere, all at once. I am inspired by other artists, the masters of old too. When you imagine you’re inspired. Music is a big player in my inspiration along with traveling. I sometimes find myself listening to a song and imagining the lyrics transform into a music video inside my head. Going places is a way I relieve burnout, it allows me to have a break from the screen and tablet. It’s a way to recharge by doing other things not related to your daily routines back home. Traveling is a big source of inspiration for me as well. When I break up my daily routine to go someplace new or old, I try to look at everything from an artist point of view. Inspiration is fueled by intrigue. I like to question how things are made, like what makes a certain object interesting that most people would otherwise consider mundane or ordinary. Finding beauty in the mundane is a great way to overcome the “art block”. Once I started looking at the world through that lens I started producing art that I was very happy with!
Planning for the Marsh Music Exhibit in Greenville, SC.
Bella:
What's your favorite type of project to work on?
Nico:
Good question! I love projects that have a story behind it. To me, stories are the veil of good art, because without a story then how can anyone relate? The nature of being an illustrator means sometimes I’d be tasked to a project that doesn’t necessarily have a specific story to tell, but by looking at it through the lens I talked about in the previous question, I try to make it interesting and fun. I specifically love animation and film. Growing up I remember being so intrigued by the backgrounds in Disney movies and other tv shows that I’d sometimes forget about the plot. Some of my favorite projects have been illustrating backgrounds and landscapes. To me they’re just as important as the main characters themselves!
Bella:
What are your favorite softwares and tools to use when illustrating?
Nico:
I like to think the ax doesn’t to the tree cutting, the lumberjack does. Tools are there to help, not create. A lot of amazing things have come out of a simple napkin sketch, like the design of the new Chevy Camaro for the Bumblebee movie! But when it comes to client work, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are my bread and butter. If I’m doing personal work, I often bounce in between Procreate and HeavyPaint, depending on how much time I want to dedicate to the piece. I love the user-friendly ui of Procreate the most, I was able to pick it up and master it in a few weeks! HeavyPaint is a great app that allows you to paint quickly without worrying too much about details, it’s great for plein air painting for that matter. Additionally, if you’d ever met me in person, there’s a good chance I was holding my sketchbook in hand. I carry a pocket-size Moleskin sketchbook with a few micron pens everywhere I go! It’s the best way to capture anything that inspires me while I’m on the go, and it allows me to further develop drawing skills.
Bella:
Anything exciting coming up/final words of wisdom?
Nico:
I recently started becoming more serious about freelancing versus looking for an in-house job. It’s been quite challenging and scary, alas terrifying, and the road stretches far and wide. I’ve been struggling to find something stable, being an artist is no smooth path. But I try to celebrate any wins, big or small. When I’m feeling like I’m not heading anywhere or that my career is stalling, which happens more often than I’d like, I try to focus on why I decided to pursue art as a career in the first place. Keeping my goals in check, writing stuff down, sketching things and ideas, reading books, connecting with other artists, these have all been some of the ways I’ve been keeping myself from quitting the creative world. If I had any final words of wisdom, it’d be to remember we’re all in our own timeline. There’s no shame in being or feeling like a “late bloomer” in your career, or feeling that you haven’t found your style and you’re falling behind. Stop comparing yourself to others much more ahead in their careers than you, instead, learn from them. Reach out to your heroes, even if not all of them respond you never know who might. You’ll get there, but in your own time. By having trust in the process, and practicing as much as you can every day, things will come your way and doors will start to open. Just have faith and patience in yourself and try to have fun while you can!