According to the dictionary definition, for an image to be called an 'illustration', it would be enough for it to be placed alongside a text, whether narrative or didactic, making its themes and hidden aspects immediately perceptible, while at the same time giving aesthetic value to the printed page. The illustration would thus be merely an image in which a story becomes clearer and more palatable.
But is that really all it is? Of a trousseau? We talked about it with Tiziano Lettieri, young graphic designer and illustrator talented.
Tiziano, I confess that when I look at an illustration, I then close my eyes and imagine a different world. When was this passion for illustration born and how did it manifest itself? Tell us about your beginnings.
Your reaction when confronted with an illustration is not wrong at all, in fact I have always maintained that the mission of an illustrator is to tell something with a single image and that something must fully reach the viewer and it was this that triggered my passion for illustration, because I find it a kind of challenge. It's been about a year or so since I approached this field, before that I was much more into graphic design, but in this field I mainly saw a search for the visually beautiful and I felt like something was missing, and that something was wanting to tell stories and emotions. Another thing I realised I was missing a lot was that relationship I had lost, and then regained, with paper and pencil, now I couldn't do without it. All these shortcomings pushed me to discover and want to be more and more a part of the world of illustration.
Do you have any sources of inspiration or any artists to refer to?
Of course. I love the artistic avant-gardes of the 20th century so much, especially the Italian Futurists and most of all Giacomo Balla. In the field of illustration today, those who have influenced me so much in terms of style and thinking are figures like Frank Espinosa, Matteo Berton, Sebastien Plassard and many others, but above all Riccardo Guasco, an Italian illustrator whom I recently discovered and with whom I see some similarities in terms of drawing strokes. Guasco is an idol for me, I see each of his illustrations as pure art.
Publishing is a world in profound transformation, especially from a technological point of view. How has the role of the illustrator changed in recent years?
I have noticed so much, especially in the publishing world, a strong revaluation in a positive sense of the role of illustration in recent years. Today, there are so many newspapers and publishing houses that favour illustrations as a valuable added value to the content. Perhaps because through social and digital communication channels it is necessary to be direct and capture attention with an image, and the illustrator is an expert at doing this.
What are the indispensable skills one must possess to become a good professional in the field of illustration and how can one best put them into practice?
I ask myself this question all the time, also because I still do not feel like a professional in this field. Let me explain, I believe that a professional illustrator has many more years of experience behind him than I do today, and especially that such a figure has managed to make his passion his work. But certainly some skills that one needs to acquire I have already learnt to recognise and I believe they are of two types. The first are those that allow personal improvement and they are definitely constancy and dedication. The second type falls mostly into the work aspect and is the one that allows you to actually become a professional, such as knowing how to sell yourself, that is, knowing how to get your work in front of the eyes of more people because otherwise the illustrator's goal would remain half achieved.
What made you fall in love with illustration?
As I have already mentioned, for me illustrating means telling and conveying something with a single image. This is one of the two aspects that has made me fall in love with illustration, because I have always seen it as a challenge, a continuous testing, which may or may not be exhausting at times, but somehow never kills that fire that drives you to try again and again until you are satisfied with the result achieved. The second aspect lies in the fact that the creation process is something very intimate and the finished illustration is totally the opposite precisely because it has to pass under the eyes of more than one person, but it is as if it creates a bond with the viewer because its purpose is to provoke something equally intimate for the viewer.
Is creativity for you a spark of intuition or a slow and gradual process?
Most of the time it is a slow and gradual process that is constantly changing as we go along. It has rarely happened to me that the initial idea arrives as it was born to be illustrated. I often start with something that is just a spark of intuition and it slowly takes shape while I am drafting or even while I am in the process of realisation.
What is the main source of energy for being an illustrator in your opinion, besides passion?
I think it is more than one. I certainly consider curiosity to be a necessary source in all aspects of life, not only in the field of illustration, because it always allows us to learn new notions that may come in handy when we least expect it, as a stylistic influence or even better as an integral part of illustration itself. Other sources of energy that I believe should be constants are the search for comparison and the desire for continuous growth. Comparison, I think, is fundamental in order to broaden our horizons more and more, and consequently to have new ideas, new thoughts and also to create beautiful friendships. The desire to grow, on the other hand, allows us to continually improve and always take a few steps further so that we are always on the move.
