When did you first get into drawing?

My very first experience in art went back to kindergarten. I always liked to draw and paint, it has been my favourite “game” from when I was able to hold a pencil. I spent hours drawing anything that caught my fancy at the time, and my very favourite subjects were, without question, characters from the wonderful anime that filled the TV screen in my childhood. I keep them close to my heart still and I think they are unsurpassed to this day. I used to draw them either by memory or copying them from pictures that I found in the TV guide. I remember enjoying drawing the same character in as many different outfits and hairstyles as I could come up with. Like anybody at that age, my mediums were mostly coloured pencils and markers. If I wanted to become an artist, it wasn’t even a question I asked myself, it was something natural, I can’t even remember ever wanting to do anything else.

Why did you choose to make fashion part of your inspiration? 

Luckily, my parents were happy to let me cultivate my passion for art, letting me attend an artistic oriented High school and later, Istituto Marangoni, were I cultivated my passion for drawing, guided by extremely talented teachers that shared with me their passion for drawing and illustration, and taught me different rendering, draping and texture effects and techniques that became my fundamental basic rules (which I still apply to these days in my artworks, and I do my best to pass on as a teacher myself, to a new generation of students).

What is your particular working day as a creative? 

I work as a teacher in fashion design and digital illustration at Istituto Marangoni Milan, (a world renowned fashion university) so my working routine evolved principally around my classes weekly schedule, which I have to say is quite full. After long days of teaching, in contact with talented and creative students, watching them put their best effort in what will become their future career, the perfect answer would be that I draw because in this way I keep myself trained, and I can give my best in class, having experienced first hand the latest techniques or the new software available, but the reality is that I do it, because I love it, I still enjoy drawing, plain and simple. I normally end up doing it very late in the evening or in my free time, I just love everything about it, it relaxes, me and de-stresses me.

"The advice I could give is to experiment a lot, practice with as many different style and media as possible, do not stick only to what you were taught to do, especially in a sector like this, being able to propose something new, personal, unique, is certainly one of the best business cards you can offer."

A.Zambonin

Who or what has influenced you over the years as an artist? 

My very first influences as an artist came from one of my teachers, Paolo Parente. I loved his drawing style, and I was lucky enough to collaborate with him on free-lance projects for about 15 years after I graduated. During this time he introduced me to the comics and games design masters I still look up to, Oscar Chichoni, Juan Gimenez, Enki Bilal, Moebius, Brom, Phil Hale, Rick Berry, Frank Frazetta, Ayami Kojima, just to name a few.

What advice do you have for younger artists looking to be part of this industry? 

The advice I could give is to experiment a lot, practice with as many different style and media as possible, do not stick only to what you were taught to do, especially in a sector like this, being able to propose something new, personal, unique, is certainly one of the best business cards you can offer. Moreover try not to be shy, there are so many possibilities in social media nowadays to be able to exhibit your work or participate in competitions, catch as much as possible, if nothing else it will be useful for you to build up experience, and perhaps the most important advice of all, is draw, draw a lot, draw every day, there is no better way to improve.

What are you drawing today? 

Nowadays I’m mostly drawing fashion illustration, any design or picture that catches my attention I store it aside, I do it for fun, so I normally end up choosing the one that permits me to indulge in my favourite parts, which are the draping and rendering of the different fabrics and materials. The more challenging, intricate and detailed they are, the better it is, even though once I’m halfway through them I sometimes end up asking myself why, why, did I choose something so complicated? But then I do it again with the next one.

Music are you listening to? 

I’m not really picky, I like a lot of different styles, so normally I go with whatever Spotify proposes to me. Though I do have a few fairly new artists that I love like Zayn, Harry Styles, The weekend, Dua Lipa and Yungblud, they weirdly coexist in my playlists with an endless stream of eternal 80’s and 90’s favourites, like Depeche mode, The Cure, Siouxie and the Banshees, Placebo and so many others.

Books that you are reading? 

I'm also very eclectic in my reading choices, I could go from literature classical authors like Bronte,
Goethe, Hardy, to cyberpunk and science fiction, masters like William Gibson and Philip K. Dick, to contemporary fiction authors like Palahniuck or André Aciman and his “Call me by your name”. The only thing they do have in common is the fictional part, anything and everything that can transport me in to different worlds or times, I’m all for it. I love reading, I’m always halfway through a book, and since I do not have much time for it I got addicted to audiobooks. 

Favourite artist/designer at the moment?

Two of my favourite artists, Giulia Bedoni, and Simona Murialdo, happen to also be my very good friends, we have been working together for years, (in Istituto Marangoni) and I think even without realising it, we do influence each other. Even if it is just on the inspirational side of it, where you find yourself admiring your friends work, and asking her, “how did you do that part? what did you use?”, and then experimenting that same thing or effect, in your next artwork.

Alessia Zambonin