We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tiffany Ratongaranto. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tiffany below.
Tiffany, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
There were two moments: The first moment was when I got my Master’s degree in France (I majored in Urban planning, a degree that has nothing to do with artistic field) and I was supposed to find a job. But to be honest, I was not seriously looking for…I just wanted to draw during that time and it felt so good to get back to my arts after a long time of not drawing! For the record, I lived in France for over 8 years and during that time, it’s like I had almost forgotten that I was also an artist. Deep inside me, I felt that something was off in my life and I realized I didn’t want to be an Urban Planner. So after graduation, the only thing that mattered to me was reconnecting with the artist part of my soul.
Then, I found out an opportunity to come to Canada and I decided to start over by studying Graphic Design. Turned out I was not 100% happy with Graphic Design even though I’ve learned a lot of useful skills I keep using today. Something was still missing… That was the second moment I realized Illustration is my calling. I’ve pursued my Graphic design career and in the meantime, I’ve kept practicing and mastering my crafts as an Illustrator.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m Tiffany. Most people call me Tiff (that is also a Tagged Image File Format, kinda funny!Haha). I’m a professional illustrator represented by Bright Agency and also a Graphic designer, currently based in Canada.
I was born and raised in Madagascar that is a big island located in the Indian Ocean. I’m a 90’s kid and my childhood was fun and filled with many stories and games with my brother and cousins. We used to love playing outside, getting dusty, running everywhere and designing our own imaginary worlds! Anyway, I left my sunny island at the age of 17 and went to University in France. That time of my life was spent far away from Arts until I realized I missed being an artist a lot. I decided to share my passion for Arts on Instagram and I started to get a few commissions here and there.
But my real journey as a professional illustrator started when I moved to Canada, pursuing a Graphic Design career and starting Digital painting. I’ve never studied Arts by the way. I’ve learnt everything I could by myself and I’ve always driven by pure passion for illustrations and storytelling. So here I am today building the career path I’ve always dreamed of as an illustrator, with my skills in Graphic design that I consider as a useful asset to close deals!
Because when clients work with me, the services I provide are not only focused on the artistic eye but also on the technical eye and both are needed to make a project more relevant, consistent and marketable in my opinion. The projects in illustrations are broad and diversified such as developing characters design, illustrating books, licensing, packaging, selling goodies and merchandising, etc. I had the chance to illustrate puzzles, to design/illustrate bookmarks, postcards, customized illustrations and to make children’s books from A to Z. I always try to optimize the illustrations and propose the most suitable solutions for the clients in terms of concept, colors, composition, layouts, formats etc. just to make sure everything makes sense once it’s put together. So you actually have to think about many things at the same time but I can’t deny: I love that side of my job!
What can I say about my illustrations style? When people check my Instagram account @zatiff, they usually say my style is colorful, eye-catching and vibrant! I like developing ideas from scratch (after years of practice, I can say my brain is a whole library of visual stuff ahaha), creating dynamic composition and letting the viewer guess the story behind each piece. About my inspiration: I think my curiosity and life experiences on three continents (Madagascar for Africa, France for Europe, Canada for America) have inspired me and shaped the way I practice arts today. So I keep an eye open and I try seeing the world like a child does, it’s pretty useful when it comes to brainstorming new ideas because your imagination can be limitless :)
I value good work and good communication with the clients. One of the main key parts of my job is about guiding the clients through the creative process, helping them understand how the field works (especially when they’re not familiar with) and above all, providing a professional and customized collaboration that hopefully will lead to a unique and worthy result. I never lose sight that it’s about the client’s vision and my role is to make it happen whatever is the project.
I take my work/passion seriously so every project matters since it is an experience and a learning curve for each side (for the client and for me). I would never have been the illustrator I am today without the people I worked with, the trials and fails and only God knows how many fails it takes to succeed on your Art journey. But you must be resilient and patient. As I said, it’s a journey and you’re the one who should make rules for yourself: take what works for you and leave the rest, find the right pace and just go with it. All these combined help me to grow and to become not only a better artist but also a better designer, book keeper, commercial, marketer, content creator (I’m pretty sure every freelancer can relate here! ahaha) and good listener to respond to my clients needs.
Let’s conclude with a few facts about me: I speak French, Malagasy and English is my third language. If I’m not drawing, you can find me lost in a good book, watching documentaries or gone for a walk. I do love tea, sweet pastries, silly puns and I have Ornithophobia (I’m not joking, I’m really afraid of birds!)
Another passion of my life is teaching and there was a time I was a part-time teacher in Graphic Design (Sharing and helping others to improve their visual skills is another caring language of mine I guess).
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
It’s probably getting what I call the ‘Wow effect’: this is how people react spontaneously when looking at my work. It makes me happy to get their feedback and their own interpretations without me explaining anything. Some can even notice the little details I hide inside. It feels like having a magic power to communicate ideas and emotions since every piece should be unique and every piece tells a story through the eyes of the viewer…
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Yes! These two books help me a lot and I highly recommend them to any people who want to deal with the business side of creative fields (illustrations, design, animation, etc.) :
– Graphic Artists Guild Handbook, 16th Edition: Pricing & Ethical Guideline by The Graphic Artists Guild, 2021 (English resource)
– Guide de survie de l’illustrateur by Illustrations Québec, 2021 (French resource)
And a big shoutout to Anoosha Syed and her YouTube Channel which is also very resourceful for artists!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.zatiff.com/
- Instagram: zatiff
- Linkedin: Tiffany Ratongaranto
Image Credits
Credit photos : Rabemazava Daniel
I own the copyrights of all the illustrations and projects here: Tiffany Ratongaranto