We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alice Rovai. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alice below.
Alice, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
My family has always been into art. My mom’s uncle was an important Italian artist and made of art his job and life. I grew up surrounded by his art and I did my first drawing at two years old. It was our family’s dog and I still can remember the satisfaction I was feeling after I did it. I’ve always believed art could be a job, for my mom’s uncle was the living proof. So since that first drawing I thought art would have been everything for me. Not only my passion but something more concrete that would made me gain respect, also allowing me to earn money. I’ve always thought that if I don’t succeed in art my life will be a total failure. Because despite what other people think, art can be a job, and not only a hobby. It’s up to myself to keep believing in this by making it true. It’s not only talent, that wouldn’t be enough. It’s something more difficult, because it’s about your belief in yourself. It’s about not giving up, even when you get a “no”. It’s about fighting everyday. There isn’t a single day in my life where I don’t think about art and my job. I never get distracted.
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 an illustrator who started to write and draw comics about three years ago, when I started to gain followers on social medias due to a fancomic I was doing. I’ve always been writing stories since I was a child, but didn’t believe very much in this aspect of my job until people started to follow me to read my comics. So today I’m still writing stories and I have many ideas to be explored. Drawing illustrations is not enough for me, I need to share emotions with my followers, to show more of myself through my comics. I draw everyday on my iPad, using the Procreate app. This way my job never leaves me and if I get inspiration from something I can instantly sketch it.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
For me it’s the joy I can see in people who read my works or asks for a commission. My job is basically draw what people wish to see. It’s like magic, you draw people’s dreams.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I subscribed to Instagram three years ago desperately searching for a bigger audience. As I’ve always loved writing and sharing my stories, I wished to reach as many people as I could, because, you know – I can’t just tell stories to myself. So I joined a popular fandom of a tv show, and started doing some fanarts. People immediately started to follow me, and they increased a lot after I started to share my first comic ever. Social medias requires a lot of time and dedication; I was online 24h, chatting and answering questions, constantly being active. I still do that, and I love doing it. I also launched a Patreon page where I publish my comics episodes a week earlier and where I sometimes post extra updates. I work 30/30 days, but it gives me a lot of satisfaction. People like what I do, and when they like it, I like it too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.patreon.com/alicerovai
- Instagram: @alicerovai