We were lucky to catch up with Andi Porretta recently and have shared our conversation below.

Andi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. When I was only a kindergartener, I remember getting complimented on my Easter bunnies and schoolbook doodles. From early on, I guess I had a natural ability for capturing what I saw in my head or in my line of sight on a piece of paper. But no matter how good or bad a drawing looked, I simply loved making them. Growing up, I loved being in the arts and crafts classroom and even took after-school courses at Moore College of Art and Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. Most days and nights were spent doodling my favorite book and TV characters. I simply couldn’t put my pencil (or stylus) down. Every year, I could see myself improving. and eventually I applied to Pratt Institute for illustration. Rather than a technical focus on how to draw better, I got a broader education in communicating my thoughts and crafting new concepts. It was here that I also learned about making different types of illustration, like sequential art and graphic novels.

While learning the foundations of art were not always the most enjoyable, I now appreciate how much time I spent practices the basics. All of those endless exercises in perspective, view-finding, line making, and lighting gave me the muscle memory to draw on a whim, without the need of reference or second-guessing. There’s a line that some old guy said about mastering a skill–you do it a thousand times, and it’ll makes you a pro… or something like that. Over my life, I’ve drawn thousands of people without ever taking an anatomy class. I couldn’t tell you a single thing about the human body, but I know how it moves. I’ve taken a drawing masterclass by observation–just by looking at the people and places around me.

Thinking less on the act of drawing allowed me to think more on the stories and ideas. I’ve always felt confident in my skills as an artist, but I’ve been pretty insecure when it comes to what I’m saying with my art. It’s one thing to make a beautiful image–making it say something that resonates is what’s hard. So I’ve spent years trying to practice my vulnerability, to be able to share something meaningful to me in the hopes that it will something to others, too. But no matter how many lessons I took, stories I wrote, or drawings I made, overcoming imposter syndrome was always an obstacle ahead of me. I needed confidence to put myself out there and to feel confident in what I was doing.

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 Andi, an author and illustrator based in New York City. I was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, and moved to Brooklyn to study illustration at the Pratt Institute. From there, I’ve worked as a designer by day and an illustrator by night. My design interests range from beauty to personal care, elevating the stories of people and businesses that inspire and excite me. My aim with art is to bring characters and their nuanced stories to life on the page, using with vibrant color and emotional palettes. Most of my illustration can be seen on Young Adult bookshelves, including covers of books like “A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow” by Laura Taylor Namey, “And They Lived…” by Steven Salvatore, and “If You Change Your Mind” by Robby Weber. My debut graphic novel “Ready or Not”, a coming-of-age story of growing up and growing apart, hit the shelves this summer. It captures the fun, fear, and exhilaration of jumping into adulthood in the many pockets of New York City. Ready or Not is the first of hopefully many graphic novels I will make in my lifetime. All I want to do, at the end of the day, is tell stories with my art.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being able to connect with people–whether its a hundred or just one–and make them feel heard and recognized is the best part of creating artwork. Whenever someone shares that they feel that way about a work of mine, my heart starts to sing. I want my art to connect people, to be vulnerable in a way that people can relate to and cling to. I want my art to help tell stories and show memories that aren’t easily told with words! And I want to do that in a way that makes people happier, appreciated, or more at ease.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I always thought that I needed to make art my career… because it’s the thing that I loved most. There were so many voices in my ear growing up telling me I needed to give my career my ALL, to have it all figured out. All I knew, growing up, is that I loved to draw. I wouldn’t mind giving art my all. So, what kind of career could I make out of that? My love of art took me to a rigorous art school that wore me to the bone. Here, education has an emphasis on making art that would sell, but all I really wanted to do was doodle my favorite book characters in my sketchbooks. The more and more I put pressure on myself to make illustration my livelihood, the less I loved to draw at all. I put it on the shelf, feeling burnt out and uninspired. I went into my career as a graphic designer with no expectation of ever making money with illustration. Eventually, I came back to my sketchpad and started doing more of what I wanted in the first place–doodling those characters I loved–instead of what I thought people wanted from me. Once I started posting those drawings more, the more inquiries I got for projects. Taking the pressure off myself was the best thing I ever did. It led to some of the best art projects I’ve ever worked on, and I even made a few bucks. And not having to rely on that passion, day in and day out, gave me the room to choose to enjoy making art again. I still need creative work or community in the my career, but I also get to keep my passion just for myself–to stop and start as I see fit.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://andiporretta.com
• Instagram: @andi.porretta
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-porretta-40195b122/
• Twitter: @andireexx

Image Credits

Roman Sciascia (author portrait)