We were lucky to catch up with Giovanni Panarello recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Giovanni thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I have been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work. I think that I managed to make It work because I immediately understood the importance of being competitive. In this field, being competitive does not only mean knowing how to draw / make a picture, but also making a picture that is marketable. Therefore, I do believe that each picture should be the result of a study and should respond to the requirements made by the client. In fact, in the technical jargon the most important point of an image is called “focal point” but also “selling point”. Another key factor to be successful when working as a creative is staying consistent and always focusing on improving your artistic and entrepreneurial skills.

Giovanni, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got started in the art field thanks to my father who was a painter with a strong classical background. After graduating from high-school I obtained a degree in “cinematographic” disciplines. After that, I followed my initial passion by enrolling in a school of comics here in Rome, I continued my path by approaching digital painting, always continuing to draw and paint in the traditional way.

I am a very curious person so I have learnt the 3d programs such as zbrush, blender etc. At the moment, I work as a freelancer in the area of concept art, I create character design, environment and with pleasure I create 3D sculptures and cover art.

I can live with my job, I also like the freedom I gained by working as a freelancer. I would like to work in the world of cinema as a concept artist.

If I had to say what I am good at and what sets me apart from others I could answer “passion”, but this term is overused nowadays.
Instead, I would rather say that my trump card is the knowledge of what are called fundamentals such as anatomy, perspective, color and shadow theory, principles of composition…The virtue of curiosity has led me to range in different areas such as the cinema, the psychology of the image and finally the graphic aspect. I emphasize this aspect because it is very easy to approach digital through programs, which are rather quick to learn, the difficulty is knowing what to do with them.

Finally, the sense of taste is important and therefore the study of the masters of painting is important. I always say when a digital work seems too digital it is badly done.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

NFTs are an interesting talking point. I am a crypto enthusiast, I invest regularly, I made some NFTs and I know how the blockchain works. Now I could say that I’m observing a lot that of Solana and near, but if the reader reads this in 6 months maybe everything will have changed. NFTs have great potential, since blockchain technology, “solves” or rather, tries to solve the problem of value and uniqueness on works performed digitally. Badly said, if a traditional painting is a unique piece even if reproduced in various thousand ways it will always remain the number 1, in a digital work this is a problem. Therefore, the NFT being as unique as a serial number helps the artist. NFTs do have their downsides such as the speculation on NFTs, the poor quality images or non-artists who sell themselves as NFT artists, but, as in all things, this can happen and I think we should focus on the enormous potential of this technology instead of focalizing on its negative aspects.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I am a science-fiction lover especially Sci-fi movies where the human being is faced with deep questions. So, if I have to say a film that has had an important visual impact, it is certainly “Blade Runner” and the visual architecture conceived by Syd Mead. It is interesting to observe how the environment of a film as a “Blade Runner” but in general of a science fiction film reflects well the mood of the people who live there.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artstation.com/giovannipanarello
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giovanni.panarello/?hl=it
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX8ycJENNrEckrtCP8p3Mdg

Image Credits
All image comes from personal project i created so all credits are mine