We were lucky to catch up with GIULIA DEL MASTIO recently and have shared our conversation below.

GIULIA, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today.

I was born and raised in a small town in Italy where no one knew how to show me a way to turn my passion into a job.
I always knew that I would draw all my life, but I had no idea of the most useful schooling to get to become an illustrator.
So I embarked on a classical education that led me to attend the Art Institute and the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. Those were important years for my education, I learned a lot, but probably, if I could go back I would think a lot more about the studies and the specialization to be undertaken. I would definitely choose international schools and an education that does not only value the past but more importantly that guides you toward the future. I think it would have been extremely important for me to learn about the contemporary art situation, new techniques, various job outlets, this would have helped me to enter the working world with more decision and competence.

GIULIA, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I don’t think there was a specific time when I approached the world of art and illustration . Drawing has always been part of my everyday life: eating, drinking, sleeping, drawing.
I have always been fascinated by visual art, stories, and the possibility of telling them through images.
I have been involved in illustration for more than a decade, have worked for the publishing world, exhibited my work in art galleries, and do art commissions for companies and individuals.
I get bored easily, I like to experiment and try new techniques…that’s why I look for jobs and commissions that can continuously challenge me.

In recent years, my passion for film has led me to focus mainly on alternative Movie posters.
The idea of telling through a single image, an entire story, excites me. I think it is extremely inspiring to try to convey through a poster, everything inside a movie: the atmosphere, the soundtrack, the story, the stylistic characteristics of the director.
I am also very interested in the field of children’s illustration: children’s publishing and illustrated stories are an extremely poetic and fascinating world…I come back small in an instant!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Creative activities are often considered a hobby, a second job. I have always tried to convey and convey the professionalism, study and time behind a drawing or illustration. It is a job that comes from passion, but it takes so much more. Seeing artists underpaid, seeing their work undervalued, has always bothered me. Over the years I have realized that it is very important for me not to compromise, to demand the right wages and to show myself prepared and efficient in my work, this is not only for my professional growth but to try to contribute to a different and higher conception of the creative field.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

After finishing my art studies, I worked for a couple of years at the Academy of Fine Arts as an assistant professor of Scenography. It was a job that did not allow me to pay my expenses and I had to look for something else. In Italy, finding someone willing to pay a girl who had just graduated to work in an artistic profession was (and is), practically impossible. Many were the internships and underpaid proposals offered under the guise of enriching one’s resume…nothing that could be considered a real job. So I had to give up and do something else for a few years.
When I decided to take up my passion again and make it a real job, I was definitely more determined and structured.
For a few months it was my side business, I was working in the restaurant business and in the meantime I was trying to figure out my way around, trying to make new creative contacts and a network of people who could advise and guide me toward my professional goal. Important was the desire to start small, so I had the chance to figure out how to administer my business and grow slowly, slowly.
During these years I worked from a small studio in my home-atelier, investing in social media that allowed me to get to collaborate with European and American galleries, individuals and companies.
In September I will (finally) open my own space, an atelier open to the public where I will work and be able to exhibit my work. The idea is to create a place where I can make known what I do but above all a meeting place for creative people, where I can organize events, workshops and sponsor art and beautiful ideas.
I will open it here, in my small town in Italy, because here too there is a need for stimulating, innovative activities that make people dream a little.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://WWW.GIULIADELMASTIO.COM
• Instagram: giuliadelmastio
• Facebook: Giulia Del Mastio

Image Credits

PHOTOGRAPHY – CHIARA DOVERI
IMMAGES ILLUSTRATIONS – GIULIA DEL MASTIO