Your Full Name
My name is Natalia Pierandrei, but I am better known as ‘nati’.

Tell us about you
I am an art and comic illustrator living and working in Italy. I work part-time as commissioned illustrator from late 2002 when I began accepting freelance art assignments and running my personal website, nati-art.com. I’m not a full-time illustrator yet but I hope I soon can  make the Leap!

In your opinion, what would be the secret ingredients to become a great illustrator?
Practice! The more you practice the more you get better. And determination! You must work very hard to become an illustrator.

Where are you located?
I live for the most part of the week in Rome for job. In the weekends, I usually come back hometown, a small city in the neighbourhood of Umbria region.

What is the most fascinating part of being an illustrator?
Being an illustrator is one of the most creative and expressive things I can imagine doing. I love doing the research involved in making pictures and writing books, I love making things look beautiful and well…Can you imagine something better than drawing all the time? I can’t!

Where do you get inspirations from?
I couldn’t really single out inspirations because they can be anything and anywhere. My brain works in a weird way – if I have to do an illustration, I’ll normally start doodling something else to avoid working. I notice that many of my ideas and solutions come to me when I am driving in the car or walking in the street. Sometimes sitting down and staring at a blank piece of paper is the worst way to get an idea. Listening to the music and looking at magazine and websites helps me to not stress out and also finding good inspirations and reference material for drawing.

How do you promote/ sell/ showcase your work?
I have a website that includes information about myself, images of my recent work, my past clients/resume, etc, etc. An online portfolio is always a good place to display your work to potential clients. I also keep a blog that allows me to interact with people who follow me and my work, and where I can upload more personal photo of myself and my workshop.

What is your long range goals in your life?
To continue doing what I enjoy and making people dreaming with my illustrations. At the same time, I like to keep my interests fresh, so exploring new processes and ideas are things that will take me into the future.

What types of assignment/ project are you attracted the most? Why so?
The best commissions are those were people come to me asking to draw whatever I want and pay a lot for that [laughs]! Ok, personally I like fantasy themed projects the most, because that is my favourite subject since I was a little girl. But I think any kind of assignments helps you to improve and to get better both as artist and human being.

Who is an illustrator that you look up to? Why so?
I like fantasy illustrators as for example John Howe and Charles Vess. And, I like 16th century Italian painting, I wish I could spend more time learning about it! My artwork style is definitely influenced by manga and anime, although the final work I don’t think can be classified simply as ‘manga’ art. Anyway, I usually don’t look so much at other illustrators. It is my opinion you can get inspired from all sort of images, not just other artists’ work.

Describe a difficult work/ project situation and how would you overcome it?
Honestly I like challenges! It could happen that a commission is a little bit more difficult than usual – maybe is something not related to your favourite themes or subjects – but in any case, if you love drawing like me, there’s not a work more exacting than others. Finally, some problems can arise with commissioners so it is important to pay attention to what exactly people want from you and watch out for people with impossible deadlines!

What do you think about the Internet and how it is affecting our lifestyle?
Internet  is affecting my lifestyle enormously, especially the art side of it. Without it, only my relatives and my closest friends would have known I so love drawing and would have seen my illustrations, probably. In my opinion Internet offers a great chance to improve yourself both technically and artistically by comparing your work with other fellow artists. I follow a huge amount of illustrators’ blogs on my feed reader! And obviously it is a fabulous way to promote yourself and your work!

If you could turn back time, how would you do things differently?
No, I don’t think I would change anything I did in the past. Honestly, I didn’t get to go to a good design or art school, what I meant was that all I have learned, I have learned by trial and error. My art training was atypical, but I would not do things differently if I could back time.

How do you keep your work fresh? Do you need to consciously adapt your style or does it progress naturally?
In my opinion, a thought to always keep in the back of your mind is to evolve your work. There is a fine line between evolving and changing your work/style. It is important that people will feel that your art is something fresh but still recognize it as your work. In my case, I think my style does progress naturally as consequence of practice and exercise but it is also because I consciously want to keep my art fresh and appealing.

Name 3 of your favorite (art) books/ magazines.
Only three? No, my list of favorite art-books is just sooo long [laughs!] I cannot think of few books, really…

What is your life motto?
Wonders never cease. It is the title of a song by Morcheeba. I am not a fan of them but I like the idea that you will never stop wonder to what you can see, feel and experience in a life.

In what kind of a work environment do you do your best work?
Hmm, I don’t particularly have a favorite spot; just the usual one, which would be my desk. Boring as it sounds, and as messy as my desk is, it’s where I’m most comfortable.

What do you like the sound of? Why so?
I like the sound of rain. Falling asleep to the sound of rain is the best thing! When it is raining I used to lie on the floor and listen/watch the rain falling. Very relaxing.

If you have online portfolio, what is the URL?
My personal website is www.nati-art.com. I also own a blog at http://nati-art.blogspot.com and a gallery on flickr, where it is possible to see all my old works from 2002 now.

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