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Web Design & Development

An Interview With Maurizio Russo

April 23, 2009 By Christopher Hennis | 7 Comments » | Stumble it! |

Maurizio Russo is a well known and extremely talented web designer, graphic designer, illustrator and more. His works are featured all over the internet, and he was nice enough to provide the JungleJar.com readers with an interview.

Mau Russo also gets to live in Livorno, Italy, and I’m stuck in the states.

Enjoy everyone, and thanks again Maurizio.

(Christopher): How long have you been doing digital artwork?

Did you begin your journey as an artist with graphic design, or was there something else you dabbled in beforehand such as painting or drawing?

(Maurizio): I have been a graphic designer and digital illustrator since the year 2000 when a little digital television company hired me as a creator. Before this I was a young comic book creator. This first experience expanded my skills about new technology indeed. I knew new PC programs to use for my digital drawing, such as the Adobe Creative Suite or devices like the Wacom tablet and others. As well, I always liked to draw little comics or webcomics. This helped me to be more creative in my design (I hope..). When I have the time also I like to print my design on canvas and paint a bit on there. With this method I have had some exhibitions that made me so proud! Also, here recently I really like the paper toys for gadgets project. I think those are a nice combination between the fantasy of comic books and the design.

(Christopher): What are your favorite applications to use when you create your digital artwork?

Do you ever feel somewhat limited or find the software dictating as far as how a specific image will turn out, or are you as much at home working with the computer software as you are with, for example, pencil and paper?

(Maurizio): I really like working with vectors, so my gun is the Adobe Illustrator CS4. That I really love, and sometime I work with Photoshop to work on textures. I start always with pencil sketches to focus my idea better. The problem is the nice idea/concept comes to me not always when i’m in the studio but elsewhere. So, I bring with me always a sketchpad to draw it when it comes to my brain :).

(Christopher): I’ve noticed you have a certain liking for the pin-up type feminine imagery such as Betty Page. Would you care to talk about that a bit for us? I find it incredibly refreshing the way in which you
represent women in your artwork. While the mainstream media consistently goes back to the tasteless template of extremely thin body styles to the point of it being a health concern, you prefer to represent the feminine frame with curves and dimension.

Have you always created your artworks featuring women in this way, or did you just find yourself in somewhat of a time period where you found it preferable to create pin-up girls?

(Maurizio): As I told you, my start up was in a little digital Italian TV studio, and there was this television show about a soft core erotic comic girl character called “Superpippa” that explained in funny ways the eroticism to boys and girls. So, I created a lot of pinups for the animation spots and web-comics for the website. So, this for me was nice training! Also, when it came to creation, I was interested to draw funny and sexy girls in my way, and the famous pinup 50’s era Betty Page was the best example I could find! In the time i have also created some experimental styles for creating a style appropriate enough to display manageable curves and dimension and also facial expressions.

(Christopher): This is one of my favorite pieces of art you have created. I suppose some of that is because I love abstract art, whether in part or whole. Would you care to tell us a bit about your inspiration for this creation?

Were there other versions of this piece of art before you settled on this one?

(Maurizio): Yes, she is also one of my favorite pieces and it always looks to me ugly and nice at the same time! You have to know that i am living in the city Livorno , where was born Amedeo Modigliani, the famous Italian painter who was friends with Picasso… So, I looked to him always with huge admiration, and it’s incredible to say I am living really close to his old studio where as a young man he built his “ugly deformed” sculptures!

Beforehand I drew on studying the real human anatomy, and you can see that in some old pieces in my portfolio. I think you can’t search your style if you don’t start studying and looking with attention at the real human forms.

(Christopher): How much time do you generally find yourself spending on each piece of art you create?

(Maurizio): Difficult to say always. It depends on how involved I am with it. I should stay a week or a day for the same kind of commission, but let’s say that 2 or 3 days are an appropriate media time.

(Christopher): Browsing your portfolio, I noticed that you had a bit of web design works you’ve created in the past. While they were aesthetically pleasing and respectable, I also couldn’t help but notice that you
only had a few. I think it was 3 or 4 if I remember correctly. Is this because you’re new to web design, or do you simply just prefer to work with the graphical aspects of design on the web versus the development
process?

(Maurizio): Yes, I’m almost new to Web Design, and I promise to create and display more examples in the portfolio. The web design you have seen are all from commissions, but I need to do something to mine to better show my skill-set. I’m also now studying the Wordpress CMS, and I think this gives great opportunity in the design.

(Christopher): You mentioned that you were first hired for a small digital television company. What was your primary job at this company, and were you allowed to be a bit free with your works, or did you find the
job to be somewhat confining? In other words, were you allowed to do things the way you wanted, or did they want to dicatate to you how things should be done?

(Maurizio): I worked as a creative designer and illustrator, so my duties were to design and create images to accompany the articles of the channel and to assist other graphic guys in animating those pics to create video clips. Of course, my task was to propose themes for these spots. One other example was to interpret the dreams of the visitors. Every dream was interpreted by an expert, and I had to create the image based on it. As said, this experience has given me a great help in improving my technical and creative sensibility.

(Christopher): You also mentioned that some of your paintings have been on exhibition. Would you care to talk about this a bit more?

If so, could you tell us what exhibitions your paintings were featured in and what the general consensus was in terms of the aesthetics of your artwork?

(Maurizio): For a period an art gallery in my city was interested in proposing my graphic art be printed on canvas. A prime example was the “Vespa scooter”..

And then my “Red Haired Girl”…

To make the colors stronger I painted over the canvas, and the final result was really interesting to me, but at the moment these paintings are only trials, and perhaps in the future Iâ€™ll make other exhibitions.

(Christopher): I myself as an artist find myself frustrated mentally and creatively when it comes to the design process. Sometimes life can leave you stressed out and uninspired. What do you do to clear your
head when you become overly stressed out?

(Maurizio): Sports, it always helps me to overcome periods of frustration. I really like racing with my bike. It makes me feel better than ever. Also, I go to see some graphics and art at conventions and exhibitions to inspire me to push ahead during those periods.

(Christopher): Do you have any advice for anyone out there who wants to become involved in the graphic design business, or the web design / development business, but doesn’t know where to start?

(Maurizio): A simple piece of advice is to make a nice portfolio website, and update this frequently with the best creations. Also, contact little companys to get a little opportunity to show your works around.

(Christopher): I noticed that you use Twitter. It seems that now days EVERYONE is using Twitter. How much of an impact has Twitter had on you as a graphic designer and the popularity of your creative works and websites? Where do you see Twitter in the future?

(Maurizio): Honestly, I have only started using Twitter recently, and I use this only to follow other designers and to let others know what I’m working on. I like it because it’s simple and fast. As we know, the simply idea is always the best idea.

(Christopher): Out of everything that you have created, what is your all-time favorite creation?

(Maurizio): My favorite stuff recently are the paper toys. This is because I have great fun to see my design coming to life in a real toy. Now on my desk, I have many of those that are looking at me! I feel like the carpenter when he did his Pinocchio puppet, and I like this feeling!

Again, I’d like to thank Maurizio Russo for taking the time to give me an interview for you guys out there. Maurizio Russo happens to be my favorite graphic designer of all time, and I tend to understand and grasp a lot of the concepts he attempts to convey in his works, so this interview was truly important and special for me.