Natalia Pierandrei
Natalia Pierandrei was born in the late of seventies, in Jesi, in the central part of Italy, and she grew up in Fabriano. One of her earliest memories is of her mother teaching her how to draw small daisies. When she was just a little girl, she would sit and look at her parents’ voluminous and mysterious art books. In these books she found drama, strange landscapes, and even weirder structures, and it seemed only natural for her to start copying the paintings of the old masters or sketch the characters described in the children books and comics she read.
Her father kept her interested in comics and sci-fi movies, and her mother gave her the first basic knowledge about art and literature. She never played a lot with dolls! When she was nine she used to make up tales full of adventures and mysterious places and then draw them in school notebooks. She was also a Jules Verne’s enthusiast; for years, she thought she might have become a test pilot or a sailor, or an astronaut, or, of course, a cartoonist!
She spent her high school years drawing stupid comic images to amuse her friends: her specialty was to parody famous cartoons or novels. All through that time, though, she continued her great interest in drawing, but she didn’t take any art lessons. Even now, all her learning has come through teaching herself and learning by experience.
By the time she graduated, she knew she wanted to study those cultures and traditions of other countries she read in her childhood books. So, she moved to Venice where she worked on her bachelor’s degree in East Asian Languages and Cultures. During this period she traveled all around Europe and the Orient. All her observations have been food for her imaginative mind and for drawing. As a typical Gemini, she’s a curious person, attracted to anything new and unusual. A couple of years ago, after completing her degree, while she was looking for a job, prompted by her friends she built a website and put it on the Net. Despite its basic simplicity, in some ways, it has changed her life. The site offers her many possibilities to meet other artists all around the world and to gain skills by exchanging ideas and opinions.
A mixture of the conciseness of Japanese art with the pleasure in the ornamentation of Art Nouveau and 16th century Italian painting characterizes her drawing. European and Japanese comic styles are a big influence in her art, too; and even though she prefers working on Gothic imagery the most, her major successes commercially have been oriented around fantasy and fairies. She’s always walking the edge between reality and fantasy, experimenting with different tools while trying to express her ideas. Chiefly, the technique she uses is a mix of markers (Tria ones by Letraset and Comic Twins by Maxon), Karismacolors colored pencils and Stabilo soft pastels. Outlines are done with technical pens and, occasionally, negro pencils. She also uses watercolors to accentuate certain aspects of a drawing.
Although she hasn’t any courses in graphic design or art to her credit, art is something that has been with her throughout her life, and she hopes someday it can be not just a hobby, but also a “real” job. So, she thinks this CD-Rom should be a great opportunity for her!
Publications and works:
Spring 2002- Images of fairies for the site www.cristinamay.com
Spring 2003- Art exhibition at Cafe Paradiso, Trequanda, Tuscany, Italy
Autumn 2003- The Art of Fairy Art Book, by Chrysalis Books
