Alessandro Ripane: Exploring the Drip
Genoa-born artist, Alessandro Ripane, jokes with us about his work, process, and overall kick-ass gig as a professional illustrator.
The dripping, oozing, and disfigured illustrations created by the hand of Alessandro Ripane are encapsulating. The inspiration of comics and superheroes are apparent and reflections of these characters can be noted when viewing the artists whimsical and strange figures. Moreover, the work is familiar: the clothing is intact and detailed hands cradle objects, the subjects appear human-like for a fleeting moment.
Can you tell us a little bit about your background? How did you initially
get into illustration work?
Hi! I started to draw when I was really young. I recently found an old sketch
book from when I was 4, it’s full of animals and dinosaurs eating each
other, some volcanoes on the background, just to make the
dinosaurs feels at home… I mean, isn’t it true that whenever there’s
a picture of a dinosaur there’s a volcano in the background? Then, I did
“art” in high-school with pretty bad results. I didn’t continue with
studies and I kept on drawing a lot, and after a while it became my job. Pretty boring story, eh? I know, I’m still working on a more exciting story for interviews, something with explosions, drama, fast cars, romance,
shootings… But for now it’s just an idea, I’m sorry!
Who are some artists that you look up to? Illustration artists? Comics?
Oh, I don’t know, I see some great stuff every day, and since I’m quite
bad with names, I prefer to be mysterious. Okay, I can just name Erik
Svetoft from Sweden, I truly love his stuff! Honestly, I don’t think I even take so much inspiration from someone in particular. Of course, I’m constantly looking at new things and trying to keep myself updated — it’s my job and I really love it — but probably there are things that subconsciously inspire me more than illustration. Movies, music, or good food. (“Good food?! How can it inspire you?!” — I have no idea!)
You state that animals and superheroes were an initial source of
inspiration — can you expand on this?
When I was really young, my dad usually brought me to the Natural Science
Museum in my hometown, there were stuffed animals everywhere. For
the younger me, it was totally amazing. I forced him to bring me there almost once a week. So I think it started there. For dinosaurs too, same method. I have no idea about superheroes, my dad never brought in any place where I could find stuffed superheroes!
How do you balance commissioned work and your own personal style?
I’m really lucky I guess, because most of the clients that contact me ask
me to work with my style (or still something close to that), so at the
moment I’m pretty pleased about that. But I also like it when I have to reinvent myself on something new. Not long ago, a client asked me to draw a map on Adobe Illustrator. In the beginning, I was so scared. I NEVER drew digitally before. All my works are hand-made and then digitally colored. That program is exactly the opposite of my “working attitude,” but in the end it was really fun!
Can you take us through a day in your studio?
Yes, I can, but is not exactly as you imagine. In my studio, there’s
constantly parties, naked women dancing, a pool with crocodiles in it,
bands playing live from 22.00 to 4.00 every night, free bar, and all nice
and interesting people, you should definitely visit my studio!
Sadly, I’m kidding. During work time, I’m pretty much the opposite of that.
In this period, I mainly work from home, I usually prefer to work in the
afternoon or at night. I really don’t like working in the morning, seems that it is always too short. Yes, I also tried to get up earlier, but nothing, it’s still too short.
What are some upcoming projects that you are working on?
I have several upcoming projects, but for now they should be top secret. For sure I would like to re-print “16 Stories” (a self produced book I made in 2013 with a collection comic short stories, apparently people liked it very much and they still ask me for that). I have several other works to do, some of them are really exciting, some less. I’m really bad at, and I don’t really love, social network, but if you want to follow my updates, you can do it through my Facebook page (just that, I feel it’s still a miracle that I can take care of that page sometimes!).
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