Bored Panda got in touch with Melgrati to discover more about his creative process and personal journey. Before diving into questions, we asked the artist to share a bit about his background as an illustrator and what inspired him to pursue this path.
"I've had a passion for drawing since childhood," the illustrator shared. "I find that drawing is one of the best tools to explore the world and learn about things. Later on, as I grew up, I attended art school, and it was natural for me to seek a job that would allow me to make a living from it. It turns out that being an illustrator was the best way to achieve that. It wasn't really an easy journey, especially at the start. Working as a freelancer is always a challenge, particularly in the art field. You always have to keep up and remain competitive all the time, but I guess that's what makes it exciting."
Melgrati mentioned that when he collaborates with clients such as magazines or advertising agencies, he always works alongside an art director. Here's what he said about his artistic process: "Usually, the ad shares with me a brief outlining the main requirements and the concept they want me to express. Once I receive the concept, I elaborate on sketches and ideas that could effectively represent the concept and message that the client needs.
The sketch phase is perhaps the most essential; it's all about finding the right idea concept and laying it out in the most effective way. Typically, I make the very first sketches on paper in a sketchbook that I use for notes and drawings; sometimes, I even directly sketch on my tablet PC. I usually create 3 or 4 different ideas expressed in quick sketches and forward them to the ad. Once the ad chooses the one they prefer, I move through to the final stage.
When I work on my personal pieces, I simply follow what inspiration tells me. It could be anything that I have in mind or something that I find particularly interesting at the moment."
Melgrati's illustrations often address social and cultural issues, so we asked the artist what drives him to explore these topics through his art. He said it's because he began drawing for newspapers and magazines that talk about current issues. Plus, he just really enjoys drawing and learning about these topics.
"My personal artwork also tends to be concerned with social and contemporary issues; it's just something that really interests me. I'm quite worried, for example, about how technology impacts human social relations, and recently, the amazing and fast development of AI. I'm sure you are aware of the latest improvements of AI in the field of art and animation. It's kind of exciting and creepy at the same time. We all thought that one day machines would free humanity from annoying and tiring jobs, but it seems they are going to take over our most human activity, such as art."
When Melgrati works on commission, his illustrations are mostly digital. The artist shared that the deadlines tend to be short, requiring a technique that allows for fast changes. "Most of the time, the client and the ad require different variants that would be impossible to achieve with traditional painting. Plus, most of the time, the artwork could later be used for animation or website usage, so digital is the best way," he said.
"For my digital work, I use Photoshop on a digital screen tablet and pen; more seldom, I use Corel Painter. I also do some handmade paintings in my free time, for personal artworks or exhibitions. Occasionally, I receive commissions that require traditional media painting, such as oil and acrylics. I feel that in the future, with all the AI illustration programs, traditional paintings could become more relevant and unique."
Right now, Melgrati is working on a canvas measuring 3 meters by 2 meters for a Greek restaurant. He opened up that it's been a while since he worked on such a large handmade piece like this. "My favorite technique is oil color, but it requires a longer drying time... and time is something that sadly is not always available nowadays. I recently started using gouache again; it's really cool. Sometimes I make little fast sketches in gouache to jot down ideas. I love the fact that the colors dry super fast but could be reactivated with a little bit of water; those two things combined make it a highly ideal technique to quickly sketch something that's in your head."
