Art Lessons: Claudia Varosio

Earlier this week, I was on Etsy looking for some new Audrey Hepburn art to add to my collection. I happened to stumble upon Claudia Varosio's amazing shop and instantly fell in love. Claudia is a self-taught illustrator who creates book and movie posters,as well as amazing paper dolls. Her unique spin on these posters is completely original and inspired by pop culture and various elements of each movie. Claudia uses line and color in a way that brings each poster to life. Although many of the figures have minimal facial features, each one is expressive and jumps off the paper. Claudia was nice enough to allow me to interview her. Read on for my conversation with the London-based artist.

Etsy showcases many sellers on their blog with the "Quit your day job” feature. Do you have a day job or is illustrating a full time gig for you?

I do have a day job, so my Etsy shop is currently a part time gig.

Did you go to school for illustration? If so where?

Nope, I am mostly self-taught, though I would have loved to go to a school for illustration.

 What was the first movie poster you made?

It was for the film The Time Traveler's Wife, quite a few months before it came out: I had read the book, loved it and was very exited about the film. Ironically I have not seen it yet!

What is your favorite movie?
Ahh that is tricky... It changes all the time, but at the moment I would say Chinatown.

How do you get the ideas for your posters? What is your inspiration?Watching the film and trying to find a key image is what tends to work best for me... And then, what comes next is to try and make that particular subject as esthetically pleasing as I can. Visually, I would say that my main references are the vintage poster from the beginning of last century onwards, and 'graphic novels'.

I love the subjects you chose for your paper dolls. To me, they seem to be very stylish characters - some of them even icons. Did you pick them for any specific reasons?Thank you! I tend to pick either actors or characters from movies who have a strong charisma- as well as an interesting wardrobe!

Many artists now create across multiple media - photography, painting, sculpture, video. Do you work in any other media?

Not at the moment, but sculpture is certainly the most appealing of the media you mention, and in the past I have enjoyed doing it, so who knows, I may go back to it one day.

Have you ever shown your work to movie studios or book publishers?

2 of my images (Taxi Driver and the Dude paperdoll) are to be published in a couple of books about cinema, in the near future, but I have not approached neither publishers nor movie studios yet...

How would you like to see your business develop in the next few years?I would be happy to carry on doing what I am doing, enjoying it as much as I enjoy it now.

Which movies are you excited for in 2012?

On the Road and the Great Gatsby, I would say, as I love both books and am really curious to see how they have come out.

Make sure you head over to Claudia's shop and check out her amazing work. Tell her Tara from Life is Beautyfull sent you!!!

Friday Five

1. National Princess Week: This week marked National Princess Week - a collaboration between Disney, Target and Julie Andrews that aims to get every girl (young and old) to celebrate the "sparkle and wonder of every princess - real or imagined." From April 22 - 28, Target is celebrating Princess week with special edition toys, books and videos. There are many ways to celebrate National Princess Week - I myself will be participating in Leslie of DisneyBound's Princess challenge. learn about it here. You still have a few days left to participate.

2. DV by Dolce Vita Damala Tassel Loafer:  The shoes are amazing. I wore them this week and got about 50 compliments. A woman on the street even stopped me to take a photo of them and ask where to buy them. I love the different elements of this shoe - the nautical rope pattern, the black white and brown color combo and the tassel on the front. These shoes are not as structured as a traditional loafer and remind me more of ballet flats. When the weather gets warmer, they will go great with shorts and sundresses. Buy them here.

3. DEESIGNS by Dee Ocleppo: Dee Ocleppo, also known as Mrs. Tommy Hilfiger, has designed a very interesting and possibly game changing line of handbags. There are four styles of bags, each of which comes with a removable and reversible cover to give the wearer various styling options. You can change from leather to canvas, floral to plain. I like the Monaco tote bag best. It looks large enough to carry my regular bag contents plus some school stuff. The bags and additional covers are sold exclusively through HSN.

4. No Other Medicine : Last night, I attended the opening party for the F.I.T Art Market graduating class's exhibit, No Other Medicine. I am proud to be part of this F.I.T. graduate program, which is the only one that includes an exhibit practicum, and I was proud to support the graduating class. The class found the space, the artists and picked a theme for the exhibit. In addition, they created a website and catalog, along with any other materials a gallery would produce for a show. The exhibit deals with hope, as well as the problems we are faced with in life and how we deal with them. The show runs through May 19.

                                       

5. Smash Journals: Smash journals are made by K&Company and they are amazing! Scrap booking has come a long way. People are not scrapping or journaling on the fly - it has become very rigid and more about perfection than expression. Smash is bringing the expression back to journaling and scrapping. Each journal comes with a pen/glue stick combo that is attached to your journal. There are pages to doodle, draw, write, and glue down your mementos. There are folders to stuff and accessories such as rubber bands, date stamps and top ten lists. I bought the large and travel size and I am so happy with them. Three days and I have already done so much. The pages have colorful graphics that inspire your creativity and give you ideas. See some examples here.