Illustrator Profile - Gaby D'Alessandro: "I search for inspiration in the beauty of nature"
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MY LIFE:
I’m originally from the Dominican Republic, but I currently live in Brooklyn, NY.
I was very fortunate to grow up in a very supportive environment, surrounded by multiple creative role models in my family. When I was a kid I would draw, write silly poems, and record fake radio shows with my cousin, Laura, who is now a photographer and makeup artist. One time our aunt, Gina, who was a singer in the 80s, allowed us to paint all over the walls and furniture of her bedroom with her. I was very influenced by them as well as by my mom, a decorator whose taste I’ve always admired.
After graduating from high school, I began studying graphic design, but I knew what I truly wanted to do was illustration. The best place to pursue this dream in my country was The Altos the Chavón School of Design. Unfortunately my parents had a hard time getting behind the idea of me going to school in another town and living on campus, something that rarely happens in the Dominican Republic. I finally convinced them in 2006 and two years later I received a scholarship to complete my studies at Parsons the New School for Design, where I obtained a BFA in Illustration.
I started interning at the illustration agency Morgan Gaynin Inc., while I was still a student at Parsons and was hired to work full time after I graduated. My bosses Vicki Morgan (who retired a couple of years ago) and Gail Gaynin have been great mentors to me. For the first few years after college I worked mostly on personal projects as I built a stronger portfolio and they were instrumental in guiding me during that time. They always told me I should be creating the kind of work I wanted to be hired to produce. After setting out to do that I began to get professional assignments more often and I’ve been working more steadily for the past two years. I continue to work at MGI as their tech lady and now they also represent me as an illustrator.
MY WORKSPACE:
I currently work in my apartment in Bushwick. I moved in recently, so it’s still a work in progress. I'm happy
anywhere as long as the space is comfortable and organized and I can listen to podcasts while I work.
HOW I MAKE MY ILLUSTRATIONS:
I work almost exclusively in Photoshop
with a Wacom tablet. My files often have hundreds of layers organized in folders and subfolders. It can be a bit excessive, but I like having the option to make changes easily. I also use acrylics,
gouache and ink from time to time, for personal and gallery pieces.
MY FIRST BIG BREAK:
I worked on an assignment
for Nautilus, with Len Small, which has opened many
doors for me. Soon after it was published, I got several editorial jobs from art directors who saw my work in the magazine. I also received a request to display one of the two illustrations I created
for Nautilus at the Botanical Garden of Padua, in Italy and they commissioned five additional portraits of other scientists for their
Biodiversity Garden. I’m tremendously grateful to my boss and agent, Gail for recommending my work to Len, and to Len, of course, for having the vision to assign this project to me when I was
just starting out.
MY INFLUENCES:
It might sound really obvious, but I'm influenced by the people in my daily life who, through their example, constantly drive me to try
to become a better human and by my experiences in general. Moving to New York City, for example, has had a deep and unexpected influence in my work. Soon after arriving my drawings started filling up
with nature symbolism. In the Dominican Republic, I spent a lot of time at the beach and mountains with my family and I think I took that connection to nature for granted until it was no longer part
of my everyday life. I guess I compensated by bringing nature into my illustrations.
MY MOST ADMIRED CREATIVE PERSON:
It’s difficult for me to choose just one
person, since my attention is always shifting and I’ve never been one to faithfully follow and obsess over one particular artist’s career. Right now, Lena Dunham is on my mind. I admire her work ethic, envy her eloquence and identify with her vulnerability. I also really enjoy her sense of humor
and loved listening to her podcast miniseries, Women of the Hour.
MY CREATIVE INSPIRATION:
I’m sure everything around me inspires
me whether I’m aware or not, but when I’m actively looking for inspiration, I search for it in the beauty of nature, human emotions, and the work of other artists (writers, musicians,
comedians, photographers... not just illustrators). One of the first things I do when I start an assignment is create a folder, which I fill with references that I’ll often look at as I try to
come up with ideas.
THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE OF WORKING ALONE:
I frequently get stuck reworking insignificant details nobody else would notice. It’s great to have a
second opinion to help me make quick decisions, especially after working on the same image for too long and losing objectivity.
A MEMORABLE ASSIGNMENT FROM THE PAST YEAR:
I really enjoyed working with Kevin Fisher on the Illustrated Aviary feature of
Audubon magazine, for which I had to reimagine one of John James Audubon’s paintings from the Birds of America series. I loved this assignment because the only requirement was to
use Audubon’s beautiful image as a point of departure, so I had a lot freedom. Also, this project came at a time when I was working on a series of drawings for a group exhibition in the
Dominican Republic, titled “Pájaro,” which means bird in Spanish. This illustration felt like a continuation of the series of drawings I had been working on for the exhibition and
when the curator saw it he asked if we could include it in the show, which we did.
DREAM ASSIGNMENT:
Some of my dream assignments would be to do surface design,
illustrate children’s books, collaborate with fashion brands, and create large-scale installations.
MY FAVORITE ART DIRECTOR:
I’ve learned valuable lessons from
everyone I’ve worked with, but I particularly enjoy collaborating with art directors who have a clear vision of why they’ve chosen me for an assignment, while giving me the freedom to
experiment in order to find a solution that feels personal and tackles the problem in a distinctive way. That was definitely the case when I worked with Kevin Fisher and Len Small and more recently with art directors such as Margot Grisar at
Tufts Magazine and Pam Li at Johns Hopkins Health Review.
SOME OF MY FAVORITE
ILLUSTRATORS:
Working at Morgan Gaynin has given me the opportunity to study the work of great artists, while also getting to
know many of them as individuals and become familiar with their process. I have tremendous admiration for each and every one of them.
Some other illustrators I admire are Yuko Shimizu, Marion Fayolle, Christoph Niemann, Olimpia Zagnoli, Angie
Wang, Kevin Jay Stanton, whom I collaborated with on a zine last year and is always
finding ways to reinvent his work, and Katie Turner, whom I’ve looked up to since we were both students at Parsons and has continued to do
great things like launching her own stationery and paper goods shop.
OTHER WORK:
This past year I’ve had the
opportunity to work on several projects outside of editorial, including concept art drawings for the set design of a children’s television show in the Dominican Republic and a series of
illustrations for Panera Bread’s social media. I also worked on a few images for the American Museum of Natural History and on the poster for
a short film titled Guao.
HOW I STAY CURRENT:
My career is very young, so
I feel I'm still inventing myself for the first time, but I think working on personal projects is always a good way to come up with new ideas that can be incorporated into commercial assignments.
HOW I PROMOTE MYSELF:
Promoting myself
is not my strong suit, but luckily my reps at Morgan Gaynin are wonderful at sending out emails and recommending my work to clients and I think simply being on their website has been a great way of getting noticed. We also send out postcards from time to time and advertise in the Workbook
and Directory of Illustration. In addition to this, I try to enter as many contests as I can each year.
ADVICE FOR SOMEONE STARTING OUT:
Be very persistent and
don’t let the disappointment of not being as good as you’d like to stop you. I've heard this a lot, but I truly believe it's not necessarily the most talented who succeed, but those who
work the hardest. Also, don’t be afraid of change. Sometimes we fixate on having a signature look or style, but what we create should be a reflection of who we are, and just as we evolve our
work should too.
See more Gaby D’Alessandro illustrations, new work, and updates:
Gaby D'Alessandro website
Tumblr
Instagram: @gabydalessandro
Morgan Gaynin (rep)