I first “met” Kira Gagliardi through her pages at CGPortfolio, and then I learned that she’s a Web designer as well. I was taken with her digitial artwork, her use of color, and - mostly - with the feelings that she captured in her artwork. I wanted to know more about her, so I asked for an interview.
As she answered my questions, I was amazed at what little training she had and how determined she was to succeed despite this lack of instruction. Even more - I’m truly impressed with her ability to learn on her own, and her intense commitment to building a digital arts community in Adelaide, Australia, her hometown. Like her Cinderella illustration (a portion of that image shown here), Kira seems to take on a fairy-tale-come-true persona as she spells out her past and her future.
Hello Kira – it’s so good to meet you. It’s coming on winter here, but I imagine that you’re starting to warm up in Adelaide, right? Is this your hometown?
Hello Linda, I was born in Adelaide about 23 years ago and still here. We are in spring at the moment and as I am writing this its about 29 degrees outside yesterday. We had some thunder storms and the day before that the temperature got up to 32, so we’re getting ready for a very warm and dry summer (dry because were having a drought… hasn’t been much rain this year).
You’ve been involved with Web design for a little over four years now. How did you begin your career? Did you obtain any formal education in this medium? If so, where did you study?
I sort of fell into web design back in 1999. I saw someone doing graphic design on a computer and using the computer to draw and I thought that was cool. So I went to one of my teachers where we have VET courses (Vocational Educational Training) - which really means courses that get you ready for the work force. You could do these courses to try something out while you were at school. So I went to her and asked about it and in my final year I was put in a multimedia class. That’s where I learned about interface design and websites and I loved it.
My parents couldn’t pay for my TAFE course after I finished school so I worked as a florist for a year and saved. I still had to get my parents to help out and I had to pay them back every penny even bus fares. But, for a year I studied interactive multimedia and it was the best year of my life.
Who are your current clients and what do you do for them?
I actually am a sole trader so I have my own business built around freelance and contract work. Copperwire is a computer service company and I used to sell computers for them (there was only two of us) and I did web stuff on the side, but soon I incorporated it into the business and it became a full time job and the business started to grow as well but more into an on site business consulting rather than retail. Due to some heath issues and the new movement it made sense for me to go out on my own. I still get new and old clients from Copperwire.
What part of the Web design process do you find most enjoyable and why?
Depends on what mood I’m in … lately I really like selling the websites to people. I build a relationship with the person/s first and just really enjoy the interaction. I have my clients come back to me to get their business cards done, photos and a background design for an LCD promotion etc… they trust me and that feels good. My other favorite time is when a client has asked me to do something new that I haven’t tried before, like a new css trick or something different and I have to go and find out how to do it, nothings better than finally understanding how that something is done.
Then a I do a victory song and dance. :-)
It sounds like you really enjoy a challenge! You work with some large companies like Phone Xpress, Advanced Steel, and CopperWire. What do these big names look for in your work?
Most companies just want someone to understand what they really want and then make it happen. I went through about five different designs with Phone Xpress and they didn’t use what I thought was the best one; but they chose what they wanted for the company and I did it. Advanced Steel, well, I half think my looks got me through the door ;). They kept answering the phone with, “so its Adelaide’s best looking web designer,” but I know that if I couldn’t back up what I was selling, then I wouldn’t have gotten the job.
My best advice is to be honest to your prospective client, because it comes across. I had one client pay $1200 more for me to do a website because he believed I would do the job better. Your first question to any company big or small is “What can I do for you?”
I discovered your digital artwork before I realized that you were involved with Web design. I was captivated with your images, especially the woman falling “Into Emotion” (a portion of the image shown above). Can you tell my readers how you “fell” into digital art? Did you have previous art training, and if so could you detail that for us?
I have had no art training other than what I did at high school and that wasn’t really “training.” I had a talent for copying Disney characters when I was younger; kids would bring me a small image of the character and I could blow it up A4/A3 size freehand So, I guess you may say I had a talent. I fell into digital art because I have always been a highly imaginative person. I didn’t draw for a while but I wrote stories for my friends instead. I even turned out a novel for them…
My bedroom door leads me to a thousand worlds I had created in my head. I would play out parts of the story before writing it down. My father thought I would be an author one day when I was in year 9. I loved books and I loved creative writing. Then later, when I got older, I was introduced to computers and my boyfriend at the time was getting into graphic arts. I was gob-smacked… you could draw with the computer!
That movie, Toy Story, came out about the same time, and for a while I thought I was going to get into 3D. But then I got caught up in the simplistic design of web pages and the 2D format and I continually grew in photo manipulation skills. After I mastered the web stuff I was eager to take on another personal project and I became involved with the art community, deviantart.com. I saw the great illustrations and started to turn my manipulation skills to more of a free hand effect.
Then, I followed the links in an artists journal that I admired and those links led me to CGSociety.org (Computer Graphics Society). Since my involvement there, I have grown in leaps and bounds ever since.
Where does the inspiration for your work come from? Myth? Conflict? Other sources?
Most of my art work comes from either an emotional feeling or a story I that I build in my head or both. To me real artwork (and it can be in any medium) is a communication of similarities of emotion or a story between the artist and the viewer. If you don’t have that, there’s no impact and nothing is special. The viewer will only get back from an image what he/she can understand/ relate to and build on that. If I can, as an artist, get them to invoke their own feelings, emotions and stories then I have done my job even if it is for only one other person.
How long do you mull over your ideas before you begin the actual piece?
As long as it takes for me to perfect the story or emotion behind it. This process can take a few days or years. I have images in my head that I have thought up months ago, but I haven’t even started one bit of the physical work. Other times when I want the emotion to be really strong I wait until that emotion overcomes me while I paint, because it’s really interesting how that emotion can effect the image and the colour pallette… it practically dictates it. The only exception was “Cinderella.” She started out as a practice piece and developed her own magical tale while I painted her.
In an explanation about the image, “My Stage,” at CGPortfolio (a small portion of that image shown here), you stated that you were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, and that the pain prohibited you from practicing ballet. While your pain and grief is palpable in that piece, do you also project your feelings into other pieces?
All the time… If I didn’t it wouldn’t be my artwork if it didn’t and I wouldn’t really be following my own philosophy about artwork. Some are more subdued like Cinderella where a story takes over but I used to be caught up in the magic of fairy tales when I was younger and I think that magic feeling I had sort of comes through instead of a general emotion.
How much more of yourself do you put into your digital artwork? It seems that some of the images look like you. Do you use other models? Do you have an idea in mind before you begin working with a model, or does the model sometimes inspire you?
I get inspired by a stock artist on deviantART called Lockstock. I’ll see an image and then it evolves in my head. Other times when I experience a really strong emotion I get an image in my head and then I set about trying to create that image and I use myself as the model. I also I believe because I pour so much of my own thinking and feelings into a piece that it naturally takes on my persona.
I like to use other models when I can, though, because then I can stand behind the camera and capture the image rather than setting the tripod and camera putting on the 10 second timer running around into the image posing and praying it comes out right – although that can be fun. :-)
You use Photoshop to create your artwork. Going to go back to the piece entitled, “My Stage,” how did you create the texture contained in the wall and floor of that piece?
I used the most basic stuff Photoshop offers. The wall was a combination of hard brush, soft brush and a lot of smudging in both brushes and I must have gone over it about 20+ times to get the effect. And now you’re doing to kill me… The floor that turned out so much better than I expected started from the dry brush filter effect over some spackled brush and then I just smudged it through. Easy.
How far do you deviate from the photographic images that you use for your images? Can you tell me how you use those photographs?
I scan them in and then repaint over the top. I don’t deviate much from the photographs because I’m not the best illustrator in the world. But I repaint and go over the entire image with my brush in fine detail. Teaching myself to be an illustrator is slow work.
Tell us about the tools that you use to “draw� and “paint� your illustrations other than Photoshop.
Lately I have been giving Corel Painter a go and will use more of that in the future, because I can get more texture from the brushes. Other than that a computer (AMD) and a Wacom graphics tablet (Intuos3 9×12) is all I need. If anyone is serious about taking the digital art world on they need to be armed with a Wacom or some sort of graphics tablet. In my opinion, Wacom is the best!
How large are your final pieces?
I normally try to paint at 300 dpi but sometimes I forget and curse until I go blue in the face. I have had file sizes with layers etc go up to about 300 MB and images printed A2 size. The image normally dictates how big it’s going to be. I don’t try to constrain it unless there’s a minimum that Ballistic Publishing requires for submissions for their books.
I’m also struck by your use of color in your work, both in your Web designs and in your illustrations. Do you rely on a color wheel to help you work out your color schemes or do you rely on instinct?
No colour wheel for me… just randomly pick it… not the best technique in the world but I have had other influences. In my painting I’m normally consumed by an emotion and that often dictates the colours that I use. And in web design, normally logo colours or a theme or colours the client likes are all already available, and I just mold them into a design. The trickiest was Don Phillips Realty with bright red and sunshine yellow… but I think I pulled it off.
Going off onto another vein here - how did you develop the confidence to place your work into places like Artismurder.com and CGSociety.com for critique and for public show?
Well I had to… if I wanted to grow as an artist. In Adelaide and Australia digital art hasn’t gained a physical forefront and when I was learning, there were no classes available. It was all 3D or photo manipulation of which I already knew. I would have had to enroll in a traditional art class and then re-teach myself on the computer. Bless the day I got the internet and CGSociety.org! Without that, and without looking at and studying other artists’ artwork and their tutorials, I would have had no hope.
As to the physical, some old TAFE teachers and I started digital art courses and we talked John Derry into coming to Adelaide with some Wacom people on a last minute thing. So things are looking up maybe Linda (Enlya) will grace us with her presence next year ;)
I lived in Melbourne for a year, and I was very impressed with the progressive art scene there. Do you feel the same about the arts community in Adelaide, or do you find an online community easier to deal with? Why?
Even though CGSociety.org/Ballistic publishing is based in Adelaide, no one really knows about digital art; so that’s why its easier to live online because that’s where the community is located. Unfortunately there’s a silent battle going on - most people think that digital art is a cheat’s way and traditional art is the proper way. Also the fact that the image is a “print,” or a copy, puts a bad taste in their mouths. However a lot of the younger community are catching on to this new form of art and I hope to help people see the benefits. Its about to hit big but hasn’t quite got there yet.
A piece of yours was recently chosen for publication in Ballistic’s Expose 4: Digital Art in the Know Universe – Why did you decide to enter that competition, and how did you feel when your piece was chosen?
Mum told me you never know if you will win unless you enter. When I submitted my work I didn’t think I had a hope in hell! I lurked the CGSociety galleries and I knew the talent out there, but I remembered mum’s saying and submitted it anyway. You never know unless you try… I mean what was the worst that could happen? I didn’t have anything to lose.
It was a few months after (because I submitted it early in the submission timeframe) and I really didn’t think it made it. I thought ‘ah well maybe next year when I get a bit better.’ Then about two weeks after that I received an email from Mark Snoswell (director of Ballistic) telling me how he loved my image. After he read the story he personally put it into the short list. I was shocked my image made the short list.
I had resigned myself to being more than happy with a short list result, as I’d been practicing for only 2 years. I was mighty proud. But, then three weeks later I received an email stating that the image was going to be in the publication. Well what could I do but scream and jump up and down like I had won the lottery… I was in a bit of disbelief and thought “no way, me?” It wasn’t until I got the proof and then the book that I believed it. I was immensely proud of the image, as I put so much life into it. The image, to me, becomes separated and becomes its own entity.
I still open up the book and touch the page thinking I will awake from a dream but I don’t…and I wish everyone else that is struggling and will try to keep going, because you just never know what will happen.
Where do you plan to take your illustrative talents? Do you plan to enter more competitions, and what do you expect to accomplish with this direction?
I will enter more books and comps that have a subject that appeal to my art form. It’s a great way to get feedback. And the books…well it gets in you to get this great achievement to hold on to it forever. I like doing my work as a hobby and because I am such an emotional or story-driven artist, the only thing I ever hope to gain is to do book covers (novels etc). That would be cool, although I would request that I read the book first (I like reading). I don’t think I have the talent or the capability to do movie concept matte paintings, but maybe one day…you never know. I always keep my options open and just enjoy walking and whistling my way through life for now
Who are your favorite illustrators and why do you admire them?
Linda Bergkvist - such beautiful images and she always has some story behind them. She’s been a major inspiration and I love the fact you can look real close and see brush strokes in the detail. Marta Dahlig - I’m envious of the dresses she draws. She’s the master at fabric folds. Dehong. He does beautiful painterly effects. Gary Tonge - amazing sense of depth and light perception. Kuang Hong - I love the colour palettes he chooses.
If you had no concerns about money or time, what would you do with your life and why?
I would spend more time practicing illustration and helping others to get started. I would really love to hold a huge Australian expo and - who knows - that dream might just come true with the people I have met recently. I would write a book and illustrate for other authors if I could and just enjoy life and try to give others the same joy. I’m a simple pleasured girl - simple things please me, and I like to help others too.
Kira - thank you for this interview! It’s so invigorating to hear someone who is so enthusiastic about her work and who wants to share so much - let us know about your progress!
