Itâs time for our next Featured Student! For December we are featuring:
Laura Alderson
Instagram: @lauraintorino
Below is an awesome Q&A that SVS Producer, David Braud, conducted with Laura.
Laura and I both went to art school at the University of Georgia, weâve both lived in NYC, but she managed to escape to Italy while Iâm stuck here in Tennessee. Always great to meet a fellow UGA Bulldog and I think you guys will really enjoy getting to know Laura and her work a bit more.
Hi Laura! Could you share a little bit about yourself?
Something unusual about me is that I have lived in three very different places: One is the American south where I was born. I was one of those kids who hid books under my desk in class and bumped into doors while reading. Being labeled as eccentric in the American south can make you self-conscious, but it can also leave you quite determined.
My second long-term home was Manhattan, where my husband and I lived for 14 years and where my daughter mostly grew up. Sometimes I had a love/hate relationship with the city, but New York really enriched our understanding of the world. Do you realize just how many films and childrenâs books are set in Manhattan?! I didnât realize how many until I got there and started recognizing images I had grown up with. New York remains an important influence.
My home for the last ten years has been Torino (Turin), Italy. Our familyâs transition to a very different culture and language was hard for many reasons, but I now I feel at home here. And Italy is ultimately the reason I rediscovered book illustration!
The fact that I am not young anymore gives me a sense of urgency in my work, but I hope that having had adventures along the way will ultimately make it more interesting.
What are some of your favorite foods, films or things to do?
I love going out with friends, taking day trips to see nearby castles and abbeys, hiking in the mountains, walking around the city and observing details, volunteering at a local soup kitchen, and I love finally having a full second language.
My favorite film isnât a cinematic masterpiece, but an Italian comedy from the â90s, Pane e tulipani (Bread and Tulips). Itâs about a klutzy housewife who winds up in Venice almost by accident, makes some quirky friends, and learns to enjoy life. I probably see some of myself in Rosalba, but mostly the film just makes me smile!
Tell us about your journey as an artist.
Like many illustrators, I have drawn ever since I can remember. I even began college with the idea of being a childrenâs book illustrator in mind, but didnât really find much support and so bounced around doing different things for a long time. My parents didnât want to send me to art school, so I found the best compromise I could at the University of Georgia. Since UGA didnât have an illustration program, I studied abstract/conceptual/postmodern painting, but I didnât know how to make a sustainable life out of it after graduation. So I added a second major, worked as an interior designer for a while to earn a living, and then it occurred to me that I could do oil portraits, because I liked figure painting and besides, portraits are already sold! After about about five years, I had started growing a nice clientele, but then my husband and I left the Atlanta area, where portrait painting was a strong tradition, and moved to NYC, where the nanny would have made as much as I did. So I quit painting for years and just concentrated on family life. To get out of our small apartment, though, my daughter and I would go to the Metropolitan Museum and pretend we lived in the period rooms, so I never stopped thinking about art.
Years later I found myself in Italy. After my daughter went to school, I started looking around for a way to restart my art career. I quickly realized, however, that portraiture wasnât going to be at all practical from overseas. An offer to illustrate a self-published book (which I didnât take in the end) not only got me thinking that digital illustration was a good way to work from a distance, but it made me remember how much joy books had brought me as a child. As I was getting started, I stumbled across Will Terryâs YouTube channel and discovered SVS Learn. It has taken a while to shift my skills and build new ones, and I have gone through several âAre you crazy?â stages, but gradual improvement keeps me at it. Illustrating childrenâs books is such a multi-faceted challenge! In many ways itâs like being a director. My daughter and son-in-law make films, so we talk about the similarities.
Tell us about your artistic style - how it has evolved and where do you see it going?
It took me a long time figure out a style, and itâs still morphing. For starters, my taste in book illustration has always been extremely varied. But since I was used to painting realistically in oils to do portraiture, naturally my first pieces came out very rendered. A sort of linear, though still relatively realistic, style followed. Lately, though, I have been pushing hard on the story telling (thanks, SVS!) and at the same time my work is becoming more spontaneous. I do love observation, though, so I will probably retain at least some level of realism. The real world is so varied and interesting! And lately I have started to work on whole stories and book dummies as well.
Do you have any stories of people encouraging you in your art-making?
My middle school librarian, who was also a cousin, really encouraged my interests. She used to give my sister and me autographed childrenâs books every year, and she also made a deal with the gym teacher in which I could sometimes skip gym class to copy book covers as posters for the library (things were still very analogue back then). It wasnât bad training and I got to avoid being hit with the ball as well.
I donât have a local art community in Italy at the moment, but I have a nice critique group, and that helps a lot. I also seek out live classes, portfolio reviews and mentorships. I figure they are always a worthwhile investment, because I always see a jump in my ability when I get professional feedback.
Also, I keep thinking about Will saying it takes ten years to become an illustrator. As much as I would like to speed that along, at least I have a realistic idea. I really do appreciate all the good business ideas on the site and podcast.
How would you encourage others in their art-making?
I would say that when you are starting out, it can be encouraging to compare your present work to your past work. You will realize you are getting better and that helps to keep you from getting too discouraged. There will be days when you just think you are wasting your time. Your job really is just to create a whole lot of art and donât worry if itâs bad at first, or even for a long time, as long as you are working actively on your skills. This is what the SVS guys say, and I have seen how true it is.
I still havenât published a book yet, but a few years ago it wouldnât even have been a realistic possibility. Now it is, and daily practice and learning, and asking for honest feedback, have made the difference.
Laura, weâd love to see some pieces youâve been working on. What do you have for us?
âThatâs enough, pigeons!": This is one of the most recent pieces. It was inspired by an American-Italian family on my street who recently opened a bagel shop. The New Yorker in me was delighted to find a good source of bagels, but I also generally love street life and new friends, and since all the windows in my apartment are also doors, brazen pigeons keep walking right into my kitchen! This piece is black and white because I did it for Inktober (sort of), but Iâm in the process of adding color to it.
Artwork by Laura Alderson
Edmund meets the White Witch: I did three illustrations from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe last year because I loved the books as a child. Amusingly, one of them got picked up and shared extensively by Portuguese-speaking Narnia fans, and also a non-profit recently bought one to use as a thank you gift for one of their mentors. I like this one because itâs so dramatic. There are two more on my website.
Artwork by Laura Alderson
At the Beaverâs House: This is another of the Narnia pieces. It depicts the moment in which Edmund decides to betray the others by going to the White Witch. Mr. Beaver is getting excited about Aslan, so I tried to make the others look realistically distracted. And the former interior designer in me had fun planning the house so that I could draw it from different angles as necessary.
Artwork by Laura Alderson
Roadtrip Rules: This was from Childhood Week a couple of years ago. It was the first week-long social media event I participated in and it really upped the ante for me. All the pieces were based on real memories, but this was my favorite because itâs such a classic vacation moment. I think you can guess which sister I am.
Artwork by Laura Alderson
When Dante Met Beatrice: Dante is as known in the Italian world as Shakespeare is in the English world, and while I canât say Iâve gotten through the entire Divina Commedia, I have really enjoyed learning all about it during his 700th anniversary celebration this year. I like how Dante took a heartbreaking situation and made something beautiful out of it. Also, I like researching all things medieval. Even the flowers in this piece have symbolic meaning. The scene is the May Day party at which the two allegedly first met when they were children.
Artwork by Laura Alderson
This illustration is from the Childrenâs Book Pro course. I chose Hansel and Gretel as my tale and am now doing the book dummy. The scene is from the moment just before Gretel pushes the witch into the oven, in which she is transitioning from terrified to courageous. I was struck by how dark the tale is and decided to let that show. I read that Hansel and Gretel originated in the medieval Black Forest, so I set it there instead of the usual 19th century. The witch is part owl.
Laura, thank you for sharing your story with us. Itâs wonderful to hear about your journey as an artist and we wish you the best as you continue on this path!
Featured students are selected from our amazing group of members! Want a chance to improve your illustration skills? Become an SVSLearn member today for 30 days with our free trial and take the next step on your journey to becoming a working illustrator.