a chinwag with claudia frittitta

We think you’re going to love the upcoming subscriber-only art card for issue 133!  We had a chat with the Melbourne/Naarm-based illustrator, designer and all-round lovely frankie pal Claudia Frittitta (@claudia.frittitta) about her colourful, creative stuff – yeehaw! 

Tell us about your creative style. My creative style is colourful, texture-driven and playful. Most of the time I work digitally, but I love mixing in and trying to champion real textures from colour pencil, markers and acrylic paint. It’s fun mixing it all up and working across mediums. 

When did you begin making art? I’ve always loved drawing – it's always been my happy place. I drew Tweety Bird with what I thought was pretty good accuracy as a child, and the idea of turning a blank piece of paper into something you want to keep always excited me. The little black plastic suitcase with the markers and little pencils (if you know, you know) was the best thing ever! I was also really into all the colours and shapes of packaging at the supermarket whenever we did a grocery shop. I eventually got into packaging as a graphic designer and now I split my time between designing and drawing, which scratches both creative itches for me. 

How did your artwork (now featured as a frankie card) come to be? I actually created it last year in response to the prompt ‘rope’ for @peachtober which is an annual, month-long community art challenge on Instagram. There’s a prompt a day during the month of October. They’re such a great opportunity to connect with other artists and draw things you might not normally gravitate to (I think this was the first cowgirl I’d ever drawn!). They’re a nice opportunity to try different mediums as well – I was playing with paint last year. I always try to complete every prompt and am sadly yet to do it. Maybe this year! 

Where do you find inspiration and creative motivation? I love the drawing community, the beauty of the everyday and routines, things from my Italian heritage. I find a lot of inspiration in colour – through nature, a funky outfit, movie palettes. I recently watched North by Northwest and To Catch a Thief (Hitchcock marathon!) and was really inspired by the level of saturation and contrast in the colour palette – everything was so vivid! I like going back to artists and designers I admire and looking at their work. There’s a lot to learn from people who have been doing this their whole life – different perspectives broaden your own. Revisiting things that brought me happiness as a child, favourite books, films, etc. Most of the time they still excite me. 

What’s next on your to-create list? My sister and I have created two picture books, My Nonna Loves and My Nonno Loves, about our relationship with our grandparents and our favourite memories with them. We had such a fun time collaborating, so I would love to keep creating picture books with her! Also, a random rogue design wish-list project: I’d love to design a panettone box mainly because I love eating panettone, but also because I love designing anything seasonal, and what’s better than panettone at Christmas?