Sofia Paravicini - ADD Official

ADD | Sofia Paravicini

add meets Sofia Paravicini: young Milanese illustrator of books, magazines and newspapers.

add: Have you always wanted to be an illustrator? What made you lean towards art?

S: Drawing is a passion that I have had since childhood. Growing up, I thought I could apply it to architecture, but during an experience in a studio in San Francisco I realized that the whole part of the construction processes was not for me. My world was drawing. So I chose to graduate in painting and art history in London and to specialize in editorial illustration here in Milan. After about a year of hard work and a few "no", the first satisfactions and the proposal to illustrate a book arrived. And now here I am.

add: Among the various types of work you carry out, which one do you prefer?

S: The covers of the novels. Like a coat wraps and protects the wearer, telling a taste before even discovering what’s under it, the cover of a book preserves the ending of a story, but at the same time it must guarantee a direct message about its content and nuances. That leaves room for interpretation to the reader. For example, I prefer to read only a few pages of the book before illustrating the cover, to avoid revealing too much and at the same time leaving room for the perception of subjective scenarios.

add: Have you ever created an illustration and recognized it as part of you?

S: To tell the truth, in every illustration I have to find myself, every drawing must represent my vision, obviously always taking into account the client's requests. On the other hand, he doesn't leave my studio [ed: laughs].

add: What are the elements that make your works your personal expression?

S: Beyond the color choices, which see a clear prevalence of desaturated tones and a preference for sage green, in my works I always insert colored spheres and insects, which I like to hide inside the image, like a signature. I also enjoy using out-of-context elements in the illustrations, which are a springboard for the reader's imagination, so that he can experience alternative stories through illustration.

add: One of the values of the add brand is lightness. How do you bring it into your works?

S: My works are handmade, to preserve the lightness and details of the pencil; only later do I scan the drawing in order to insert the color digitally. This process leaves room for small details, such as rubber crumbs or an involuntary nuance given by the pressure of the hand on the sheet, which make the image "lighter" and at the same time warmer.

add: What is Milan for you? What other cities do you imagine living in?

S: Milan is certainly home, as well as being a reference point for art and design. For me it also represented a fundamental step in my career as an illustrator. In fact, it is here that I was able to specialize in editorial illustration and it is always here that I received my first professional satisfactions.

If I have to imagine myself in another city, I would say Buenos Aires: I am curious about the possibility of living an experience in one of the artist residences in the Argentine capital.

add: Your dream future project?

S: I would like to experiment with new techniques and carry out my exhibition project, which I have been working on for some time: a surrealist natural history museum, in which the classic tables of botany or anatomy of flora and fauna undergo an imaginative mix. For example, looking at a cauliflower, you might notice how a sheep could come out, just as a rooster could be born from a flower.