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This is our twelfth Creative Capsule. This month, we invite you to meet Giordano Poloni who lives in Milan and has a Bachelor's degree in cinema. Famous magazines and various customers use his style. He creates digital works that recall his Italian origins. Discover the advantage through our Creative Capsule which he took care to answer. Good meeting!

Describe your creative lab in a few words?
A desk full of paper and some inspiring books surrounding my laptop.

In two sentences, how would you describe your work technique?
I always work using digital software and Cintiq, I also draw sketches digitally as well, but it’s just matter of habits, I found it a quicker method. I’d really like to draw with pencils and other stuff on paper, maybe one day… Working on projects I can say that at first, I let flow some random images in my mind, without rational process, until I find a subject that affect me. Then I start drawing immediately the main subject with colors, changing them in progress until I’ve found the perfect combination.

What is the project of which you are most proud of?
The children’s book “C’est toi mon papa?” (“Are you my daddy?”) is my favorite project so far. I’m really proud of it, I had great freedom creating all the illustrations, I had seen my imagination explode on them. I also won a Gold medal and another couple of competitions with this book so it has widely recognized.

What are your favourite colors to create?
I didn’t have a clear idea about this aspect of my work until I saw a bunch of my illustrations put together and I found that the colors I use the most are the primary ones: green, blue and red. This is funny.

Why did you become an artist?
I started reading comics when I was four, since it’s my great passion. I didn’t do anything until, at the and of my twenties, one night I saw the interview of Emiliano Ponzi in an Italian newspaper. Something exploded into my mind and at that moment, I figured out what I wanted to do. It’s the most important means of self-expression and it makes me feel better to create new colorful worlds. 

In four words, how would you describe your style of illustration?
Narrative, surreal, melancholic and colorful.

What is the project of your dreams?
I’m really far from where I am aiming right now, but I’d really love to illustrate a ghost story.

What does a typical day in the life of Giordano Poloni?
I wake up to feed my cats and have a breakfast. Then I take a bus to go to my office that I share with some friends.  I quickly look at the news and then I start answering emails and working on my projects (at the moment I’m on three books and a bunch of covers and editorials) while listening to some music and having funny conversations. During the afternoon, I keep working until 6pm then I sometimes can have a predinner drink with friends or my fiancée. I could be also having a funny night in some bars or clubs, if not I come back home to rest and watch a movie.

What inspires you?
I recognize that I’ve got a vintage touch and I really love the American imaginary of the forties and fifties. My favourite painter is Edward Hopper, his use of light is astonishing, I’m studying it and everytime I try to integrate it on my artworks but I also try to use colors in a surrealistic and expressionistic way for a more playful mood. Other two painters that I really love are Francis Bacon and David Hockney.

What is your favourite website?
I’m currently studying to improve my skills about character design and I found a great Facebook page called Character design references, it’s an amazing source of inspiration.