…Bigio
Hello Bigio, how are you?
Fine, thanks. Glad to be guested here.
Our pleasure! Can you introduce yourself to our readers?
I’m no good with such things… Well I’m an “author” in a very wide meaning of this word. I spend my time writing, drawing, creating roleplaying games, making photos. To share with others my own personal vision of the world is definitely all I need to be satisfied of my life, and since I realized it, I can’t stop creating. Sometimes it happens that one of my activities turns into something profitable, that’s fantastic and helps a lot in paying bills, but I’m still too dazed to think ahead.
Do you think Italy is an interesting place for creatives like you?
Eheh… It’s “interesting” for sure, not in the positive way though. I’d rather not enter certain topics, they would take too much time. According to my point of view, being a “creative” (as you named me) allows you to take a different route: everything you need to do is to create and then show what you’ve created. Internet in this case is a good way to get visibility and acclaim. It might take some time to be noticed, so my advice is: don’t get worried.
Did you study in any art school?
When I was 16, I’ve taken private lessons from a master author in Italian graphic novels: Alessandro Chiarolla. Two years. This is the whole school of Art I frequented.
Can you tell us anything about your working method?
Speaking about Drizzit comics, I use to write down an essential screenplay, from time to time, for a dozen of strips, and then I step on drawing them. Obviously I keep in mind where the story is ending. Recently (two years ago, just before starting with Drizzit), I’ve bought a graphic tablet. Now I draw directly in digital format saving a lot of time. Comics strips require a low levels of details and it can take just 1h to create a Drizzit strip, although on the other side illustrations are more complex and can take me even half a day. By the way, I’m not that good and I think my secret is to obtain decent results in short time. To spend many hours on a single work bores me terribly.
You’re definitely passionate about D&D. What can you tell us about this passion? How did it come up?
Well… I was 12 when I played my first RPG and since then, I’ve never stopped. I’m not passionate about D&D, I’m passionate about creating fantastic stories, and roleplaying games give me the opportunity to do it and have fun.
When and how did Drizzit come up?
The main idea has come visiting Drizzt Do’Urden fanpages on the internet: I discovered that 50% of its fans don’t know the character’s name, or can’t write it down correctly. Just go and check. I had also read myself six or seven of R.A. Salvatore’s books, and although I must say I didn’t appreciate them terribly, I immediately thought the Drizzt character would result great in a parody. Just the character, not the whole story. Maybe you already noticed it, Drizzit’s main characters are inspired to R.A. Salvatore’s works (and not that much, except for Drizzit itself), the story otherwise is 90% original and has nothing to spare with the books, so we can say Drizzit is not exactly a “parody” but just a comic “ispired to”.
I see. Can you tell us how do you develop Drizzit adventures?
Eheh… I don’t know exactly… I feel I’ve something to tell, so I write it down. Inspirations could come from everywhere and everything around me… a good film, a recent photo, arguing about nerd’s topics with my friends, reading a slogan on a wall. As I’ve been saying, I keep in mind where the story should end, and I go on writing a little bit of screenplay from time to time.
What advices would you give to a illustrator that wants to develop a webcomic?
Someone said: “an artist value is equal to the number of things he would like to say to the world”. I really think the only fuel for an artist is the need to share his viewpoint about things. So, my advice is to find the better way to express yourself and don’t give up.
Would you like to publish Drizzit?
I’d like, yep. Hope a publisher will too, one day.
Good luck! What are you working on these days?
I’m working on the next Drizzit saga: “Love is a pink carnotaur”. And I’ve just finished working on a special (few strips) which is going to be published in a comic book, coming up for Lucca Comics & Games 2012.
What about your plans for the future?
Conquer the world? Eheheh I’m too lazy to make plans for the future. I’ve a lot of route in front of me… creating a professional website for Drizzit is going to be the next step, I think.
Thank you Bigio Is there anything else would you like to say to our readers?
No. To say the truth, I’d rather they were my readers to say something to me.
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