Francesca Fanigliulo is an Italian London-based illustrator and animator who graduated from Kingston School of Art (BA in Illustration Animation) in London. With interests in 2D Animation, concept art, character design, background painting, and storyboarding, she finds her inspiration in nature, stories of people, the history of Art, and films. We had the opportunity to speak about her career and most recent collaboration, the short film “Let’s Dance Again”, which explores the subject of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Thank you for agreeing to catch up with Occhi Magazine. What drew you to a career in art and animation?
Hello, thank you for having me. My passion for art and drawing started very early. I have always drawn since I was a child, in particular. I loved to create comics and paint, so at the age of 14, I enrolled in an Art school in Italy, a very classic course that helped me to develop my painting and plastic techniques, which I still apply in my works. Subsequently, after the degree in Fine Art, I was very confused about which path to take, so I decided to enroll in the painting course at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Turin, but I was not sure about the approach and after a few months I moved to London to study illustration and animation. Once there, I went to the Kingston University Open Day and I still remember being moved by watching the beautiful animation works of the third-year students, so I decided to enroll at Kinston University School of Art to study illustration and animation (BA).
After my BA, I was convinced that I wanted to work in the animation industry as an animator, but I also noticed that I was missing the more “creative” and “free” part of the job. So, I asked myself, if I wanted to focus on other areas of animation, like storyboarding or concept design, I should enroll in a short course in Storyboard for animation at the CG Master Academy at the end of 2022- a course that helped me a lot to understand which path to aim for moving forward in my career. After studies, it’s easy to feel lost. We are often convinced about what we want to do while being a student but interests and passions always evolve as we grow up. It’s not easy to find one’s place, but I think it slowly becomes spontaneous. After university, I’m still learning and understanding my path. For sure, I would like to do an experience in a big studio company to earn new skills but, with time, I’m finally realizing that I would also love to collaborate with other artists as a freelancer or to team with small realities and companies that tells about important themes through short- animated film or feature films, in particular in this period that the 2D technique it’s getting more attention and that the cinema and animation industry in Italy it’s improving a lot too.
Image: Torino by Francesca Fanigliulo
You studied at Kingston University in London. Please share your experience of the institute and how it prepared you for a career in animation.
The experience at Kingston Univerity was really positive, even if I think the course could be focused more on the technical side of animation. After these 3 years, I can tell that the total experience was perfect for me at that time. In fact, they helped us a lot to build our identity and to prepare for the career side (so CVs, portfolio, Instagram page, etc) as well as give us total creative freedom. Another positive point was the tutors; they were amazing and really supportive, encouraging us every week to do more. The three years of the course were very instructive. The course focuses a lot both on the creative side as well on the research part- a creative process that I love and that I always apply to my work. Obviously, there have been many difficult moments also due to the pandemic but they certainly encouraged me to work harder and improve myself. In the first year, I tried my first animated “walk cycle” and there I remember falling in love. I wanted to know and learn more about the art of movement, in particular, to give life to my characters and stories. There were infinite possibilities. During the second and third years, I was lucky enough to work on various commissions, in particular, those that formed me the most and of which I have good memories are the “Brill drawing Competition” (2021) of which I won the second prize.
The commissions consisted of creating a painting of the Cambridge Road Estate that would have been demolished within a few months, preserving its memory. On the day of my visit to the estate, I had the opportunity to talk to many people that were living there, in particular kids and the elderly and it was really interesting and moving to hear about their stories and the story of the place. (https://www.kingstonheritage.org.uk/brillcompetition2021news)
The other experience was making a four-minute animated music video for the musician Pedro Joia, which was later shown at the 2021 Monstra Lisbon Animation Festival. This was the first real group project where I took care of the background and helped with some animation too. I was also lucky enough to work with fantastic people on my course and we supported each other a lot, despite the difficulty of the job for which we weren’t prepared. We worked on it for the entire duration of the second year in conjunction with the other exams of the course. In the third year, I was artistically more mature, in particular, thanks to the realization of my graduation film, where I focused a lot on the research part. I spent lots of time watching online archives and going to the museum as my short film talked about deserter soldiers of the First World War.
I spent lots of time at the Imperial War Museum of London, sketching weapons, uniforms and copying photos and videos from that time. I also started to research a lot on the letters and diaries that the soldiers sent to their families and to read about the artist soldiers of that period. The part that struck me more where their diaries and where they used to write about the war and their fears. It was really difficult as a war in Ukraine just started, so it was not an easy topic to tell. In fact, the project was longer than expected given the amount of research, so I presented it as a pitch and I would like to complete it this year. Overall, Kingston University and some of the tutors like Martina Bramkamp and Evgenia Gostrer have helped me a lot in my personal and artistic growth and I’m grateful to have chosen this path.
Who were your early influences and how did they impact your career?
As with many other artists, one of my major influences was the Japanese studio Ghibli with its beautiful hand-painted landscapes, especially as a child the film “Spirited Away”. It struck me a lot and it’s still one of my favorites. Growing up, I became more and more interested in graphic novels and illustrations, in particular, some of my favorite authors are Manuele Fio, the illustrator Andrea Serio and Lorenzo Mattotti. As far as animation is concerned, I am a fan of Michaël Dudok de Wit (who directed the film The Red Turtle) and of other French and Japanese productions (such as the film The Summitt of The Gods) and the director Guillermo del Toro, who with his latest stop motion film “Pinocchio” manages to deal with important themes such as the fragility of life and war themes in a simple and direct way.
Obviously, I always take inspiration and try to learn from those close to me, such as my friends and colleagues, especially when I’m collaborating with Luca Passa, a very dear friend, and animator active in Italy. Luca has helped me since the end of my university course, encouraging me while giving valuable bits of advice on animation but also on time management, and how to organize my work schedule. At the moment we are busy with the realization of video Youtube for children, where I’m working as a background artist.
How do you prepare or approach a new project; do you apply a particular methodology to your work?
It depends on the project; if it’s a project where I have total freedom. I start by doing a lot of historical research on the general style and character design. I particularly like looking at the historical archives available online and I also look a lot at the artists of the past, such as the Impressionists. I love playing with colors and using a more pictorial and “dirty” style. Subsequently, I make a mood board where I roughly decide the atmosphere of the project (colors and style), then I move on to the beat board and the complete storyboard where I decide the shots that will have the scenes and the focal points of the story. If the project is approved and I’m satisfied, I go ahead with the animatic and then the final animation.
Please tell us about your latest project “Let’s Dance Again” and how you got involved in the project
For the short film “Let’s dance again” I was contacted by a friend of my former colleague Domenico di Lillo, a filmmaker working in London, where he and the producer Donna Marie asked me to create some animations for their upcoming student short movie. Obviously, I accepted because of the interesting topic, even though I was at the beginning of my third year of university. I knew that was gonna be difficult to deal with everything, but I give it a go as the film immediately struck me for its potential.
The film tells about William, a former saxophonist with Alzheimer’s disease, and Esme, the girl who takes care of him. The scene focuses entirely on William’s house where we will be transported by sporadic memories of his band and the precious help of Esme, his nephew. The animations and music will then transport the audience into the memory of the protagonist, with his colors and Jazz melodies created by the musician Clara Rigoletti. I don’t want to anticipate the story too much, but a screening of the film is scheduled in London, we will update the dates as soon as possible and we will keep you updated on the film’s Instagram page.
What other projects are in the pipeline?
At the moment besides “Let’s Dance again”, I’m working as a colorist on an unannounced project with an Italian animation studio, the project is wonderful and it’s also my first work as a color artist. It’s not easy but the team I work with is really supportive and always there to advise and help with the scenes. They’ll tell more about the project in the next few months! In addition to external works, I would also like to dedicate myself to my stories and complete animations that I started during the university period, of course, I would like to adjust them based on the knowledge I have now, but I would like to do this more for myself as a personal exercise and for leisure given the limited time available
Where can our readers find out more about you? ( Please share your website and social media feeds)
Sure, you can find me on the main social platforms and on my website: https://linktr.ee/francesca_between_art Thank you for having me!
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