Feature It Monday Present's: Gabrielle Ragusi!

Hi, everyone


is pleased to present to you as our Featured Special Guest Artist today.

Please give a warm welcome to gabrielleragusi and visit her gallery. It's a truly moving experience


Without further ado, on with the interview!



1 - Could you tell us a little about yourself, and when did you find that you were interested in digital art/manga & anime?

My name is Gabrielle Ragusi and I'm a young Italian artist. I study Human Sciences and Art.

I started drawing when I was a child, when my dad had the time to teach me how to love art.


My interest in manga art started when I was something like 6 years old, watching and reading those series that I still love: Sailor moon, Cardcaptor Sakura and Cat's Eye.

Then, when I was 13 years old, I became more serious about manga while reading Yuki Kaori and Watase Yū's works: so I started drawing my own manga's (big failure ahah!)


On the contrary, the interest for digital art started when I was 16 years old thanks to Paolo Barbieri and Benjamin Zhang Bin.


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2 - How did you end up joining DeviantArt?

I joined deviantART 4 years ago, in 2009, but I fell in love with this paradise a few years before that.

At that time I was looking for special brushes and textures around the web (since I was too dumb to make them by myself!) and so I got to know the existence of this amazing place. I joined dA 4 years after the first encounter only because then I didn't have any work to upload!


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3 - What is it that attracts you to digital art/manga & anime?

The simplicity of working with a graphic tablet. I mean, I love traditional art, it's always my first choice for important pieces, but since working on canvas is really expensive and it takes a lot of time, I prefer to work with the digital canvas most of the times. And of course I like it in its own way, specially when I'm painting with a lot of textures and special brushes. I have a lot of fun.

About the manga and anime style... I like it simply because it's different from the boring reality. Manga styled characters are similar to real people in anatomy but the rest of their world is very different from the classic vision of art.

Picasso said: “When I was as old as these children, I could draw like Raphael, but it took me a lifetime to learn to draw like them.”

Manga it's something like that, it's a synonymous of progress and difference.

And, most important, manga characters have big eyes...!


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4 - Your gallery is filled with beautiful, and wonderfully intriguing imagery. Could you tell us about the process that evolves from an idea, into the finished artwork that you upload?

This is a difficult question.

More than a process that evolves from an idea, what I need is a process to “create” the idea.

I explain myself: almost all my works are inspired by songs and in fact even their titles are in honor of them or a line of their lyrics.

Usually, I listen to a specific type of music in relation to the weather or to my mood – I'm not autistic but I do the same with the choice of colors – and, while listening, I choose the colors and the subjects (that's somehow related to the subject of the song) and then I just follow the rhythm of the music.

I started doing this "ritual" when I was 14 years old. Then, when I was 17 years old, I discovered the digital art of Andrew Android Jones, and I saw that he used music too.


That's another story if I'm working on a manga illustration: I start with a sketch (I never use clear lineart if it's not requested) and while painting I prefer light colors. Dark colors are rare, I use them only for sky scenery and realistic works.

In the creation process I always make mistakes and I change many elements, even the subject sometimes.

The works I upload on dA are the product of a lot of changes and time spent on thinking and listening. Sometimes I even have to edit works that are already submitted to deviantART!


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5 - Which are your favourite works in your gallery, and why do they hold a special place in your heart?

There aren't many works that I like, only a few.

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Light 2 from the series “Light” - I like this piece because it has been the first work of mine printed and used as a gallery manifest in Milan. When I look at it, it's like it says “Woah, Gabry, you are getting closer and closer to your dream”.

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This is nothing particular but I like the impressionistic feeling it gives and it reminds me of the day I painted it: it was rainy, I was in love and I was listening to Hearing Damage.



6 - Our final question would be: which other artist(s) do you admire on DA?

There are a lot of artists that I admire on dA!


style always inspire me. I love her digital impressionistic works!

Then, there's Silvia Pelissero, aka - She is an Italian artist who contributed to the creation of another particular path of art, featuring a style that I can't describe. She's just great.

Lastly, but absolutely not less important, there's

His realistic portraits are amazing and unique. I had the possibility to see his works in a gallery when I went to Vienna and I fell in love with the truth that his paintings show. My traditional painting are somehow inspired by this straightforwardness.

Of course there a lot of other artists I admire, such as and



Thank you very much,


Gabrielle