Design Spotlight: Silvina De Vita

We’re putting today’s Design Spotlight on artist Silvina De Vita – really love her illustrative style!

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I always wanted to be an illustrator. Since I was little I loved to paint and draw things anywhere, on friend’s diaries, walls (my mum was not grateful).

After graduating as a Graphic Designer in Buenos Aires I started to work in different areas, book publishers, magazines, newspapers, agencies. It was nice but not very fulfilling.

I always knew that my dream was to work with children illustrations and be a painter. So when I got pregnant, as a kind of therapy I started taking painting lessons again, and it was there that I discovered my true passion. I decided that I want to try to make a living from my art and illustrations, and since then I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to do it.

Moving to London was a big change for me, this city is absolutely amazing and you can find inspiration everywhere you look, it is full of exhibitions and exciting stuff. Working part time in between taking care of my son gave me more time to start developing my art, and to continue studying at the same time. I started an illustration course at Putney School of Art and an MA in Art History at Birkbeck University that I’m currently finishing. As well, I started doing illustrated e-books for children, and a whole new world opened up before my eyes.

Discovering GCU was fab because it allowed me to give cards to my friends with things that I love, and it is a great way of personalising cards. It all started because a friend of mine told me, “you should do cards” and now I am fan of the site.  There are so many fantastic artists here which I really admire.

I think my favourite of my cards is “Welcome” which was  the first card I did for a friend, and the one that gave me the idea of developing my illustrations into cards. It is one of the most popular now. It is also very significant because all of this developed with the arrival of my first son Rafael. That was my “key experience” that motivated me to put my energy into art, a way to say Welcome to this new life of being a mum, and trying to find time to develop my art at nights when my kid sleeps. And I love it all immensely.

So if you ask yourself, when does this woman sleep? Well, I do when something is not in my mind kicking very hard to get out and be put onto paper.