The author we met loved comics as a child; Anna Merli has thus built her path that made her a complete cartoonist. Her works translate into staging drawings full of poetry, with a harmonious and delicate stroke that conquer the reader at first sight. Her graphic style is able to elaborate the female figures in an original and captivating way.
Let’s leave room for Anna’s words:
I was born on July 10, 1974 in Cremona. I live in Cremona.
I graduated in children’s illustration.
How did you discover your passion for comics?
I have always drawn for my personal satisfaction and for my amusement, my leisure.
Tell us about your career path.
After I attended the art school in Piacenza, I attended the European Institute of Design, specializing in illustration.
I later landed at the Disney Academy, following a competition announcing a 9-month course. It was required to send a portfolio, after which I faced, together with 100 other selected ones, a drawing test and an interview. Having passed everything, together with 14 other artists I was able to follow the 9-month drawing, illustration and comics course at the Disney Academy. It was the happiest months of my life, I had really amazing teachers, some came from animation studios in Los Angeles, ALL had a loose hand, incredible, we also had a rich library available that talked and showed the construction feature films, the ones that enchanted me as a child like Cinderella, Fantasia, Pinocchio…
It is VERY instructive to see how much research and study exists before any fabulous work…
I drew for many hours, every day, even when the lessons ended, I continued because there was nothing more exciting in that period…
I must say that I have ALWAYS drawn a lot by myself, on my own, since I was a child, even to the detriment of history, mathematics, etc. lessons which I preferred to study alone, on the books that my father never let me miss. I love to tell, tell me, visualize my dreams, moreover, during my childhood it was also my refuge from the ugliness of certain situations! I have ALWAYS had my entire family on my side, without his support I could not have followed this path and pursued it.
After the 9-month course, I immediately started working for the Disney academy, creating the projects that were proposed for the comic and I was able to contribute to characters that I adore, such as Tinkerbell and Winnie the Pooh… and more .
Show us your work.
Thanks to this course, which required an almost exclusively Disney-like hand, I kept my own style, my personality from which I could not detach myself, it was useful because then contacts from publishing houses naturally followed, I participated with my pieces in exhibitions collectives, thanks to which still other contacts followed.
For a certain period, thanks to an art-agent, I sold the original drawings of my erotic pin-ups to American collectors.
I have always loved drawing the female figures in which I identify myself, I have always studied anatomy very carefully, I could not and cannot bear drawings that betray a lack of knowledge… even designers who “deform”, in abstract art, a knowledge of the anatomy of perspective, of light is clearly visible… I think that starting from the observation of reality is indispensable for a good rendering, on paper, of what one likes to depict.
It is NOT by chance that I have kept, since I was a little girl, PHOTOS and articles cut out of newspapers, dailies or magazines, which can help me to get to know or which can inspire me with ideas, shots, colors, landscapes and characters.
Has there been one piece of advice in your career that has proved to be fundamental for your professional growth?
As I said, I had excellent teachers in the schools I attended, but I took my first steps thanks to my mother’s hand, who perfectly drew the faces of the Disney princesses for me, mine and hers, favorite was Cinderella, I was mesmerized by every detail she added. My father drew when he was on the phone, because he hated listening and talking for too long and so in the meantime he drew… he created sorts of cobwebs, skulls, gothic ornaments, everything that was adult and I greatly admired his so dark but so fascinating spirit .
My parents read comics, I remember Valentina from Crepax and the Peanuts, Altan, Mordillo, Bruno Bozzetto, Grazia Nidasio, the WALT DISNEY films, the cartoonists of the Mickey Mouse stories!!!
Many books and newspapers entered the house, I didn’t neglect any of them, but what introduced me to the work of illustrator was the newspaper L’ ILLUSTRATION OF THE SMALL. It was a precious newspaper, to be kept on the shelves of the library. Illustrated stories that came from abroad were published, it was an “elite” thing, I didn’t boast of having a father with such a great openness to culture, but inside of me I was and am very proud of it. Corriere dei Piccoli and Candy Candy/Lady Oscar were NOT missing.
How do you set up your work?
For my working day can not miss: concentration, music or silence, the things that inspire me: toys that I collect, my books and comics, my albums of endless collection of newspaper clippings
Even if they remain closed in the shelves, they must be there like a guardian angel, ready to assist me.
my work table is always crammed with tools and jars for brush water, sheets, paper of all kinds, every now and then I have to make room because I risk being submerged.
There must be light, no noise or annoying phone calls…
When I start something new, anxiety always comes: will I be able to visualize what I’m imagining? I STRIVE to start, sometimes I struggle, but I MUST!! And then I go like downhill.
I usually start a drawing after a watercolor draft as a basis for the atmosphere I want to create, from an approximate layout, I often go directly to the definitive ink drawing, further steps cool my sign, of course when working with others, even the refinement he definition of the drawing in a layout must be good so in these cases, I put a lot of care into facilitating those who have to approve or those who have to go to the next phase like a clean pencil… even if in some cases someone has complained of not being able to just trace in the ‘carrying out a clean-up… luckily I no longer work with these people… and to think that, if I left any detail uncertain, it was to make the designer who would come after me enjoy the drawing, its participation, to arrive at a finished table, ready for publication.
In my opinion, you can’t start drawing suddenly… I think that, as it was for me, an illustrator/comic artist, a painter, you can’t improvise, he must have always studied, you don’t become a cartoonist ONLY thanks to the exercise, continuous study, indispensable, of course, but also thanks to the PASSION for these gestures. Passion perhaps it is born with us and can be activated by something that makes us recognize it: a book, a film, a story, a person we admire.
In this world, even the least of the enthusiasts can work, lacking thought or fingers, who gets paid in sweets, but you want to put: look at one’s drawings published drawings and see, yes, the defects, the mistakes (the self-criticism is essential to improve and improve) without the embarrassment of having made them “badly” with your name written next to them?
NONE of the things I’ve drawn and that have been published satisfy me 100%, it’s not frustrating, it’s a “means” I care about in order not to stop, not to stop improving.
I feared losing the ability to draw in 2014, when I discovered I had cancer, I didn’t think I could even die, but my biggest fear was that I would no longer be able to trace the signs I saw in my mind.
I advised the surgeon not to damage the right side of the brain which belongs to the creative part of each of us! He guaranteed me that he would be careful and that AFTER he would want my drawing for himself!!
It was magnificent, I had a very vivid dream, but with “otherworldly” accents during the operation that tore me to my end, I didn’t die even for a minute, but the effect of the anesthesia was comforting: I was whirling in the CERN particle accelerator in Geneva, and at the same time I had the feet of the witch of the EST, of the Wizard of Oz film and then I was the monster of Frankenstein Junior by Mel Brooks, I woke up laughing and only after 8 days since the surgery I had already returned to work, at that time I had to clean-up for a French comic, I had to deliver, so without any impediment, I continued to work, even if some people weren’t sure I could have remained the same as before … They still tell me, from the Cremona hospital, that they take my case as an example to those affected by this pathology, to encourage patients, so that they don’t have fear. It’s gratifying.
Contrary to popular belief, I’ve always been fine, both during hospitalization and during treatment because I had affection around me and I didn’t lose my dexterity, on the contrary, I carried on as always, I met fantastic people among the patients and doctors and discovered a strong and tenacious, passionate Anna. I’m just a little more sleepyhead 🙂
Yours is a very delicate, clean, harmonious trait. Did you have any master who directed you towards this cut?
My stroke is the result of what I have always pursued, betraying the will to achieve an acceptable effect for me…
In this sign called HARMONIOUS there is the support of all the people who have given me so much, my myths from which I have drawn inspiration: from the teachers of the art school, from the Disney Academy, my family, anyone who has believed in me and the experience in the Disney Academy that gave me the care for shapes, the firmness of the hand, the physical energy, the work experiences, any artist I’ve ever collaborated with, not least: Barbara Canepa who in the creation of END, it “forced” me to bring out my skills that I didn’t know yet… it made me continue to know other artists, draw from every type of art expression, the various currents of architecture, painting, etc, etc…
I’m still happy to be able to DO this profession, it’s not a good time, until recently it was the publishers themselves who involved me, now it’s me who has to go to them, I’ve had some disappointments and refusals, it’s part of the experience , to understand what our path is, I accept criticism, if not offensive out of pure sadism that some people implement, I don’t know why, but everything can be useful for improving, evolving.
Soon I will publish a collection of my Pin-ups made in the last 20 years of my life. Not having found a publisher, I resort to self-production, when the book is complete and printed, edited, I will announce it on social networks!! And I would like to develop my own comic written by me, if I have the time!
It won’t be my first book signed solely with my name, there is a story that I wrote, drew and colored by myself, it’s called Rose and it was published by the Comics Center of Cremona. It is the story in four chapters, of a little girl from the past, an interpreted evocation of the fairy tale The Little Match Girl, of the characters of children’s literature of my time…
I used a very different style from the one I use for work, it’s a very fresh and fast style, it still expresses my personality…
with this and usually in my drawings, in my stories I speak above all to a romantic female audience, because they identify with it and because I have always felt better understood by this.
It’s your moment… what do you feel like saying to the readers of Mondo Japan?
To stand out from the crowd, READ, observe, choose the beautiful, any work performed with care for the viewer, not only today, study and hand down the mastery of many Italian artists…