Today we’d like to introduce you to Rosa Scafidi Piraino.
Rosa, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Born and raised near Little Italy, I’ve been drawing, painting, and sculpting since preschool. With a large extended family of musicians, singers, culinary and visual artists, creative outlets were ever-present growing up. I’d spend hours listening to vinyl records with my dad while watching him paint and carve, only hoping I could possess his artistic prowess someday. He advised me to “do what you love” for a living, so I pursued a career in graphic design. I found that in the field of graphics, I could create art for anything from a company or service to sportswear, toys and consumables.
I graduated from San Diego State University with a B.A. in Art – Emphasis in Graphic Design and immediately began work as an in-house artist for a California lifestyle surfwear company designing screen prints, packaging and trend books for brands such as Hang Ten and Lightning Bolt. I learned so much during my time there with my mentors and applied those skills when I moved on to a new endeavor.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I’ve worked full-time as an art director for a candy/novelty toy company for the past 13 years. My team and I come up with ideas for creative and amusing products to sell to the reputable department and drugstore chains. We also create logos and packaging for these new products, as well as licensed items from Crayola™, Hasbro™, Nickelodeon™ and well-known candy brands such as Tootsie®, Airheads®, SweeTarts®, and Nerds®.
It sounds fun, but it can be incredibly stressful and exhausting since most of our projects have a deadline of yesterday before they even exist. What always keeps me going is seeing our ideas come to fruition and putting smiles on people’s faces. As far as inspiration goes, I follow lowbrow artists on social media, watch cartoons, attend car/art shows, and pay attention to what peaks my kids’ interests. I can’t say that my art has a certain “style”, although friends say they can pick my work out of a lineup.
You may find that most of my graphics have a retro vibe, but I tend to change the design style according to the subject matter or product. It’s best to use a look that evokes the emotion you are aiming to convey. Most of my work has a humorous aspect. It’s pretty corny, but I frequently use puns in my art and the mere silliness gets much positive reaction.
My main goal with my art is to make people chuckle and to awaken their inner child. I believe we are the same people we were as kids, but most of us tend to act differently when we grow up simply because we’re expected to do so.
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
Not long ago, the biggest challenge facing artists was probably exposure, but now that we have tools like social media, the task of getting your work promoted is fairly easy. With that comes a new challenge: competition. With so many talented people getting their art in front of a large audience, it has become more difficult to stand out from the crowd. It tends to weaken our confidence and the motivation to put ourselves out there.
It’s equally challenging to think up a new idea without feeling that someone has beaten you to it. We need to learn that comparison can crush creativity. Stop competing and start making. Just do what comes naturally, find your strong suit and roll with it. If someone has already done something that you thought up, do it anyway but with your own spin on it and in a new style.
Artist’s block can be an issue as well. It’s easy to just scrap a design or idea, but if you hit a wall, find a way to break through it. Sometimes it helps to step away from a project and get together with creative friends at the local brewery for an exchange of thoughts and inspiration. Building a sense of community within a very competitive industry is a good way to overcome a feeling of adversity. I am very blessed to have known, worked with, and learned from many talented people through the years, and I consider them all unique and irreplaceable gifts.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Since the majority of my time is dedicated to my career and being a wife and mom, you can find the fruits of my labor at beeinc.com or in the candy aisles of Walmart, Target, Dollar Tree and the like. Just look for a little Bee logo on the packaging. My personal work is on Instagram, Facebook, and Dribbble, and you can support my work by visiting your local convenience store or looking me up on Teepublic as RoShamBosa and Society6 as artofrosa.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://society6.com/artofrosa
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/art_of_rosa/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosa.scafidipiraino
- Other: https://dribbble.com/art_of_rosa
Image Credit:
John Piraino, Manuel Cisneros
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