Athos Boncompagni

Athos Boncompagni is an Italian Renaissance man, a renowned artist who says, “Art is a full-time job. If you don’t love it, don’t do it!”

Athos is well-known as an illustrator whose work encompasses a diverse range of fields, from the paper products industry to school object collections, textbooks, map design and advertising visuals. He was a still-life photographer earlier in his career. In addition to illustration, his work today includes photo retouching, magazine layouts, web design and flash animations. On top of all that, Athos is a colorist, a digital art instructor and, of course, a Wacom evangelist.

So how does Athos approach his work and his clients? “It’s very important to understand the briefing, to lay out a clear path towards the technical realization of the project, and to mark the deadline in your calendar. You should know exactly how you expect to implement a project, and also have at least two or three alternatives in mind.”

No sooner said than done: It took Athos no time at all to present the concept and first draft for his self-portrait – a scream and an explosive “hair of ideas” to express the reverse concept of looking into the artist’s head – and he was even quicker to implement some minor changes we suggested.

“Do some research before you start drawing,” Athos advises. “That way, your exploration begins on a distant planet and not in your chair!”