mario ZUCCA

An Interview with Lon Levin

Mario is an award-winning Illustrator. He’s spent the better part of the last two decades drawing and creating artwork out of his home studio in Philadelphia.

When did you first think about what you wanted to do as an adult? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors?

Probably my first exposure to illustration as a career was when I started reading comic books in grade school. I loved the art of Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, and Todd McFarlane and wanted to draw comics like those guys. My parents recognized early on that I had an aptitude for drawing, so they heavily encouraged me to pursue art, and I'll always be indebted to them for pushing me toward a career in art and not away from it. What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences?

I grew up in a small town in Western Pennsylvania and had a pretty typical upbringing. Overall I like to think I was a pretty well-behaved kid. I spent so much time in my bedroom drawing comics that it mostly prevented me from going out and causing trouble. It wasn't until high school when my friends and I started getting our drivers licenses that I started to become a little more adventurous and rebellious. Comic books were a big influence and although I was never a great athlete, I started to discover my love of sports around middle school.

Tell us how your background played a part in your choosing to be an artist? What’s your process once you receive an assignment?

Growing up in a small, insular town, there's not a lot for a teenage kid to do. I think that lack of stimulation actually helped foster creativity, because my friends and I were constantly having to come up with ways to entertain ourselves. Also, I'm the product of two Italian immigrants who came to the US with very little money, built a life, and started their own business– a tailor shop that my mom still runs today. I've never met two harder working people, and I think on some level I've emulated them in my career choices– I work with my hands, I'm self-employed, and I like to think I picked up some of their work ethic. It totally depends on the assignment. Most often, I start by sketching digitally, which I started doing because I find it to be much faster and looser, and it allows me to quickly move, edit, scale, and skew things. Depending on the assignment I'll either transfer the sketch to bristol board– where I'll hand ink it and eventually bring it into Photoshop for color, touch-upand refining – or I'll just ink and color it all digitally. Again, it depends entirely on the piece and the intended final product needed to change it again. Its only recently that I’ve felt more comfortable with drawing things in a way that feels more instinctive to me and concentrate.

You’re partly known for your very intricate artwork like the map art for cities. Do you use traditional tools or digital or both?

It's a combination of traditional and digital media. I wouldn't say I necessarily prefer one over the other, but the last several years I've been moving toward a more digital-heavy approach, mostly just for speed and convenience-sake. How did your style evolved?

My style has evolved pretty drastically from when I first started out in 2003. I left undergrad with a portfolio comprised entirely of concept-heavy Op-Edstyle scratchboard illustrations. Aside from the obvious shift in technique and medium, it took me several more years to realize I was trying to be an illustrator I wasn't and that conceptual illustration just wasn't my thing.

And it wasn't until a few years ago that I discovered my love of map-making. So it's been a constant process of trial & error and discovery over the last almost 20 years.

Did you go to art school? How did that affect your art? Did you feel artists need to go to school to validate themselves as an artist?

My undergrad degree was in Graphic Design, and I think it definitely affected my artistic development. For example, it fueled my interest in typography, and I already mentioned my early propensity toward conceptual imagemaking, which was a direct result of my school's very concept-heavy approach to design and illustration. I don't think an artist necessarily needs to go to art school to realize their potential, however I do believe there are many young artists who can benefit greatly from the guidance, feedback, and structure that art school provides. Do you use social media and are you into it??

I do use social media, although I've been gravitating away from it in recent years. The platforms I still post on somewhat regularly are Instagram, Behance, and Dribble.

Can any artist thrive if they are not on social media?

That's a really interesting question. Given more people are aware of the evils of social media, I'd like to think fewer art directors are sourcing artists exclusively through social media platforms. So I'd like to say yes.

What do or did you do to promote yourself?

I used to do a lot of direct mail marketing, postcards mostly, but it's been a few years since I've gone that route. These days I mostly just try to maintain a robust online presence by keeping my portfolio site updated and posting frequently on the aforementioned platforms, and I send out the occasional cold emails if there's a particular client or licensing opportunity I'm interested in.

What exciting projects are you working on now?

Unfortunately, I can't give client info for the two biggest projects currently on my desk. All I can say is that one is a series of illustrations for a tech company and the other is a map for a running shoe company. I also just designed some graphics for a local microbrewery that I'm really excited about because I've been wanting to get into that market for a long time.

"I don't think an artist necessarily needs to go to art school to realize their potential, however I do believe there are many young artists who can benefit greatly from the guidance, feedback, and structure that art school provides."