Who What Why
Let me reintroduce myself
Life is never predictable. When I think about mine, I am surprised at all the different plot twists and strange routes that got me in front of this screen typing for the Substack folk. As I started a new adventure called freelancing, I wanted to give a bit of background on what I am doing, at least consciously.
But let’s start at the beginning :)
Who
Born in 1995, I am the result of a childhood lived in the pre-internet world and am old enough to remember that, at first, the whole point of Facebook was to play a stupid game named Farmville (at least for me).
As for the rest of you, my childhood is an important piece of the puzzle of who I am today. I was extremely in tune with my likes and dislikes, very emotional and an old soul. I disliked fake people instantaneously, it was visceral, I even remember some of them to this day.
I loved art in it’s many forms: drawing, singing, dancing, even play-pretend were my bread and butter. I was obsessed with animated films, they were the most enchanting thing I could think of. I loved stories and fairytales, and more often than not, the fact that I couldn’t read didn’t stop me from creating my own stories only by browsing any illustrated book I could find. I loved playing outside, climbing trees, digging holes, making mud cake, all the lovely activities that only required presence and imagination.
However, I had 2 best friends: MTV and Cartoon Network. Ironic how they are both dead now. As trivial as it sounds, these programs created some deep memories in my mind that I carry with me to this day. Later, I even thought I could become a video director. I remember MJ’s In the Closet sepia video starring Naomi Campbell, or George Michael’s Freedom video (later would I discover it was directed by David Fincher and starred The Supermodels) or Aaliyah’s Try Again starring Jet Li, or Whitney Houston’s I learned from the Best. And so on. They are just floating around in my head still.
I was mesmerised by anything colorful and hand made. Every time I met an adult, I would “test” them by shoving paper and a pencil in their face and ask them to draw something for me. I suspect I was trying to find skilled people from whom I could steal some tips and tricks. I never said I was not weird.
In 2nd grade I won a school contest about Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales and the prize was a copy of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. It was a Friday, I rushed home and played the film. I remember that the whole weekend all I did was replay the movie over and over until I learned all the lyrics from all the songs. Also, it’s important to note that in 1989 (film’s release), Disney was still making hand drawn animation, it was part of the charm of the film. I was obsessed with figuring out in each frame which objects were animated and which were background or foreground and how they would serve the scene.
But as I grew up, I had to be “put in my place” and got in line and tried not to be a disappointment. Drawing never left, it was just in the back of my head. I read a lot (I cannot believe there was a time when I could finish a book in a day, compared to my 2026 fried brain, it’s shocking) and studied hard, don’t think I passed the disappointment test, but at least I didn’t do drugs.
My love for storytelling got the best of me in the end, and I studied Stage and Costume Design for Theatre at university. At the time I thought it was the perfect fit, though I knew it will be difficult, I knew I would be learning about my favorite things in the world: painting, films, fashion, literature, design.
However, those three years awarded me a Bachelor’s degree with a side of burnout and depression. If you’re an OG subscriber, you know I wrote about this in the past - I didn’t know what I was going through at the time, I simply thought that’s how life is. I also left with the certainty that I am worthless as an artist (and person, but that’s a whole different story) and that I don’t have a voice, so I gave up.
After an attempt to get a master’s degree abroad (just so I could avoid all the mess in my life) I decided it was time to grow up and just get a normy job and a paycheck. And I did, but something was calling.
What
During the pandemic, I was working remote and I started some online courses in basic Photoshop and Illustrator. And I was hooked! The thing with my very traditional illustration style that frustrated me most was that I was working with mixed media, and I had to wait for each layer to dry, before coming back to a sketch. I even remember in highschool i was using a hairdryer to help me in the process. So when i started working digitally, I thought i found gold. Also, it was new and exciting.
As stated above, I have a soft spot for cinema and music, and in time, I transformed my stylized illustration style (which was heavily influenced by my studies - quick and suggestive, more focused on the application of said sketches and turning them into costumes, objects or sets) into painting. It was an instinctive switch, although I have always been terrified of painting, therefore avoided it. Now, here we are.
So films and music have a huge influence on me. Fashion is also an endless source of inspiration, as are visual arts. I call them that because I love a sculpture as much as a painting, etching or photo.
Why
I discussed more in depth my artistic why in this article1, but the general idea is… my life was dictated by beauty in many forms. And now, I have the freedom and personal depth to give in return some of it. The world is not as harmonious as I would like it to be, so I am trying my best to make it better, as I can.
The dystopian ideas shoved in our faces are generally focused on anything but beauty and our sensibilities and this is my way of counteracting. By making pretty things people can enjoy, be it a painting, a blog post or maybe even a piece of clothing.
So life got me to the point that I finally had to take action and make a dream come true.
Drumroll…
I am launching an online store with a selection of my artworks and will post about it in the next few days. Hopefully, some of you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making them.
See you soon!
Ioana
Read it here:
FINALLY! I am so happy for you! ❤️ Can't wait to see the store!