starting from scratch

introducing you to Into The Forest

"starting from scratch" is probably kind of reductive as a description of my last two years.

but, before that story, let me officially present myself!

Hi, my name is Marta, I'm 28y and I work as a full-time illustrator from Italy! How I ended up as a full-time artist from a STEM career is kind of a long (and a bit painful) story that I will leave in the shadow of my closet for the moment.

The main focus today is to give you a bit of an overview of my work, what I do for a living and how I want to use this platform; how being part of Into The Forest can give you something to reflect more or perhaps just entertain you (not sure how and why you should be entartined by this but I will not complain).

---

I'm a huge fantasy nerd and love books, and decided to pursue a career in the creative field as an artist (what a cliché, I know very original). I'm specialized in book internal designs (this is the original part). Do you know those nice and intricate designs that you see on top of the chapters? or all around the page? Yeah that's me :)

My art is heavily inspired by medieval and Renaissance art. The Victorian era also had an important imprint on my work. People describe my work as a mix of something like "dark academia, cottagecore, gothic". So if you are into some of those things, or you are an artist or an author, that's the place for you!

You will see a lot of these in the future:

• working as a full-time artist (and self-employed)

• the role of art in books

• tips of artists (and authors) in the bookish community

• info about my work (commissions, process, etc etc.)

• some snippets of personal reflection

Will I be consistent? Probably not, I'm an artist, and inconsistency is my birthright. but I can vow to myself to do all in my power to not be boring.

I hope to see you around to hang with me Into The Forest.

---

Find me on Instagram! @marta.intotheforest