Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Maio.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Hello! My name is Danielle Maio and I’m an illustrator and human person, drawing out of Allston, MA.
Originally, I’m from the lower Hudson Valley in New York. I moved to Boston to pursue an art school education from Lesley Art & Design in Cambridge (formerly known as the Art Institute of Boston) where I received an illustration BFA in 2015.
Upon graduating I was offered a position as an adjunct professor with the illustration department where I’ve taught foundation level courses focusing on the contemporary illustration market for the past three years. Teaching illustration at the higher education level has been a wonderful partner to my career as a freelance illustrator. It allows me to sharpen my skills as an art director, while also challenging me to dive deep, engage, and learn more about what the latest developments, breakthroughs, aesthetics trends, and exhibitions are in this amorphous, visual world.
Overall I think of illustration in general (and my journey through it) as this many-faced wild thing that is constantly changing and never not challenging. Yet somehow, I continue to adore this beast with my whole being, no matter how many times it tries to eat me whole.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
My story as an illustrator certainly hasn’t been an easy or a linear one, or really one that makes sense at all sometimes. I hold a membership card to what must be the world’s worst club on earth; the dead moms club, as coined by author Kate Spencer in her 2017 memoir of the same name.
My mom died two years ago when I was 22, a year after I graduated from undergrad. It single-handedly is one of the most bone-crushingly sad things I’ve ever experienced and I continue to struggle to understand it today. Anxiety and depression are some things that I already am challenged by, but jeez, add your brilliantly kind and unapologetically supportive mother dying to the equation and watch it become the Nickelodeon GUTS Aggro Crag climb of an emotional challenge.
In the wake of her passing, I definitely drew, but only ever in my sketchbook and when I had the energy to do so. I balanced a freelance gig or two, but never anything huge. Grief takes a lot out of you. When the epicenter of your emotional support dies, no matter how independent or established you are, you start from scratch in a lot of ways. You have to relearn how to navigate the mundane day-to-day, while also teaching yourself how to move out from the corner of survival you’re currently in, to the ‘just living’ plateau, and then to the thriving “I’m-living-to-the-fullest-but-am-still-sad-and-miss-my-mom” hilltop, which all the parent-loss books say will come but it’s too daunting and painful to think that far ahead in the future without your loved one by your side.
Then, all the while during the relearning period, you grapple with yourself as to what to do with this gaping hole now in your chest. You might ask yourself:
“Do I put a plant in here”?
“It would get a lot of sunlight and fresh air, certainly water with all of my TEARS”
“Maybe a bird?
“A small bird”??
If you’re a working creative, you’ll probably just answer that question by making art to fill the hole. I tried that and I would put a lot of pressure on myself to express grief through illustration, in thinking it would make me feel better, but it always had the exact opposite effect. It wasn’t until this past October where I felt like I hit an energizing breakthrough in my process and the style of my work overall.
I never had a moody teen phase, but like to think I’m living that era of my life now post the death of my mom, in relation to my art since it’s been a personal renewal and emotional learning curve in a lot of ways.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Danie Maio Illustration story. Tell us more about the business.
I am a freelance digital and traditional illustrator, and most importantly a human person. Lately, I’ve been working a lot on my iPad Pro in the program Procreate, making digital works.
As of late, my illustration draws inspiration from my personal life exploring the moods I’m in, experiences with my mental health, and the subjects I’m crushing on like ancient alchemy manuscripts or the folklore for Krampus. Bright colors, playful marks, a balance of meticulous details or simple shapes and lines (literally all depending on what my brain can mentally process for the day) all make it into my work. Instead of making work directly about my mom, I channel her personality, which is very similar to my own, and process the grief in that way. My mom had a playful soul, an infectious openness, a soothing warmth, a goofy sense of humor, and an awfully fierce work ethic. Its grief inspired work without poking at the grief directly. I’m too close to the loss of my mom to open a dialogue about her in my work right now. Perhaps eventually. Instead, she shows up in the little stylistic choices I make when illustrating; in playful lines and warm color palettes.
As you may or may not be able to tell, I like to maintain a sense of openness in my life and try to carry that into social media presence as well. For me, it’s about creating an authentic voice to show that there’s a very human person behind the iPhone, who is that way both on and offline. I like to create a sense a community defined by the healing and growth in others who may also be struggling with experiences of grief, anxiety, and depression, by making light of my own darkness through my illustration. I hope people who stumble across my work will look at my drawings and perhaps feel less alone in their own journey. It’s something I’d like to continue cultivating moving forward in my artistic career.
Contact Info:
- Website: daniemaio.com
- Email: daniemaio@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/daniemaio
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