Beyond The Screen: 'Nostalgia Is Something That I Resonate...'- Christina Furtado On Her Favourite Themes As A Digital Artist
In a chat with ABP Live, Christina shared her journey as an animator, her favourite subjects to explore, her collaboration with Costa Coffee and so much more.
New Delhi: Christina Furtado aka potatoface is an animator, illustrator, and content creator as well as a strong believer in spreading joy and nostalgia through her artistic content. With a base of 749K followers on her Instagram, her content covers a broad genre ranging from comedy videos to ones that take us back in time and makes us admire the beauty in simple things. Like most Indian kids, Christina also has the memories of visiting grandparents and getting little gifts from parents as the best part of her childhood and she hopes that a little piece of those memories is reflected through her content.
In a chat with ABP Live, Christina shared her journey as an animator, her favourite subjects to explore, her collaboration with Costa Coffee and so much more.
Here are some excerpts from the interview:
How did you get started in this field, and what experiences have shaped your journey?
It was the time when COVID hit and people started losing their jobs. I was also one of them. So, I had a lot of time in my hand to figure out what I actually wanted to do. It was then that I started learning animation. I am a self taught artist and I really found it interesting. So, I wanted to explore that side of me a little more. That's when I decided to post short videos on YouTube and see how it works. Followed by this, I started posting short videos on Instagram as well. Luckily, the first video I posted went viral and that really took off for me.
I get all the support from my family. I was a little shocked, to be honest, because I am a mechanical engineer. So, when I first went to my parents saying that I wanted to explore this, they did have their doubts, but they gave their 100% support to it. And, that gave me a boost as well.
What are your favourite subjects or themes you explore through digital art?
Nostalgia is something that I resonate with a lot and I love playing with my childhood memories and try to bring out those little things from the past that we often forget. We don't remember small little details from our childhood. So, I really like to highlight those and feel connected to our happy days as we call it. But, I also like to make funny videos as well, like collaborating with artists and making an animation of their audio.
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You often try to tell a story through your creations and take your audience to childhood days/ long lost times, can you tell us the reason behind this?
Honestly, creating that kind of content was for myself. I wanted to take myself back to the older days. And, that was my idea. I am a 90s kid and those memories are so golden, but I cannot get them back. So, I decided to create content that would please me. Many years down the line when I will be watching my own videos, it will make me so happy. That's how I ended up creating such videos. Luckily, the audience that follow me also resonated and they ended my liking them too.
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Do you get requests from people to make their portraits? How do you deal with such situations?
It does happen to me, lot more often initially but it has decreased now as people have realised the kind of work I do, becuase I am not professional enough to do human portraits. I make cartoons. So, if someone wants cartoons, then I am more than happy to do it for them but if they want an illustration to look like them, that's not my forte. But, everytime I get such requests, very humbly I tell them that I am not available for it. I just try to explain to them about what I do and what is my strength.
Do you get demands of doing something for someone for free?
It used to happen a lot in the past. But, the good thing is that my close friends never came to me asking something for free. Of course, I cannot charge money from my close friends and family, because then I would feel guilty. But, I have learnt it now that I don't have to connet the two. This is my professional work. So, regardless, any family member asking me to do something, I have to, as an artist charge for it. But, if a family member or friend does come to me, and I am available at that point of time, I do not mind helping them out, and if I am swamped with projects, then I would humbly decline because I am not available for them. But, to very close family or friends of mine, I can definitely do things for free, just to an extent.
In the digital art realm, collaboration with clients or team members is often required. How do you handle feedback and incorporate changes into your work while still staying true to your artistic vision?
That is so important, and that is so difficult at times when it comes to client work. Clients come with their needs and they think they want the video according to them. For me, as a creator, I need to explain it to them, how many other ways I can do it and keep a set of examples for them as to all those ways we can approach the situation. And, we try to create a mid point so that both are happy.
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Sometimes, it comes to a point that the client does not budge, they want it to go their way, which I totally understand because they are paying me to do something. If they are paying me to do something and despite giving multiple options as to what works out, if they still want to go their way, I am completely open to do it. But, I have never come across situations where clients have been so difficult to me. It has been a beautiful marriage of the clients expectations and my creative inputs and we could create good content for social media.
The only point I had to discuss colours was my collaboration with Costa Coffee because at that time we had to design a packaging and at that point of time I had to consider the brands colours. And, that was a bit difficult, but I still ended up convincing that we can add a little more colours, and they loved it. They loved it so much so that they created another product just to incorporate the colours that I suggested. They printed both the designs on their cups, so that was really nice.
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