Nita Gogritchiani is an illustrator and a graphical designer from Georgia, who graduated from the Multimedia Faculty of the Academy of Arts and completed a graphic design course at the Academy of Digital Industry.
As a child, she used to draw, but as she says, illustrating isn’t something she had always dreamed of. For 13 years she was involved with music and everyone around her expected that she would study at the conservatory, but during her final year she decided to study something new.
“I gave up music and decided to study at the Academy of Arts. It was a serious challenge – I only had 3 months to prepare for the exam as I didn’t even know how to properly hold a pencil in my hand. My teacher, parents, friends – everyone was extremely worried, but I did quite well on the exam. If I had make a choice all over again, I would choose the same exact path.”
She has tried different techniques and she feels the most comfortable with digital art. In 2016 she took a big step and received her first orders, as she painted portraits of people. Finally, it’s been over 2 years that she has been working as a graphic designer.
“I remember my first day at my first job. It was quite stressful. I was working for a famous, leading company and I felt a great sense of responsibility and trust. I can say that most of my experience and knowledge is thanks to this job and to the fellow employees, rather than the studying itself. Soon I was offered a different job too. So, I’m very happy with my choice.”
She doesn’t have much time to create any personal work. However, as Nita says, whatever she does always comes from the sadness, anger, happiness and other emotions of her friends and herself. She often uses her art to protest some important issues.
“In one historic district a small park was about to be demolished, and in protest, German and Georgian artists made some quick sketches. My friend and I became so interested in this concept and idea that we became active members of it. We didn’t only get to learn about Georgian regions, but we also sketched a German city and its problematic zones.”
As she says, she never searches for inspirations purposefully. The stories of other people’s experiences just stick with her in her mind. That’s also where the idea to create a series of illustrations – “Talo” came from, which you can view on Instagram.
“People often tell me that they see themselves in this character. Many think that She’s me, but that’s not true. I didn’t think about her being me when I was creating her. In the beginning of the pandemic I took an animation course, where we were given a task to create a character that we would bring to life. One glance of that character should tell us how they fell. They should make you think about those things that you haven’t thought about before, without any debates. Moreover, when everyone perceives my creation differently, that makes the process more interesting.”
During her process she likes to listen to Georgian artists. Most frequently she listens to Inola and as she says, it’s impossible to listen to her and not get inspired. The working process brings her a lot of pleasure and often she doesn’t even notice how the day has passed, she gets so involved in it that she doesn’t even feel tired, which is something that she hasn’t experienced anywhere else.
As for the future plans, Nita wants to see what she can do abroad too. She wants to find out how people work in foreign markets and to gain various experiences. Her dream is to participate in the real work process of creating an animation, which, as she says, is quite difficult and time-consuming.
The Georgian artist also shares some great advice for beginner illustrators:
“It doesn’t matter how old you are, or how much time you’ve spent in a different field. If you feel comfortable with what you’re doing now, don’t be scared and don’t hesitate. Be sure to try everything that you’ve ever wanted and you’ve ever been interested in. People often don’t choose Graphic design because they don’t know how to paint. In fact, this job doesn’t require a lot of experience in that. The sense of composition and colors will also be developed in the working process. While I was at university, I purposefully avoided getting a stable job, because I wanted to acquire knowledge first. I was scared that I would fail at something. However, this hesitation only prevented me from acquiring valuable experiences. So, don’t be scared. The main thing is to try!”
