Belicta Castelbarco – How Illustration changed my life
A Journey from Rebellion to Illustration
I grew up surrounded by vastness. Our home near Milan was more than just a house; it was a grand mansion set within a sprawling 13-hectare park. To an outsider, it was a dream straight out of a fairy tale; yet to a child, it was a beautiful, quiet kingdom. Since there were no other children to play with, aside from my two brothers, the stillness often felt heavy, and the boredom lasted long. Drawing became my rescue, a way to outrun the boredom and emptiness that threatened to settle in those large, quiet rooms.
When I held a pencil, the park and the mansion vanished. I entered a world of my own making, a nurturing imagination bubble where I could create anything and anyone I desired. It wasn’t just a hobby; it was a necessity for my soul. I was drawing pictures I sold over the weekend to my parents’ friends, who, obviously, wouldn’t be able to say no. By the time I reached primary school, it was clear to everyone that I had a natural gift for art.
My mother was an interior designer who had studied at an art college. Because I had a quite turbulent and complicated relationship with my mother, as a rebel spirit, I decided that her path would never be mine. I did the opposite of everything she expected. Instead of pursuing the arts, I enrolled in a scientific college, convinced that my future lay in the structured worlds of Law or Psychology. I was determined to build a life that didn’t mirror hers.
Then, destiny intervened in the way it often does, unpredictably and all at once. On a holiday, I met a German guy, who became my boyfriend and who would change my direction. A few months later, the world shifted permanently when my beloved father passed away. My relationship with my mother, already strained, became increasingly difficult in the wake of our loss.
In a moment of radical clarity and perhaps a bit of lingering stubbornness, I took my high school graduation exams and made a choice that surprised everyone, including myself: I applied to study art and design in Germany. I naively told myself I wouldn’t need to speak German, but life had other plans. I was accepted with ease, and despite my initial assumptions, I eventually had to master German to navigate my new reality.
Looking back now, that move was the best thing that ever happened to me. It was the moment I stopped running away from my talent and started running toward it. Since then, I have been working as a freelance illustrator. I have managed to turn that childhood rescue mission into a career. Every day, I am profoundly grateful that I can still live within my fimagination bubble, and that I have found a way to make my living there.
“Drawing was my rescue… I was in my own world of imagination, where I could create anything I desired.”
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.” – Albert Einstein
