Luigi Kemo Volo is an Italian graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, and avid Disney fan who photoshops various Disney characters into his photos. Like riding a bike by the shore with Lilo and Stitch or flying into the world of Peter Pan upon his invitation. Luigi had always loved the magical Disney world and drawing, it was the love for his nephew that prompted him to create the series in which he interacts and “hangs out” with these famous Disney characters.
Given the chance, Bored Panda reached out to the talented artist. First, we asked the artist if he had any major influences in his life that might've helped him to develop and refine his style.
“I've always been a huge fan of Disney animation. Ever since I was a kid watching videotapes of Disney classics I would stop midway, take a pencil and paper, and copy characters, I spent a lot of time doing it!”
Art, in any kind of form, takes a lot of time not only to practice but also to produce. Therefore, we asked Luigi how long it takes him to fully finish his artworks be it the photo manipulations or his drawings.
“I don't waste too much time on my work actually, I usually get some ideas during the day, in the evening when I get home after work I take a couple of hours to make it.”
The well-known illustrator was born in Bacoli, Naples in Italy, and from childhood was passionate about drawing given that he really liked Disney and its characters. As of now, Kemo has made over 570 publications on his Instagram account where he has almost 100K followers and most of his publications tend to reach thousands of people who seemingly enjoy and support his work on the platform.
Being an artist is not easy: one can easily encounter a lack of inspiration, burnout, etc. so we wanted to ask the talented illustrator about his ideas for his artworks.
“I think of everyday gestures and what they would be like with cartoon characters, or just whatever makes me smile in general!”
As we mentioned before, sometimes creative work can cause quite a burnout, so we asked the artist how he has dealt with that as well.
“It happens that I do not come up with good ideas, or that they do not seem funny to me. In fact lately, I also had a big load of different work, like the Disney characters in the films and drawings that interact with the lines of the notebooks (both can be found on my Instagram account). Also I made the sailor villains who are the Disney villains disguised as sailor warriors (inspired by Sailor Moon). At the moment I'm very happy that people like these pieces as well!”
As we mentioned before since he was a child, Luigi has always loved Disney movies and was a big fan of many Disney characters. He was also very passionate about drawing—comics and animations. So besides photoshopping his own quirky images with the addition of the Disney characters, Luigi also draws and shares his unique Disney-themed drawings on his Instagram account too.
The artist makes them interact with real-life objects: pencils, lighters, you name it. What's also very cool is that his works are always keeping in mind the character they're depicting. Extending their personality, if you will. He got into the arts sphere in 2002 when he started doing some street art and later on also worked as a writer. 10 years later, he began his journey into the depths of photography and in 2014, became a freelance illustrator.
We also asked Kemo about how people have reacted to his work.
“I love when people write to me and tell me their kids are my fans, it honestly makes my day!”
The creative process is not easy, but there are some enjoyable parts about it.
“The thing I love the most is to create, by any means (painting, pencils, digital, etc.) However, at the moment what I love the most is planning, understanding how it can be better, drawing the right expressions, etc.”
We also asked what was the inspiration behind the Instagram account that Luigi uses to share his art.
“I started posting my works on Instagram in 2016. I drew on photos to make my nephew believe that I personally knew the characters of his favorite cartoons and every time I showed him the photos he was amazed. My friends then recommended that I share them on Instagram, and honestly, I didn't expect everyone to like it that much.”
Digital art and art, in general, is not easy and requires a lot of patience, time, resources, and in most cases, even money. Therefore, we wanted to know how a talented comic artist started his own career in digital art.
“I have always preferred to draw with paper and pencils. I was given my first graphic tablet on my birthday. At first I didn't get along with it, then I had to learn it for work reasons, and now I found that I like it a lot.”
Artists get motivated by a lot of things, so we wanted to find out what motivates the Italian artist to keep up his work.
“It's nice to read comments from people who love my work. I like interacting with them, many show me their work and ask me for advice, many times I ask them for advice as well. I love art because it makes me escape everyday stuff even after a bad day. All in all, I love art because it keeps people together!”
