Illustrator Silvia Stecher's textured artworks reveal a journey of creative self-discovery

This mixed media approach comes from a varied and exciting background. She studied graphic advertising at school and continued her studies at the Academy of Fine Art in Genoa, where she discovered a profound interest in contemporary art.

Following graduation, she wrote a thesis about walking with the title, The Human Step, where she analysed how the movement of a foot in front of the other has been studied and used by modern artists. She later studied a masters degree in illustration in Milan. And today, she works as a full-time illustrator, collaborating with magazines like Breathe, Standart, Popshot, Scoop, and Vegan Life.

"If you look at my style you can see lots of techniques. These are from different approaches I've tried over the years. From watercolour, I learnt to start from the background and add layers. From engraving, I learnt to work with the 'full' and the 'empty' of an image. From collage, I realised you could take things from different contexts and put them together to create something new. Finally, from crayons, I found a love for rough textures, and I can go on like this forever."

Discover more of Silvia's work at silviastecher.com.