Michelle Gruppetta

Michelle Gruppetta is an animator, illustrator and print maker. Her work ranges from colourful, playful and bold to evocative visual narratives, and is influenced mainly by people, animals and culture. Learn more about her work and process in this article.

il-lokal: Tell us about your creative background and how you started your creative journey.

Michelle: I was pretty interested in the arts when I was a teenager, and was really into animation because of my interest in manga and anime, haha. At the time, I didn’t really take my interest in it seriously, because it wasn’t a traditional career path. I attended JC to do my A Levels, and met a group of friends who unintentionally made me consider pursuing it more seriously, but I was still too scared to take the jump. Then,  I attended UoM to do a BSc In Biology and Chemistry. My friends from JC were doing a design related diploma. When I met up with them at the time, I was just so miserable studying my BSc, that when I saw what they were doing for their course, I made the very impulsive decision to change to theirs…and then told my parents after the fact (: It was the right decision for me, and I haven’t looked back since. After that diploma, I attended a year of MCAST doing a BA in Fine Arts, and then was eventually accepted into The Animation Workshop in Denmark, where I did a BA in Character Animation. So it’s been a bit of a winding path to get to where I am right now, but it’s all about the journey, not the destination.

il-lokal: What motivates you to be a maker/designer/artist?

Michelle: Sincerely, I just don’t know what else I’d do. Creating for me is a very innate thing. I wasn’t one of those kids always drawing surprisingly, I only started sketching a lot as a teenager. But I did do a lot of dancing, acting, imagination games, writing, etc as a kid, so creating in any form has always been something I just tend to do. I had previously tried doing a BSc in Biology and Chemistry, but quickly realized that it wasn’t for me, and made the jump to start doing art seriously. I don’t know if I’ll always work in a creative industry due to the instability that comes with it, but it’s working for me right now and I’m incredibly grateful.

il-lokal: What’s the most memorable milestone of your creative journey? 

Michelle: It’s actually two milestones that stand out to me. The first was getting into The Animation Workshop in Denmark and starting my degree in animation. I had applied once and didn’t get in, but was accepted  the second time. Even though I had been very dog-headed about doing this degree, it really shook me that a university abroad accepted my application. I wouldn’t be where I am creatively today if I hadn’t attended that university. 

The second is getting a personal project funded by Arts Council Malta. I’m currently working on “Misophonia,” a 2 minute, 2D risograph animation about a condition that is impacted by audio overwhelm and noise pollution. Being able to work on this project has pulled together so many different threads of my creative practice together cohesively, in a way I never imagined them coming together. It’s been a huge confidence boost and has really pushed me to not dismiss my more unconventional ideas, and that I do have the skill and experience to execute them.

il-lokal: What’s your creative process like? How does your work in the animation industry influence your printmaking, and vice versa?

Michelle: My creative process is not a fixed thing, it is definitely something that changes constantly depending on what I’m making at the time! This is both good because it keeps things fresh, but also really scary and a bit tiring because each new project usually has a whole new approach, and I can never be 100% of the final outcome until I’m done!

On the whole I’ve kept my animation work and my printmaking work separate. Printmaking has just been something I’ve been doing for myself on the side, while up till now animation has solely been client work, so it was a deliberate choice on my end to keep these two things separate.  

Recently-ish, I was lucky enough to be awarded a grant by Arts Council Malta to make a 2D animated audiovisual experience, called “Misophonia.”  While working on the project, I made the decision that the final video will be risograph printed due to the visual noise this printing method creates. So the animation will be risoprinted, scanned, and then edited back together again to make the final project. Risograph animations are a relatively new thing which is gaining in popularity, but is definitely not easy to do. However, I’m very excited to see how my final project will look when it’s all pulled together. We recently finished the Clean Up stage of animation, so we have colour and compositing left to do before we head off to print it! Fingers crossed it will turn out as planned!

il-lokal: What are the principles that shape your practice?

Michelle: I don’t put myself into a box, subject wise or style wise. Many artists are very consistent in what they create art about, or are very conscious to design within their brand or known style. I just make what I feel like making, regardless if it looks completely different from work I’ve done before. I find that keeps the process interesting and fun for me, rather than trying to create within a set of imposed parameters. Trying to find the fun aspect in the process or final design influences my work a lot. I love a cheeky print, or big, bold colours or large graphic shapes, so I usually tend to lean towards these when I’m creating.

il-lokal: Do any of your designs hold a special or personal meaning for you?

Michelle: “Il-Granc,” one of the first designs I ever linoprinted, is really special to me. 

It was actually a Christmas gift for my dad, as “Il-Granc” was his childhood nickname for me. But for me that print represents the start of overcoming a massive art block and burn out I had at the time after finishing university. I don’t think I had drawn or created anything substantial for a year before I made that print. One day, I found my very first beginners lino printing set, and just gave it a go, and it was like a huge sigh of relief. Just spending time focused on carving was such a meditative process and mental release, it made me hugely excited about creating for myself again, rather than for university or for work. With every print I do now, I chase that same sense of peace I had when I carved this crab.

il-lokal: Tell us about your workspace -  where do you create and what tools do you use regularly?

Michelle: I work out of my tiny studio in Mosta that’s in great need of some TLC. It’s not in great shape at the moment, but it really helps having a dedicated space where I can just get into the zone and create, and just leave stuff lying around without having to immediately clean up. 

If I’m making zines, I tend to work digitally since I risoprint them. For that I usually use Indesign to lay out the zine, and a digital drawing software and drawing tablet to illustrate.

If I’m lino printing, I recently upgraded from my starter Abig set to a Pfeil carving set, so it’s been a bit of a learning curve to adapt to this new set. I’ve been trying to transition from my “starter” tools and now use more professional materials. Before I’d use mainly waterbased printing ink and whatever paper I had lying around, and now I’m using Caligo Oil based printing ink and Fabriano Rosa Spina 285gsm to print. Really you can use anything to linoprint, but having higher quality tools and materials really does make it easier to get better and more consistent prints. Eventually, I really want to invest in a professional linoprinting press, as hand pressing gets really tiring!

il-lokal: What kind of music do you listen to while working?

Michelle: I actually don’t listen to any music while I work, because it takes every single brain cell I have to concentrate on what I’m doing and not dance instead. Occasionally I might listen to a podcast if I’m doing a more tedious part that requires less focus or thinking, because  I find the talking to be less distracting somehow. 

il-lokal: If you could collaborate with another local artist/designer/brand, who would it be and why?

Michelle: Oh man, so hard to choose as there are so many great artists! I would love to collaborate with Klonn one day. Their work is just incredibly dreamy to me.

il-lokal: Are there any creative pursuits that you would like to explore in the future?

Michelle: I really, really, really want to Risograph print both illustrations and zines more, but that’s really hard since we don’t have a Risograph printer in Malta! I could send my prints abroad to be risoprinted, but I love being involved in the whole process from beginning to end. It’s a very fun, vibrant and surprising process. 

Risograph printers were originally made for office use. They were introduced in Japan in the 1980s as a quick, affordable way to photocopy stuff. It’s a hybrid between an office photocopier and a screenprinter, but the beautiful, unique way they print makes them a great tool to make art prints also!


Buy Michelle's prints here