Get to Know: Danielle Sperandeo

By Tom Rogers

Name: Danielle Sperandeo

Major: Illustration

Minor: Concept Art

Class: First-year

Hometown: Crystal River, Fla.

District: Tell me a bit about yourself.

Danielle Sperandeo: My name is Danielle, but my friends like to call me Dee.

The small things in life are the most fascinating to me. I love to be outside, and climbing mountains is one of my favorite things. You know what’s better than just climbing a mountain? The enlightening journey and hardship you endure to reach the top, and then painting the beautiful view set out before you. I feel that beauty should be a necessary aspect to everyone’s life, aesthetically as well as on the interior, and that is what I strive for in my artwork. I have many dreams and I am currently living one of them. Not many people can say that, can they?

District: What type of classes are you taking?

Sperandeo: This quarter I’m taking life drawing, art history and color theory. Life drawing is fantastic for me as I love to draw the figure. My professor is challenging, but I like that. I mean, that’s why I’m here, right? I am always up for a challenge.

Art history is fascinating to me and makes me lust for world travel more than ever before.

Color theory, on the other hand, has been making me wonder if color is actually just magic.

District: What materials do you use?

Sperandeo: My favorite medium is pen and watercolor, preferably on wood or pieces of cardboard, but since most teachers here tend not to like artwork submitted on a discarded box, I’ve since adapted to the luxurious confines of watercolor paper.

District: What type of career do you hope to land after graduating?

Sperandeo: I want to be an illustrator and concept artist for everything and anything I can. I want to create the designs for movie characters, game characters and backgrounds. I want to illustrate entire books, album covers, walls and houses. I strive to have a wide variety of skills to leave room for anything.

I would also like to illustrate some of my own books. I have a plan to write and illustrate stories based upon the many years of vivid dreams.

District: What types of work are you doing around campus?

Sperandeo: My most consuming project recently has been the rendering of a linear skeleton in Professor Langleys class. I’ve spent most of my past two weeks in the studio working on it. Outside of the studio, I am working on concept art and character design for an animated film and also creating the cover art for an album cover. I am very excited about the both of them.

District: What are some extracurricular activities you involve yourself with while attending SCAD?

Sperandeo: When I’m not working on my drawings, I like to get involved in the many intramural sports SCAD has to offer. This quarter I’ve been into playing dodgeball, which is a new experience for me and very exhilarating. I also to play a game called SNUG (Savannah Nerf Underground), which is a weekly event dedicated to the gathering of many grand people who all share enjoyment in killing zombies and saving all of mankind.

District: Thanks for sharing your awesome art, Danielle.