With Nathan Never, who has been drawing for almost 30 years, there is an almost "paternal" relationship but it would be wrong to think that Andrea Cascioli's genius is condensed only in his comics. There is also the passion for writing, the love for the radio of which he was speaker and director years ago but which has remained in his heart, there is the dedication to cooking and the creation of an all-vegetable meat and finally the commitment to cure the blind kittens he collects from the streets. "The truth - he says in an interview with ANSA on the occasion of Cartoons on The Bay 2021 for which he designed a beautiful poster - is that I sleep very little and therefore even being almost 60 years old it is as if I had already lived a hundred .. I had a really busy life and what I had to do I did.
To draw? I will do that until I am 100 years old, it's a job that never stops "." I have just started - he says - a new story of Nathan, now I don't count them anymore they will be 35, I'm on page 7.
I still have a lot of fun and I'm proud, I drew a character who gave me great fame. When I was younger I also wanted to write the lyrics but in our world it is difficult to combine the two roles of designer and writer. There is a lot of difficulty in establishing yourself as a writing author if you are already famous as a designer, paradoxically it is an obstacle. But in short, all life is made up of Sliding Doors and I have had great satisfaction ".
To young people who want to follow in the footsteps, to whom he also taught at the School of Comics during his career, he says: "Despite the crises, despite the fact that things change and it is no longer a beautiful and easy job, I am convinced that those good still succeed. So the advice is to keep your head down and study a lot. The good designer does not think in terms of showing how good he is but thinks in function of history. To understand: if I draw someone in a bar having a coffee, it is it is useless to show a swollen bicep because I am good at drawing it, in reality that is not needed and therefore it is useless ".
From his past he remembers very gladly the experience on the radio and in his future there is precisely vegetable meat: "Both out of respect for the environment and a matter of conscience I created a steak and vegetable meat. Not only nor the first nor the only one, now multinationals are also investing in it. All vegetable meats consume much less water, much less forests, to create pea proteins 10 times less deforestation. That's not all but it's already a good start! My dream in the drawer is opening a chain of "Carnefinta" restaurants with the meat that I make. The amazing thing is that few vegetarians and vegans look for it, most of them are omnivores with an ethical problem of killing animals ".Finally, his love for cats and his commitment in the field in particular for blind kittens: "I pick them up on the street - he explains - or they bring them to me, many have a serious eye disease that if treated soon can heal well. The kittens so they can go back to see and it's beautiful ".