I don't draw, a book.

My latest book came out last week, written by Adam Lehrhaupt, published by Simon & Shuster. I'd like to tell you a little bit about the making of this book!

The whole project came about when my wonderful agent Kirsten Hall saw something in one of my sketchbooks from a few years ago.

She said, let's do a book about colours! It was after much brainstorming and experimenting that a story was created by Adam Lehrhaupt through the publisher. I was really excited about working on this book. the abstract representation of colour and emotion and the conceptual side of the book really fascinated me.

Here are some of the spreads. I had pictured some of them as a continuous image, possibly a fold out page. There was a huge amount of experimenting with how the colour spreads eventually turned out. I had to convey a powerful emotion through one colour, and at the same time I needed to 'unlearn' how to draw.

the most difficult part about making this book was, believe it or not, drawing as a kid would draw.

here are some more spreads from inside the book:

and here are some character development sketches and some of the ideas for the cover. The title of the book was originally going to be simply 'I don't draw'.

finally, I want to post this image from the second last spread of the book. I had imagined the boy, who is represented in black and white from the beginning of the story, to undergo a transformation, an explosion of colour, a cathartic moment where he becomes all-colourful.

this image was thought to be too conceptual, and potentially too 'explosive' for the US market, and so was substituted with this one:

which is less powerful, but still works. The image of the exploding boy is important for me. I fought for it to be kept in the book, because I believe children are the first ones who can teach us an (unspoken) lesson about conceptual understanding. I believe children should be surprised, and stimulated to wonder. The publisher was very understanding, but in the end had to make a different choice. In the making of this book I found myself struggling to understand the dynamics of the US picture book market, compared to the European one, where it seems that everything is allowed.

It was a lesson in making compromises and learning to trust the publisher. There are things that I would have done differently, but in the end, a book is always the result of a group effort, and I am grateful to have been part of this group and to have produced this wonderful picture book.

Overall this is a great story that I think many children will identify with (including my own!), and a great way to talk to little ones about emotions. 

grandpa's white hair, a book.

the wait is over! finally, my book with Mauro Scarpa published by Zoolibri is out. It's my first Italian picture book. When the publisher sent me this story i knew immediately that i wanted to illustrate it. It's pure poetry, pure simplicity. It was a pleasure to make.

Here are some of the spreads from the book.

dontshare animation

a couple of still frames from the animated paper cut video Gianluca and I made for the recently launched Dontshare, a life deposit box where you can leave a piece of yourself before you leave for good. this one is a promo image i also made for the launch.
you can see the full animation on the dontshare website.

a little preview of the next book

a little preview of the work behind the book I made last year for Kids Can Press. It's about political activist and freer of child workers Mother Jones. It comes out in September!

a book, a book fair.

a little sneakpeek of an illustration from my new book with Zoolibri, coming out this year. I can't wait to show you more, it was a beautifully simple, poetic text and a real wonder to illustrate.

I'm off to the Bologna Book Fair, always a wonderful adventure.

good food for corriere della sera

three illustrations I did for last friday's Corriere della Sera. they publicize the foodie event cibo a regola d'arte which tool place last weekend in Milan.

mary and child

may it be a blessed christmas.

Crescendo, a new book

I finally have some time to share my new book with you! It's a story written by my dear friend Susanna, based on an idea for a book that i had started working on about 5 years ago.

I'd come up with an idea about a town where music ceased to exist, and a little boy helped bring it back. I didn't know how to develop the story or find an ending for it, so I asked Susanna for help. I had already made about 5 illustrations, and we took the opposite route. She wrote a beautiful story based on the initial concept, but adding an unexpected twist: the boy is deaf.

After many turmoils (uninterested publishers, a doubtful and lazy illustrator, the finally giving up and leaving the book to gather dust in an abandoned drawer), I am happy to announce that Crescendo has seen the light of day. there are already books out there with my name on it, but I can say that this is really my first, as it goes back to the very beginning of my life as an illustrator.

The title is a play on the musical term which comes from the italian word 'growing'. an apt term in every way.

Susanna has dedicated the story to the Manos Blancas project, an initiative born in Venezuela to bring music to children who are cognitively or hearing impaired.

The book was published in Spain by La Fragatina,  you can find it online in Spanish and Italian. 

new book

I can finally announce that the book I illustrated for walker books by author Michael Morpurgo is out! It's called My father is a polar bear, it's a beautiful autobiographical story, and my first official picture book!

This book is dear to me, first because this is the first international publisher I've ever worked with, and it's been a pleasure. secondly, because I made it in the last months of pregnancy and first months of nina's life. A real labour of love. you can find it in bookshelves across  the UK, the US and Australia and on amazon.

here is some artwork and character sketches from the book.

cardnest

my latest illustration for uk greeting card company cardnest.
photo by cardnest.

storytime magazine

I just received a little package in the mail from storytime magazine. It's a beautiful publication full of advertisement free illustrated stories.
I used to read magazines like this as a child, they had the most wonderful illustrations, and audiotapes with the most theatrical readings of the stories. Anyway here are a few samples from the one I illustrated, a shortened form of the secret garden. they really picked the right story for me and my botanical obsession!

ps, went to see this amazing gal play last night, totally blew me away. here's a song.