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. 

a girl and a lizard

a little peek into what i'm working on at the moment! this book still has a long journey to make til it sees the light of day. it's been interesting working out of my comfort zone with all these reptiles.

work recently

i've slowly started to get back to work. the time left is small still, but it's nice to get my hands dirty again with things that ain't nappies. working on sketches for a book, and below, some vignettes i did for travel and leisure magazine in mexico.

little group christmas show

tomorrow from 6pm i will be at a group christmas exhibition organized by some friends at associazione b5, via agostino bertani 5, trastevere. the show runs til the 24th december, and will be full of bits and pieces from many great illustrators, designers and sculptors. stop by if you're in rome.

domani dalle 18 sarò all'inaugurazione di una mostra natalizia collettiva organizzata dagli amici dell'associazione b5, in via agostino bertani 5, zona trastevere. la mostra sarà visibile fino al 24 dicembre, e parteciperanno tanti illustratori, fumettisti, designer e scultori. passate se siete in zona. qui le info.

bridgetown process

a large commissioned painting i recently finished. it seems people keep on loving the old colour block houses, because that's all i have been doing on canvas lately.

i'd like to share some terribly bad photos of the whole process.
i work in layers, using fairly neutral colours to cover the base drawing and then going over that various times, sometimes adding, sometimes taking away, until the different blocks start to work together in terms of colour and space. the original drawing is hardly ever the same at the end, as i change it as i go. i alternate thicker blocks of paint with more sparse watered down bits which i rub off with a cloth to get more texture.

this painting was made with acrylics, it measures 120x100cm.

sketchbook

some little animals running wild. after a few weeks working on commissions, it feels necessary to doodle aimlessly on a sketchbook again. listening to silvia perez cruz, whom a friend introduced me to last week, so wonderful. here she is with her father on guitar.

update

it's been so long! here are some of the things i've been working on recently:
1. we've almost finished the music video for our talented friend max. here is the underwater scene which gianluca animated brilliantly and i cannot wait for it to be ready so i can show you. by the way, gianluca, my husband, is finally making a website, check it out.

2. backdrop of the venice ghetto (the first jewish ghetto in the world apparently, and where the word ghetto comes from!) for a short animated trial we are working on.

3. rome light these evenings, i bask in it.

on top of all this i've also been working on food related illos for real food magazine and little recipe books for a client in spain. this week will be the deadline for my year of illustrated recipes.
are you curious? me too.

in other news, a promotion on society 6! free shipping worldwide til sunday on all prints and things!
click here to see.

slow food story

"We are what we eat, but the way we eat is killing our planet." - Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food. 

A few months ago I worked on the drawings for the animated sequences of the Slow Food Story documentary, with Gianluca directing and Juan Pablo animating.
Here are some of the characters and sets. The documentary comes out in Italian cinemas this thursday.

Ps- this month's illustrated recipe will join June's final recipe for a big double feature, so hang in there foodies!

paper cosmos

our universe right now looks pretty much like this.
some days i work from g's studio space, which is nice. look at all that plasticine at the bottom!

and speaking of stop motion and cosmos, have a look at this amazing video made for bat for lashes.
it too reminds me of watching late eighties movies in the late eighties. must be a form of escapism for me right now.

 

red bearded man comes to life

it's been a while because, well, i've been working on a few things, the most time consuming and fun of these being a music video. i have been drawing and cutting the different components and luca will stop motion them into life. it's been fun to have complete creative control over it, and i've quite enjoyed bringing back old eli as the main character for the video. i can't wait to see how it turns out. here are some iphone pictures taken during the process.

also, a song i can't stop listening to, which somehow reminds me of watching late eighties movies in the late eighties, and thus makes me happy.

process