The Sybil

all images in this post © La Cicala editore 2022

 

An illustration out of a series of five I made for book Riflessi della Dea (Reflections of the Goddess), published by La Cicala editore, Italy.

Technique: ink pen.

Baba Jaga

 all images in this post © La Cicala editore 2020

Samples from the illustrations I made for the book Baba Jaga by Fiorella Colombo, published by La Cicala editore. This time I used another techique I always loved: ink pen on paper.

The story is a revisiting of traditional east-european folk tale Vassilissa the Beautiful, in which appears the terrible and enigmatic witch Baba Jaga. For this project I was in charge of all the graphic design of the book, besides the illustrations, and together with the author we decided to compose the whole book around the concept of light and darkness (known and unknown), visualized by an alternation of white and black pages. I designed also a series of decorative vegetable friezes to frame the illustrations and the text pages. These branches flourishes as the story progresses, to symbolize the growth of the protagonist, the girl Vassilissa. The addition of a third colour, red, was necessary to give visual prominence to the third force symbolized in the original story by the red knight, servant of the witch. The red color is a digital addition to scanned drawings.

Monster Alphabet

all images in this post © La Cicala editore 2018

A showcase of the initial letters I drawn for La scuola notturna dei piccoli mostri (Night School for Little Monsters), a children book by Dario Apicella published by La Cicala editore. Technique: ink.
This book is designed as a spelling book written in rhyme, with every letter of the alphabet personified by a fictitious character, drawn with great humour by fellow illustrator Alessandra Berti Riboli. So I thought to add big initials illustrated with "real" breed of monsters which introduce every letter with the sentence "A like...", creating this way a sort of bestiary of myths and legends worldwide.

Sul fronte del porto

 all images in this post © La Cicala editore 2017

Three sample illustrations from Sul fronte del porto (On the Waterfront) by Ivano Baldassarre, published by La Cicala editore. For this book I made three kind of illustrations: the full double-page pictures, shown below...

then, the full single-page pictures, shown below...

...and finally the "symbols", cut-out drawings of objects, small enough to be placed among the text, shown here below.

All was done in pencil art, a technique I always loved, and hope to use again in the future. I choose this techinque for the project also to give the feel of old black-and-white photos, since the core part of the novel is settled between the 1930s and the 1960s.

Tales of Weird Animals

all images in this post © Edizioni EL 2015

Pictures from the third book I illustrated for publisher Einaudi Ragazzi, Storie divertenti di animali stravaganti (Funny Tales of Weird Animals), written by Gionata Bernasconi.

A funny fact about this book is that it gave me the opportunity to draw a portrait of Gionata, the author, because of the "meta-literary" nature of the last story.

More informations about this book on Edizioni EL official website.

The Tale of Colours

all images in this post © La Cicala Editore 2015

My first book for newborn series Libri da Cantare ("books to sing-along") published by La Cicala Editore. Short stories for kids aged 3-7, including a CD with the narrated text and an original song about the characters, to sing and play along.

This tale, written and narrated by singer Artemidoro, tells of a yellow baboon kid asking his grandfather how the different colours were born. The basic idea for the illustrations was to use a colour only when the little baboon named it, so the book goes from a yellow-tinted beginning to a rainbow-coloured ending. A funny thing to imagine and to paint.

Tales of Surprising Animals

all images in this post © Edizioni EL 2014

A selection of illustrations from my second book for publisher Einaudi Ragazzi, Storie divertenti di animali sorprendenti (Funny tales of surprising animals). It's another bunch of humorous stories written by Gionata Bernasconi, this time about uncommon animals rarely seen in children's literature, like Saigas, Okapis and many more. That's why I decided to help you readers recognize them, adding the scientific name of every "surprising" animal in the illustration that opens its story.

More information about this book on Edizioni EL official website.
You can read also a lovely review on children's literature blog Lettura Candita.

The seagull and the cat

My personal tribute to a book I really loved: Historia de una gaviota y del gato que le enseñó a volar (The Story of A Seagull and The Cat Who Taught Her To Fly) by Luis Sepúlveda.
Citizens and visitors of the city of Hamburg may recognize, on the background, the tower of St. Michael's church where the the novel ends.
Full digital painting.

Vudu Dolls concept art

all images in this post © Enrico Scheri / artFive 2013

 

 

Some concept / set design illustrations I made for Vudu Dolls, an animated short developed by Raimondo Della Calce (artFive studio) with screenwriter Riccardo Boccuzzi. The story is settled in Louisiana in an unspecified old-looking age (somewhere between the late '30s and the early '60s).
Full digital painting, as usual.

Codariccia the squirrel

all images in this post © Editrice Campanila 2012

A selection of the illustrations I made for Codariccia e la paura del buio (Codariccia and the Fear of the Dark), written by Ivano Baldassarre. It's a picture book for children aged 5 or more, about a little squirrel afraid of going to sleep in full darkness. Published by Editrice Campanila in the Libri Canterini series.

Tales of Smart Animals

all images in this post © Edizioni EL 2012

A selection of illustrations from my first book for prestigious italian publisher Edizioni EL / Einaudi Ragazzi, Storie divertenti di animali intelligenti (Funny tales of smart animals). It's a set of short stories about different animals in different parts of the world linked by a surprise ending, written in an humorous style by Gionata Bernasconi.

It is suitable to children aged 7 or more, who preferably like animals, traveling and irony. 
You can find more information about this book on Edizioni EL official webpage.
A review about this book is on children's literature blog Lettura Candita.

 

I wish to dedicate this last illustration to all the Indian visitors of my blog (India is country n°1 in my audience statistical panel!). The original story, featuring ants, is settled in Goa surroundings, so I painted on  background a view of beautiful Fort Aguada with his lighthouse, one of the forts built by the Portoguese in 17th Century to defend the entrance of Goa bay.  Hope you enjoy!

Chanel the polecat

all images in this post © Editrice Campanila 2011

A selection of illustrations from book Chanel va a scuola (Chanel goes to school) published by Editrice Campanila in Italy. It's a gentle story written by Ivano Baldassarre about a young polecat frightened by her first school day.

Patatai the rabbit

all images in this post © Editrice Campanila 2011

A selection of illustrations made for childrens' book Patatai e la macchia (Patatai and the spot) published in 2011 by Editrice Campanila, Italy.
Media: digital paint

Mediterranea

Cover designed for 2-tracks promo CD Mediterranea by Francesca Gancitano.

Media: digital

Concept artworks for Il re dell'isola

all images in this post © Enrico Scheri / artFive 2009

media: pencil, digital colouring

For Il re dell'isola I made several 'concept artworks' to test the setting of the main actions of the script inside the planned background set. I always liked to do this kind of drawings because you can freely explore the mood of the scenes without restrictions in techinique or composition.

As the story is settled in the early 20th century, I chose a charcoal-like style with thin frame lines and classical lettering to recall the popular illustrations of that age.

The image at the beginning of this series shows the main character, Gioanin, as an old man that let his memory return to the childhood days, starting the movie.

The fourth image illustrates Gioanin's dream of the savage island in a daylight version, alternative to the one used in the actual movie. This is the only full-coloured concept artwork with the intent to suggest a different visual style for the dream sequence.

The artworks posted here are just a few of the series I drawn. You can see a larger sample on the gallery section of The King of the Island official website, where you can also compare how the same scene developed from concept artworks through color studies and storyboard to the actual frames of the movie.