News

It's tough times. Here in Italy we are in lockdown due to the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic since a while. The situation is bad. As for me, I am at home and I am fine.
In these days I was supposed to go to Bologna Children's Book Fair for my first time and to attend the presentation of Annual 2020, which includes one of my illustrations. Obviously none of those will take place. Hopefully BCBF and Associazione Autori di Immagine teams are working to turn both events to digital, so I'm really looking forward to join their virtual version. As for Annual 2020 I think I'll also receive a physical copy one day
For now I'm trying my best to stay focused despite what is happening. I enjoy making puzzles, taking care of my flowers, cooking cakes (with the availble ingredients) and playing retro videogames. Stay safe!

Recently I've been working on a new project for Ludattica, a children's game brand by Lisciani Group with whom I collaborate since a couple of years. The new series of games is called Creative Stickers and it combines playing with colorful stickers with creating a collection of unique greeting cards.
I designed three differently themed products: Happy Animals, Happy Unicorns and Happy Cakes. The creative sets include twelve illustrated greeting cards that can be decorated with over two hundred stickers. They display funny party supplies like hats, banners, balloons and rainbows (animals and unicorns edition), or delightful adornments like meringues, strawberries, fondant flowers and chocolate chips (cake edition).

You can find them all at the following link:
Ludattica Creative stickers.

After pets, monsters, butterflies and boats, the Easy Origami collection by Ludattica enriches with two new origami folding games: aeroplanes and windmills.
Like the other products of this series, they include illustrated paper sheets, that can be folded into colourful paper sculptures and garnished with several paper elements. The planes can board illustrated passengers, pilots, skydivers and any kind of cargo. The origami windmills can be set on a cardboard stick, being actually able to spin. The games are designd to develop concentration, fine motor skills, logical thinking and imagination too.

You can find them all at the following link:
Ludattica Easy Origami.

Kaspar stikes again! After being awarded at Lucca Junior, my illustration "Fino in fondo" was selected for the publication in Annual 2020". It collects 290 works choosen from more than 900 partecipants in nine categories: animation, editorial, children's books, didactic and scientific, comics, magazine, advertisement and design, personal projects. The contest and publication are organised by Associazione Autori di Immagine. You will be able to discover Annual 2020 and the awarded illustrators at Bologna Children's Book Fair on the next 31st of March. I'm looking forward to browse it! So see you in Bologna, it will be my very fist time there and I'm really thrilled about it.

Today it's been a big day. After spending the morning wandering between cosplayers, illustrated books, Pokemons and comics, I got to the Lucca Junior pavilion. The exhibition of Lucca Junior 2019 - "Livio Sossi" editorial illustration award was there, including my illustration. Finding it at the amazing Lucca Comics & Games festival, with so many visitors around, has been spectacular!
I enjoied seeing the other beautiful pieces at the exhinition (so many different ways to depict the same story!) and I was super thrilled to meet the outstanding judges of the competition: Paolo D'Altan, Davide Calì, Valentina Mai and Arianna Papini. I'd like to thank them again for their kind words and precious advices.
The award ceremony was something huge, on the stage of the (sold out) Giglio Theatre. Really unforgettable.

Illustrating children's games is inventive and challenging. My last work for Lisciani Group involved the design of mosaics, planning the position of each tile on the illustrated surface. Wonderful Mosaic Art is indeed a creative game containing illustrated boards which the children can decorate using the mosaic technique with real enamelled tiles. For this game I focused on mermaid characters and designed playful undersea sceneries with tropical fishes, shells, coral, crabs... The tiles attach easily to the surface and they constitute precious borders and mosaic decorations on the tail of mermaids and the sea waves. My favourite are the star-shaped tiles. They can stick to the rocks just like starfishes!

The game is included in the Craft Set series of Ludattica brand.

I've always been a big fan of Lucca Comics & Games, so I'm super happy that one of my illustrations is being awarded there. It will receive a special prize for "best use of the traditional technique" at Lucca Junior 2019 - "Livio Sossi" editorial illustration award . Yeeee!
The contest was organised by Lucca Comics & Games in collaboration with KITE edizioni, Book on a Tree and Associazione Autori di Immagine. The challenge involved drawing two illustrations and a storyboard based on the text "Fino in fondo" written by Davide Calì. It has been an over summer work and I'm really looking forward to seeing the exhibition and attending the award ceremony. It will happen next 31st of October.

More illustrated games are coming to life: my work in publishing is full of satisfaction. The collaboration with Lisciani Group goes on and I've illustrated a series of new creative games for their brand Ludattica: Easy Origami.
I designed four products based on different origami folds: boats, monsters, butterflies and pets.
They are composed of illustrated square sheets that, once folded, transform into colourful paper sculptures. The resulting pieces can also be garnished with illustrated extra details, like paws and ears (for monsters and pets), wing parts (butterflies) and fishermans and sails (boats).

You can find them all at the following link:
Ludattica Easy Origami.

As anticipated some months ago, I've started working on the illustration of children's games with Lisciani Group. It's been a really challenging and satisfactory work. Finally, the resulting products will be available in shops: memory games of the series Sweet Memo and Play Memo. Waiting for their coming distribution, you can already find them on the website of Ludattica brand.
I illustrated four different subjects for the four games: candies, lollipops and cupcakes for the Sweet Memo series; houses for the Play memo series.
They are matching games designed to develop observation skills and memory. The fun-shaped cards feature a hilarious collection of the subjects: parisian and gipsy houses, tutti-frutti and rainbow swirly rainbows, liquorice and mint candies, maracuja and cherry cupcakes.

You can find them all at the following links:
Sweet Memo and Play Memo.

I've been working on this picturebook during the last summer and I finally can show it! The title is "Un paio a ciscuno" (i. e. A pair of shoes to each one) and the text was written by the class IV of "Italia K2" primary school from Fiesso d'Artico (Venice - Italy).
The story tells about the adventures of a bear cub who is helped by a group of superheroes after losing his mother. You can browse the gallery to give a look to my favourite illustrations or read the whole text on Scarpetta d'Oro's website Scarpetta d'Oro's website of and you'll find bad hunters and great superpowers, secret bases and erupting volcanoes. And a new character that is going to unveil the mistery of the missing shoes on my awarded illustration that inspired the picture book.
Yesterday the class of kids who wrote the story was awarded at Palarcobaleno, Fossò (Venice - Italy) and the picturebook was finally shown.

This one is going to be a very special Autumn: I'm working with Lisciani Group to illustrate my very first games for children!
I'm very happy about this collaboration. This field is a kind of new for me, so I'm learning a lot and the work is pretty challenging. I can't show you my illustrations yet, but you can try to guess what games I'm working on from the cupcake draft that you see here. Any idea? I'm sorry, but you have to wait till next winter for such brand new games to come out. Stai tuned!

The inauguration of the exhibition of Notte di Fiaba Illustration Competition is happening today at MAG - Museo Alto Garda, but, unfortunately, I'll not be able to attend it. I'm very sorry about it because I love observing how the same theme has been developed by different artists. And I love meeting the organisers of the event, other illustrators and, maybe, the jury's members too, that are: Livio Sossi, Fausta Orecchio e Simone Tanucci, Alessandro Sanna, Maurizio Quarello, Franco Pivetti.
The exhibition is being on show during the Notte di Fiaba Festival, that will take place in Riva del Garda from the 23rd to the 26th of August 2018, and it will close on September 2nd. Who knows, maybethat I'll end up near Trentino during the summer and I'll be able to give a look to it!

I'm so happy, today I've attended the inauguration of That's a Mole! Exhibition and it's been gorgeous!
The location is, of course, amazing: the illustrations are on show along Via Montebello, which is just beneath the Mole Antonealliana (it looks HUGE in person). However the whole event has been even more surprising. The organisers have been helpful (I was even offered an hotel room for the night!) and creative, a group of great people. They arranged music and dancing entertainment to start the event, then a super funny presenter disclosed every single piece and he told something about it and/or interviewed the illustrator. And... yes, I was interviewed! I got embarrassed as I usually do when I speak with a microphone, but it was beautiful telling about being awarded for an illustration about astronomy while being a scientist myself.
It's been an honour to me receiving the "Fermi Tutti" Special Prize from Luca Latronico, who is the responsible of the Fermi Project of INFN, and it's been interesting talking with him about his research project too. I was given also a large print of my illustration that will travel by bicycle with me through France before coming home ...I hope it is bikeproof!.
The exhibition will is being on show until September, so if you plan to visit Turin and the wonderful Museum of Cinema during the summer you'll be able to give it a look. Otherwise you can browse the newspapers and websites that speak about it: Il corriere della sera - La Stampa - TorinOggi - Turin Town Council - Museum of Cinema

I'm absolutely happy to announce that my illustration is awarded at the 5th edition of That's a Mole! contest with the Special Prize "Fermi tutti"! The special award was assigned by the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Fermi satellite.
I'm particularly happy to receive this award because not very long time ago I used to work as a researcher with a physics background (nanothecnology and plasmonics, in particular). Actually my illustration was inspired by my previous experience as a scientist and it is dedicated to all the women in science who devote their lives to uncover the mysteries of the universe. It is an upside down silhouette of the Mole Antonelliana which is turned into a telescope pointed at the canopy of heaven. Here a curious astronomer observes the dancing constellations, comets, mysterious planets and a tiny satellite...
The illustration will be printed at huge size and on show in Montebello street in Turin (Italy), just at the foot of the Mole Antonelliana, from the 23th of June to the 10th of September. I'm really looking forward to seeing it!

Genoa lays a stone's throw from home so I couldn't miss the opportunity to attend the inauguration of the exhibition of Sergio Fedriani Award 2018. Especially because my illustration was there! It is entitled "The dive" and it is exhibited together with many awesome artworks in the beautiful spaces of the Doge's Palace, in the hearth of Genova.
The exhibition is opened till the 6th of May. It is an holiday period here in Italy, so I'm dreaming of a plethora of visitors. The inauguration has been the perfect occasion to meet some old acquaintances and make some new ones. And, of course it's been really exciting and motivating to follow my illustrator's path. After all, as Ferruccio Giromini writes in the exhibition's catalogue: "[...] It is well known that Sergio Fedriani Award calls for young artists who are often starting to face the uncertainty of profession. During the years, many of them took wing into an illustrator career [...]." Hope it will be a good omen!

Save the date: 20th April at 18.00, the "Fedriani Award" exhibition is being opened at Doge's Palace in Genoa and my illustrations will be there!
I'm particularly happy about this result because this event is taking place near home, so I'll be able to share it with my family, friends and fellow artists living around here. It is the twelfth edition of the award, that is dedicated to the Genoese artist Sergio Fedriani. This year's theme was "In a book", can you guess what I drew? See you at the exhibition and you will discover it!

I'm really happy to announce that my illustration is selected at the Fifth International Illustration Competition "Notte di Fiaba"!
I've just spent the morning packing my original drawing (with a lot of cardboard layers!) and posting it. However we have to wait several months for the exhibition that will be inaugurated next June 2nd. It is being organized "MAG - Museo Alto Garda" at MAG - Museo Alto Garda , tha Museum of Riva del Garda (Trento, Italy). The contest is based on the fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen and in my illustration I drew Ariel with the Sea Witch. Are you curious to see it? I give you this little preview for now.

Ok, I've known it since a few weeks, but I've been waiting till the special day to reveal the happy piece of news: I wan the International Children Illustration Award Scarpetta d'Oro 2017! Here you can find the awarded illustration!. And the incredibly unexpected fact lays in that I'm the winner of this contest for the second time (once upon the time in 2013 ...)!
Today I attended the award ceremony in Fossò, a village near Venice. It's been really moving to me for many reasons: the awesome organization of the whole event, the numerous audience including a lot of participating children, meeting and sharing the experience with passionate colleagues, the great illustration exhibition and, above all, my illustration at the exhibition and so many people enjoying it.
I've already told you almost everything about this contest here and here, but you can find more info on this 22nd edition of the contest on the website of the organisers, ACRIB, and on the following articles (in Italian) by La voce di Venezia, Il Gazzettino, La Conceria.
The competition theme was "to each his own shoes" and my illustration is entitled "Supervoglia di indossarle " (i. e. "Super will to wear them"), the comment by the jury's president, Guido Clericetti, describes it in the best possible way:
"[...] It shows a four colourful superheroes (including the bear) a mysterious missing character that left its footprints. The illustration recalls the superhero fiction genre that dominates the mainstream TV market, foe an audience of children too. Who knows which adventures might this happy illustration suggest? Undoubtedly we will be told a surprising story by the kids that will run for the tale contest; the literary jury will choose the most original story, that will be illustrated by Giulia and published as a new picturebook of the "scarpetta d'oro" series. [...]"
Now I'm really looking forward to illustrating the picturebook! Stay tuned!

I'm glad to announce that my illustration "A considerate guardian" is back on show! You will find it till next January in a prestigious location: the Genoa Museum at Porto Antico, right in the heart of Genova!
The exibition is held in the freshly inaugurated "Genoa Gallery", a space of the Museum dedicated to artworks on the story and symbols of Genoa township and Genoa Cricket and Fotball Club. It is promoted by Fondazione Genoa 1893 in collaboration with Genoa Cfc and SMACK!&Play and it displays the 15 illustrations selected for "Disegno Genova 3" competition. The illustrations depict the griffin, a mytological figure that stand as a emblem of both the city and the football club of Genoa.
The exhition was inaugurated today and I had the honour to attend the press conference with Giorgio Guerrello, councelor of Fondazione Genoa 1893, Enrico Testino, organiser of Smack! & Play!, and Ferruccio Giromini, President of the Jury of Disegno 3. It's been really exciting speaking of my work and answering to the journalists questions, even though being in the limelight is not really for me.

The even's press review includes: Rai 3
Il Secolo XIX
Primocanale
Liguria Notizie
Telenord
Genoa News
Pianetagenoa1983

(among them there're also a couple of video displaying little ability with interviews...).

Finally the day to go and give a look to my illustration exhibited in Celle Ligure has arrived and today we spent the whole day at Graffi - Libri al Sole Festival! It's been very exciting fiding my illustration at the exhibition and printed on the calendar published by the event organisation. The award cerimony took place today and I could shake the jury members' and organisers' hand (and I was unexpectedly awarded with a basel plant too!). Now you can find the selected illustration in the gallery, its title is "Colazione Lampedusana" (i. e. "Breackfast of Lampedusa"). As previously mentioned, the competition theme was "Dailiness" and my illustration is dedicated to the island of Lampedusa and its generous people that rescue and welcome migrants daily.

Save the date June 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Get ready to catch a train to Celle Ligure (SV) where my illustration will be exhibited @ Graffi - Libri al Sole Festival. This event is involves an independent publishing fair and a lot of exhibits on comics and illustration. Among them, you'll find the exhibition of the 11th edition of Disegni al Sole illustration competition. I'm very attached to this contest, since it's been my very first exhibition (6 years ago!). Its theme is "Dailiness" and I anticipate that my drawing's title is "Colazione Lampedusana" (i. e. "Breackfast of Lampedusa"). Can you guess what does it portray? You have to wait till June to check it ...and run to Celle to give it a look in person!

Hooray! I don't know if I can make myself clear but I'm so happy: my ilustration is the winner!!! The contest, Disegno Genova 3, was organised by UNO with EurHope, it involved an exceptional jury and its theme was "the griffin". The award cerimony has taken place today in Genoa at SMACK! – Comics Exhibition and I've had the satisfaction of finding my griffin at the exhibition place of honour. An amazing lecture made my special day even more special. It's been held by Paolo D'Altan, Ferruccio Giromini and Ivo Milazzo and I really have to thank them and the organiser, Enrico Testino, for their helpfullness and precious advices! I bring home a plethora of ideas and a fluffy Umbreon (not mine, of course, just a present!).

At the very last second (as usual), I managed to pack up and send my illustrations to the contest “Illustrazioni in Movimento” organized by Emmi's Care and EDUFROG APS. Thanks to this contest, I approached a world completely new to me and I learned a lot about psychomotricity and more specifically about the Hungarian pediatrician, Emma Pikler’s work on children in motion. It has been quite hard for me to re-elaborate the illustrations from this experience (you can find it here ), but the result was surprising. At this moment, I cannot show the illustrations because the organizer requested to remain anonymous but I hope to be able to publish them soon…maybe on the awards page. Stay tuned!

The fanzine Lök Zine proposed an open call which tastes like spring meadows, roots and scattered pollens. The theme is "Plants" and I find it very evocative, even though it strictly requires black&white illustrations. My imagination instead tend to work in technicolor, so this is a very good challenge to improve myself and test the power of pure black indian ink on white paper. Actually the black&white filter awoke my scientific gaze, that turned a dahlia into the porphyrin heterocycle of chlorophyll and a whole field into an oxygen and carbohydrates factory crowded with tubes, coils and gears. The title of my two illustration is Photosynthesis.

I love reading and science fiction is one of my favourite genre, so it's been funny finding a cover to re-create for the Concorso EX cover 2016 . The contest is organised by Spazio MIL-Sesto San Giovanni and Archivio Giovanni Sacchi (you can find the call here) and it suggested to select a book about robots. I chose "Supertoys last all summer long" by Brian W. Aldiss, which is neither incredibly famous nor my favourite one, but by chance I recently watched the movie based on it (A.I. - Artificial Intelligence) and I got an idea for my cover at once. Be ready to run to Sesto San Giovanni, where my illustrationwill be exhibited at Archivio Giovanni Sacchi - Spazio MIL during Bookcity from 17th to 20th november.

I'm sure that there will be a lot of competition, but I throw myself into the contest Illustratore dell'Anno - Calendario Città del Sole. Partecipating implies designing a children calendar, proposing a finished illustration and a few sketches. I proposed a project about a monster calendar, where twelve monsters accompany a curious girl through the changing seasons. Nicolò gave rise to this idea while hiking on the sunny heights near home and the werewolf too reminds me a hike near Portofino, that drove us through an flowering steep wood

Time to get on the track of a new illustration contest: this one! The That's a Mole contest suggests to re-elaborate the silhouette of the Mole Antonellina, the major landmark building in Turin. My idea rise from Piazza San Carlo, an important square of Turin, and I imagined that its horse statue got fed up with staying on the pedestal.

It's been running a rather hard year, however I finally managed to grab my brushes and draw an illustration for a contest, "Nicuzza, la magia dell'amore". My work didn't start the best way indeed, somehow I was sold paper that resulted completely unsuitable for gouache, despite the shop keeper's recommendations. Obviously I realised the problem when I had already finished the pencil drawing and there was no time enough to do it again on better paper. However the illustrations look nice and a digital touch will help to solve the matter. The contest is organised by the Children Illustration Festival Illustramente and its subject is a serenade written by Franco Finistrella. I was inspired by these words: "Sutta la to finestra ci siminasti sciuri; e doppu cincu misi garofani sbucciaru. Sù tutti bianchi e russi comu la to facciuzza. Bedda tu si "Nicuzza" comu li ciuri tò." (translation: "You grow the flowers by your window and carnations blossomed after five moths. They are white and red like your face. Nicuzza, you are beautiful like your your flowers".).

I' really moved I finally can leaf through my first picturebook! This lovely booklet publication comes from the 18° Internation Children Illustration Award Scarpetta d'Oro, that I wan. It called for a following pupils challenge to invent a story based on my illustration. The kids of the "G. Marconi" Elementary School (Tombelle di Vigonovo, PD, Italy) wrote the awarded tale . They gave it the title "Gita al Museo" (i. e. "Museum Trip") and this tale tells about an impertinent boy called Giulio (might it be dedicated to me?) and an exhibition of extraordinary shoes.

Ready to gather the children votes! Two my illustrations were selected at the Ronzinante contest and a new exhibition is being organised in Sassuolo, at the Chidren Library Leontine from 7th to 15th November. You can find more info here. Here is the call of the Ronzinante Award , that is organised by Associazione C.R.E.A..

Time to go to Modena: two illustrations of mine were selected among the finalists of Associazione C.R.E.A.. They are being exhibited from 27th April to 11th May at the Sala Paradisino. As the first edition theme, the contest suggests to investigate disability through a disabled Don Quixote. Re-creating the Cervantes' character as a wheel-chaired knight has been pretty challenging. I liked designing the charging Ronzinante as a Paralympic hand bike and imaging book stories as wings that let fly away from the chair (wheeled, or not) towards heroic adventures.

Hooray! My illustration wan the first prize! Its title is "E se le scambiassi? (i. e. What if I exchange mine for these ones?) and it is being exhibited at Castello dei da Peraga – Villa Bettarini a Peraga di Vigonza (PD, Italy) from 19th October to 10th November as the winner of the as the winner of the International Children Illustration Award Scarpetta d'Oro I can say that good ideas can arrive even running to the bus stop. After overthinking the subject "Scarpe su misura" (i. e. "Shoes made to measure") many days long, I suddenly got the proper idea dashing down a steep street in Genoa, Via Papigliano. Apparently the idea was a good one! The contest calls for following steps: elementary schools will be challenged to invent a story based on my illustration and then I'll illustrate the winning tale. So I'll design my first picture book!

I'm really happy I could illustrate a song by Fabrizio De André and, even better, I'm super happy that my illustation featuring "La guerra di Piero" (i. e. Piero's war) was selected and will be exhibited at Albissola comics on 10th and 11th April. Here you find the call of the contest Un Mare di Matite, whose subject are Fabrizio De André's songs, my very favourite songwriter. Among the plethora of amazing songs, I let Piero's thousand poppies inspire me. They remind me very old memories about the stylus creaking on the LP. «E se gli sparo in fronte o nel cuore Soltanto il tempo avrà per morire, ma il tempo a me resterà per vedere, vedere gli occhi di un uomo che muore», translated "And if I aim at his front or at his heart I’ll leave him only the time to die, but I shall have plenty of time to look in the eyes of a dying man".

I got a train ticket bound to Pisa C.le and I'm leaving to go to the exhibition at Pisa Book Festival where my little Marianne is shown. Talent Next 2011 Award proposed the theme "Vive la France (i. e. Long live France) as a tribute to the festival guest country. And so long live my revolutionary Petite Marianne, my little revolutionary Marianne, who crumbles a past made of stained-glass windows, maybe shouting Liberté Egalité Fraternité. Whoever is curious to live watch my illustration can go to Leopolda Station in Pisa, where exhibition is held at Pisa Book Festival.

My illustration is selected and will be exhibited: hooray! I hesitated a lot to try my first children illustration contest and this amazing result is really unexpected. The exhibition is even close to home, in Celle Ligure (SV, Italy), and so I'll be able to live watch it. My drawing is being shown among the other selected works at the independent book fair Libri al Sole from 1st to 3rd July. The contest subject was "Viaggi: di paese in paese, di città in città" (i. e. "Journeys: from country to country, from town to town") and the title of my illustration is "Viaggi Intrecciati" (i. e. "Intertwined journeys").