Miss January

Il post in italiano lo trovate qui


"Hello,

Congratulations! We’re very pleased to announce that Neil has chosen your artwork as one of his runners-up for the month of January."

Those 24 words are the beginning of an e.mail I got on March 22nd from BlackBerry Keep Moving Team; those 24 words almost  caused me an heart attack.

Let's explain what did happen: some months ago I was dicking around on deviantart.com as I often use to, and, in my message box, I spot an adv for a BlackBerry contest.  I've a looser attitude I know it and I'm trying to fight against this point of my character but it's still very rare I read this kind of advertising till the end; I use to stop within 5 lines: the good time to make me persuaded I'm not able to take part to the contest or I'm not really interested in. This time something make me read the advertisment till the end and that thing was the name Neil Gaiman clearly visible in the headline (that and the fact the text was quite short).

Shortly the adv explained mr Gaiman wrote 12 short stories, one for every month, basing on some tweets he himself had chosen in a previous part of the contest, and he was inviting whoever to illustrate them. All you had to do was to dawnload the short-stories, read them, pick-up one of them, make an illustration and upload it on the dedicated web page; then it will be up to Gaiman to choose his favourite ones to be featured in the digital A Calendar of Tales.

Now, I'm not an absolute lover of every Gaiman's work (let's say I even don't like some of his works), but Neil Gaiman was the one who taught me to look to comic books using completely dofferent eyes (it's not I become a Corinthian stealing people's eyes anyway),  some of his works went along with me during those complicate, absurd years that are between childhood and being an adult and sometimes, when I look behind my shoulders, I have to admit Sandman has been influencing my unconscious and my personal and career choices more than it's recommended for a comic series.

And, since it would be Neil himself the one to choose the illustrations, I hand the possibility to let the hero of my teenage know I do exist (yep you can have a lot of bizarre heroes during you teenage such as the Italian actor Bud Spender or the basketball player Dino Menegin and so on...). Neil Gaiman would watch my art work: perhaps he would like it, pheraps definitely not but I didn't care so much: HE WOULD WATCH MY ARTWORK; he would know that somewhere in the world there is FedZeppelin, that thing alone was a triumph.

So I downloaded the shortstories, printed them, read them all during one night (not a big deal really; they are very short), I loved some of them, I just liked some others and I just didn't like a couple of them; but I was very sure from the first moment I would make an art work based on January Tale. That wasn't my favourite one, the easier to illustrate neither but - I don't know why - it was the one which had a sort of correspondance in my mind, maybe because its asmosphere but is sounded sort of familiar to me.

I started work on a photomanipulation (you sow it at the top of this entry or, if you like - and please make me happy and  do this - on the project page here): I took photos, searched between my files, looked for the help of some friends of mine (and I use this entry to say thanks to them: Valberici who long long time ago gave me the X-ray of his damaged eye and Luca who use to assemble such beautiful dioramas that I use part of one of them for my version of the character of Twelve).
At the end of all this I sent my artwork.

When they sent to me the e.mail telling me Neil (writing just the name was an idea of them not mine) shortlisted my work for the final selection and asking me to send an higher resolution file my heart stopped beating for a moment and what I thought was (in this very order): "so that's what a mail of good news looks like!" (I'm such a collector of "We are sorry to..." shaped mail and know very very well how they look like) and "OMG! OMG! Gaiman saw an illustration of mine and he liked it! Whatever will happen I won! The hell what happens now!"

And then the things went better than I can expect: surprisingly, some days later, I found in my e.mail box the letter I wrote in the beginning of this entry and I had to wait till A Calendar of Tales was officially online to spread the news all over the world.

In the meanwhile I wrote this blog entry again and again and again in my mind looking for the better form to share with you all my happiness. That is a small victory against my bad attitudes and that gives me the strength to keep on working.

And if when I was 14 they told that to me I would never never believe this: Neil Gaiman chosen my artwork.

Death Is Just A Feeling

Some weeks ago, listening to this song I started to think to an illustration about a lich.

Now the work is still in progress: I finished my first step some days ago, then I sent the picture to my friend Sara, who's a very good artist too as you can see in her deviantart page, and she worked on the ink version.

Here there is the artwork at this point.

Next step will be the digital colour I'll do (I hope very very soon). Look forward for that.

Qualche settimana fa, ascoltando la canzone qui sopra ho iniziato a pensare a un'illustrazione che vedeva un lich come protagonista.

Ora sono ancora al lavoro: ho inito le matite qualche giorno fa e poi le ho mandate alla mia amica Sara che, come potete vedere dalla sua pagina su deviant, è anche una meravigliosa artista.

Ecco il risultato a questo punto.

La prossima mossa sarà la colorazione digitale. Restate sintonizzati.

Beauty and the Steam step by step

Potete leggere questo stesso post in italiano qui.

Days ago my friend Tanabrus suggested I could draw a steampunk version for the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast.

That's the result:

Now let's see how I did this (but remember: I've to thanks a lot Tanabrus for the original idea and for the pieces of advice he gave me during the whole work in progress).

Step 1: pencil draw

I tried to focuses on the principal points of the fairytale: the Beauty, the Beast and the rose. 

Since I decided I'll make this illustration I know I will make a threatenig Beast who looks at Belle who was watching the rose (ok it's a mess of a phrase, but hope you'll understand what I'm writing).

The rose most of all offered me some cues for the steampunk setting: it's in a glass jar and the jar is perfect to be connected with brass tubed and stuff...

In the first version Belle had a different outfit, but Tanabrus suggest I've to dress her up like the Disney's version to give instantly the idea of what we're illustrating. 

In this first version  the candlestick you can see on the right in the last version is missing. It's because I didn't draw it until Tanabrus suggested me to add a side character from the Disney's movie.

Step 2: cyan print

Using adobe photoshop I changed my draw in a cyan version and printed it so I could add ink and then scan it again without any track of pencil lines.

Step 3: ink

Put ink over an illustration is not just trace the pencil lines with the ink. I wanted the atmosphere around Belle and around the Beast to be different, so I choose to put heavy black shadow on the background in the Beast's area and almost no shadows in Belle's area, thinking maybe the rose will be spreading a little of light.

I'm still not so sure about this choice: Belle's look seems to be too 'weak', maybe I'll work again on this.

The jar and the rose's outlines are coloured: I did them with black ink and then used photoshop to change their colors to have a more glassy effect.

Step 4: flat colours

Now I had a inked draw, and I need to choose my colours. I tried to think to the steampunk typical colours (ocher, vermillion, dark green, copper, rust...) and the Disney's Beauty and the Beast ones at the same time.

I choose to paint the main characters' outfits similar to the Disney's ones.

I'd to pay attention when I choose the colours 'caure they're the colours which I'll work on: putting on shadows and shades, they've to be light ones but also give the idea of where I'll be go with the finishing touch.

Step 5: shadows

For the shadows I used a spray-like brush of photoshop which gives that pointed effect, I worked on several layers in multiply mode, and changed the opacity to obtain the shade I wanted.

The glass jar is on a different layer: I painted it grey-blue and lowered the opacity, then, on another layer I tracked some withe lines with a soft brush to give the idea of light.

As finishing touches I added some light-pink sparkles around the rose with a starry brush and a little of steam effect done on a different layer with a soft brush and light grey paint lowering a lot the opacity.

And at the moment that's all: I'm not really satisfied of Bella's face, I think I'll work again on it sooner or later.

Obviously this illustration is for Tanabrus :)

Tick, tack, rabbit

You can catch an idea for a work from almost anything: pictures, songs, movies, poetry...

This time I took my inspiration from a phrase in a radio show: Tick tack, rabbit. Tick. Tack.

Ok is not that they where talking about rabbits, but the words have been junping in my brain for days.

That is the result:

L'ispirazione per un nuovo lavoro può venire da qualunque cosa: immagini, canzoni, film, poesia...

Questa volta mi sono lasciata ispirare da una frase ascoltata in una trasmissione radio: Tick tack, rabbit. Tick. Tack.

Beh, non è che stessero parlando proprio di un coniglio, ma le parole sono rimaste a rimabalzarmi in testa per giorni.

Questo è il risultato:

There are two versions 'cause I'm not able to choose the better background color, if you've any suggest...

In due versioni perché non riesco a scegliere il colore di fondo più adatto, per cui se ci sono suggerimenti...

Shaman

Playng with photoshop - piratesse

Una nota: il colore, che sembra fatto a mano, è in realtà una mezzatinta a china colorata poi col photohop in modo da dare questo effetto acquerello che mi piaceva particolarmente per dare al disegno un'aria da schizzo.

Just one thing: I gave this handmade like colour using ink on the shadows. Then I used photoshop for colours aiming to give this scrap-like atmosphere.

Strega

Gothic sorceress for Tenshi

Shen of the cats

Divertissement

Miza

Bucaneve

Queen of air and darkness

Incontro delle fate

Calzamaglia the dragon

Trittico Oscuro cover

su un'idea di Carmelo Massimo Tidona/graphic project by Carmelo Massimo Tidona

Gothic Clio

Fire! Fire! Fire!

The way through Mirkwood