LRNZ | Sketchblog

LRNZ.IT GOES LIVE.

2011-09-21T00:52:00.005+02:00

Con un po' di emozione, è arrivato il momento di separarci.
Dopo diversi anni di onorato servizio, questo blog non è più il mio supporto prediletto stupendissimo.
Ho un sito nuovo di zecca.
http://www.lrnz.it.
E' un bel sito, si.
Su questo blog non pubblicherò altro che non siano link al mio nuovo sito.
Presto sarà possibile registrarsi al feed RSS anche lì, esattamente come su blogger. Userò ogni social network esistente per spammare gli aggiornamenti.
Quindi se mi aggiungete su Facebook, Twitter o G+ il gioco è fatto: LRNZ a domicilio in abbonamento perpetuo.
PS: se siete dei blog dipendenti POTETE USARE LA VISTA BLOG ANCHE SUL NUOVO SITO. Basta usare gli switch sotto l'interfaccia!
Ci vediamo su lrnz.it!

After a long and intense use of this blog, it's time to move on.
At last, I have a brand new website.
http://www.lrnz.it.
It too has a blog structure, but it's completely custom, with many many more features, starting with a much bigger space for images and a VERY cool homepage/dashboard.
Moreover if you love blogs nav style you can activate a nifty blog view.
RSS feeds will be active very soon and of course I will spread every single post on all the social networking platforms out there.
So add me on twitter, facebook or G+ and you're done.
See you there!

MIRIAM IN SIBERIA | VOL.2 LP COVER

2011-09-07T23:45:00.003+02:00

Cover illustration for the forthcoming LP "Vol.2" by Miriam in Siberia.

ABC | ARTE BELLEZZA CULTURA

2011-09-07T20:26:00.007+02:00

SNOB, through suggestion of Marcello Crescenzi commissioned me a cover illustration for a promotional printed set of the "ABC" project, by Regione Lazio.

We started with this blend of nature and art.

So you get this Roman head from Villa Adriana that reflects in the famous emperor's pool. Under the water and the reflection of trees and of the signature coumns of villa Adriana you can see fishes roaming free, and again the head symbolically reflected as Venus and knowledge are in the hermetic tradition that is so strong in roman classic art.

Leaves define the plane separating the underwater world.

Here is the final result:

Unfortunately, we have to agree that the solution lacked people in it, and it's to (young) people that the ABC project needs to arrive.

I started considering these two drafts as a starting point for a new take on the theme.

First one is a rush of people floating around ad sort of ISD made of art related items. Client loved the Festa del CInema di Roma poster I did a while ago and asked a take on the same vibe. While we lost nature we definitely gained people and action.

The second one is all about youth, arts, and nature living together in a beatiful landscape.

Freshest of the set, probably a bit on the edge to become off topic as a result.

So, the first one won in the end and here it is!

Will post the printed set as soon as I manage to get one!

KABOOM! | Fallout 3

2011-09-07T19:23:00.004+02:00

Christian G. Marra of Passenger Press asked me to do this 24x17 piece about apocalypse in videogames, more specifically in Fallout 3. Destination: Bizzarro Magazine, Kaboom issue.

And now some extra contents! In between of the work:

My usually dirty draft. I generally lay down the final idea in the first 10 seconds of work.

As you can guess (not see, as it's VERY draft), there's a second guy on the back getting the nuka cola cap. This was my first concept of the work. Showed it to my friend Rrobe and he gave me the brilliant idea to eliminate the second character and let the bad guy interact with the spectator, throwing the cap towards the camera. That was a really smart solution and so I did (it even eliminates the need of a second character to draw, yessss!).

A first separation of the foreground drawing from the backdrop.

Lights are defined, some minor changes on the anatomy still have to occur.

Annnnnd: here is the final piece!

Can't wait to see the printed one.

VISION TWO | OTOMO SHONEN - EARLY WORKS BY KATSUHIRO OTOMO

2011-08-21T04:09:00.006+02:00

Here is the second cover I saw in my dream.

It is a collection of Otomo's early works.

Mostly black and white stuff.

The book was thick and covered in dark gray canvas.

One copy had that paper thing (obi) the japanese books usually have, but I can't remember perfectly.

Last thing: the covers are exactly the way I dreamed 'em. Far from me to think these are actually good covers. They are the faithful reproduction of the books I saw in my dream.

Hope you'll like it, anyway.

Don't forget to click the image to see it full size.

VISION ONE | OTOMO / ANATOMY

2011-08-18T20:43:00.006+02:00

I dreamt about Mr. Katsuhiro Otomo.

In the dream I was not self confident enough to speak to him so I only stared at Otomo from a distance while he was talking with his collaborators in the main hall of a old fashioned roman hotel.

During the meeting he was shuffling his new books on the table.

I could clearly see two books.

Here is the first one.

It was a book about Otomo's anatomy archetypes research made for Akira.

It is called OTOMO / ANATOMY.

Sorry for the cheap compositing, it's only a quickie, but I think it gets to the point.

Here is an in between.

Starting the second one now.

VACATION

2011-08-15T18:02:00.003+02:00

Click the image to zoom in.

BATMAN | BORN AGAIN

2011-08-02T03:31:00.005+02:00

More fake Batman.

Loved to develop more concept on this one.

A 2hrs all digital thing so no in between steps, sorry.

Expect a major color correction and detail fixing by tomorrow.

Another one and we're set.

INTERVIEW | SATELLITE VOICES

2011-08-01T19:05:00.003+02:00

Quick and dirty interview ofn Satellite Voices!

HERE!

BATMAN | FINAL

2011-07-31T16:35:00.003+02:00

Here it is: no more trash glowy moths and a more gentle and selective color correction.

Drawing at night can bring you to brutal color corrections :)

BATMAN MOCKUP

2011-07-31T03:41:00.006+02:00

Click on the images to see 'em properly.

Finally had some time to finish.

It was a 12 hours thing, digital draft to coloured flat version.

Not very sure about some details. The glow on the moths is maybe too cheesy.

Maybe I will crank the brightness up a bit more. I love the fact you have to struggle to see Batman in the dark, but maybe I can just let him be a little more visible.

Tomorrow, maybe, I will post a more definitive version.

For sure I can do be faster AND better.

Anyway the Superamici logo on true a Batman cover should be there by default.

Batman is the best superhero to draw, no doubt.

NO TIME TO DRAW

2011-07-29T21:43:00.003+02:00

is freaking me out.

BATMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN.

2011-07-29T04:32:00.008+02:00

Work in progress. Wished I could finish it today but didn't have the time to draw a lot.

Can't wait to colour it digitally.

Hope I can work on it more tomorrow and at least finish the pencil layer.

5:00 AM. Time to sleep.

The Dark Side of the Sun: About noise and signal

2011-07-09T14:02:00.011+02:00

I managed to finish this animated project called "the dark side of the sun".
I will make an extensive post about it soon.
Right now I have the urge to tell you what I discovered drawing for animation.
Basically, animation punishes you everytime you make a wrong choice of what it's really important and what's not.
Did you put a detail that wasn't necessary in your character design? Now draw it a thousand times!
It's like having a brutal old fashioned teacher sitting on your back!

That brought my style and the whole idea of drawing, expecially drawing characters, to a very new place.

The images above are the key pose drawings I had to do to let the animators to their job without having to guess by trial and error how and what to draw. They are only a sample (I had to do many, MANY more drawings doing the preproduction) of what I discovered.

I'm very proud of the results, and it may seem stupid to you that I consider the drawing above the biggest step forward in style I've ever made in years, and probably the best drawings I've ever made. People usually like my work because it's very detailed and complex, so the drawings above may look cheap, worthless 10 minutes sketches (and I actually had 10/20 minutes to decide/do the shots so it's partly true :) ).

These drawings are very important to me for their consistency and, at last, a good balance between noise and signal: that's my only goal when I start a drawing, illustration or comic panel.

What's next? Using my new skills doing comics as soon as possible!

Cover illustration for "Il Manga", Tunué.

2011-06-28T13:53:00.010+02:00

The illustration itself.

The line artwork.

Here are 2 initial sketches I made before heading to the final composition.

And here is the final thing with all of the text in place.

ZODAC

2011-06-28T12:14:00.000+02:00

My favourite character of the MOTU series. For a secret project to come.

Agenda Aeterna, Grrrzetic.

2011-06-27T14:17:00.003+02:00

First of the year illustration for Agenda Aeterna, an agenda about craziest documented deaths.

Edited by Grrrzetic.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN | NHK | CHIKYU AGORA MINI FEATURE

2011-06-07T16:41:00.001+02:00

SMALL UPDATE

2011-05-11T00:36:00.005+02:00

Looks like I will still be on the movie stuff some more time.
Will be back with a HUGE amount of drawings by the end of the month.

Meanwhile I can say that doing traditional 2d animation IS the best way to improve synthesis and style consistence. Quite satisfied with my new noise/signal ratio.

Ancora un po' di pazienza. I lavori sul film si sono allungati di un bel po'.
Entro fine mese dovrei chiudere tutto e se DIO vuole trovare il tempo di fare dei post torrenziali pieni di disegni nuovi.

Come scrivo sopra, è ufficiale: fare animazione 2d tradizionale è il modo più efficace per stringere i bulloni al proprio stile di disegno: per la sintesi, la coerenza stilistica e il rapporto segnale/rumore in primis.

Torno al lavoro.
A presto.

PS:sono stato in mostra a Tokyo!
http://www.eshi100.com
Un post sulla mostra a brevissimo!

SHIPPING TIME & PRINTS!

2011-03-27T18:58:00.008+02:00

First of all THANK YOU for the HUUUUGE positive feedback for Viewpoint and Doctor H.
Then.
I'm very sorry but right now it's impossible for me to follow all the packing and shipping procedures as I'm at the end of the production process for my film so I'm pretty busy: I'll start again shipping orders from the 25th of April.

Anyway if you still want to place an order now procedure is always the same:
write me at B U R O M A S C H I N E N ( A T ) G M A I L . C O M

Just keep in mid I won't start shipping again anytime sooner the 25th of april, 2011.

Last but not least, here are the available prints!

They are all high quality digital prints, pencil signed by me, printed on 329 x 483 mm heavy matte Tintoretto Felt Embossed paper.
Each print is €20.00, but if you buy two it's €15.00 each.

Enjoy (and sorry for the bad pics,it's iphone magic, no time for a proper photo setup, my store is coming sooooon :P )!

NOVA | Dance Boy Dance

DUM! DUM! BAM!

Golem: Aleph

Zeroguide Set 01

Sprawl: Mechanic Phunk

Sabrina

Astrogamma

Gli Odorini Migliori Che Esistono | 2

Astrogamma | Character Model Sheet

Shopper

Zeroguide Openers Set A

Honba Hyper Laser Vision

Nicotine

Donne Nude Con Le Mani In Tasca

Golem: Steno

Astrogamma: first panel

Hopper

VIEWPOINT + DOCTOR H | NOW WITH SHIPPING COSTS

2011-02-02T02:07:00.020+01:00

"VIEWPOINT"
18.2cm x 25.6cm 128 pages, full colour, digital.

A super limited edition (first run is 100 copies)of a deluxe book to come.
Contains a broad selection of my works.
VIEWPOINT is the first of a serie of book limited prototyping process.
Everything, layout graphics to shipping is by LRNZ.

Un prototipo super limited di un libro che prima o poi uscirà.
Contiene una selezione delle immagini presenti sul mio Blog.
VIEWPOINT è la prima di una serie di operazioni di prototipazione
industriale a tiratura limitatissima.

Price: €25.00 + Shipping (€5 for a 24h shipment and a tracked package)

"Doctor H"
A5 352 black and white, four color cover.

350+ Original character designs, realized during year 2009 for the 1825 project.

350+ Character design originali realizzati durante il 2009 da me per
il progetto 1825.

Price: €25.00 + shipping (€5 for a 24h shipment and a tracked package)

A special discount (20% off, so you pay €20 for a book) is available if you want both or if you buy a book and a print together. Prints and books are available in a limited quantity.

If you want to buy the books or know what prints are available please contact me at:
BUROMASCHINEN ( A T ) GMAIL ( D O T ) COM

C'e' uno sconto del 20% se decidete di comprare entrambi i libri O di comprare un libro E una stampa. Un libro verrebbe quindi a costare 20 euro. Le stampe e i libri hanno tirature limitatissime.

Se volete comprare o volete sapere quali stampe sono disponibili potete contattarmi all'indirizzo:
BUROMASCHINEN ( A T ) GMAIL ( D O T ) COM

PS: Online store coming very SOON!

---UPDATE---
NOW SHIPPING!
SONO ANDATO ALLE POSTE, EWWIWA!

Each copy is signed and decorated with a flashy pink unipaint.
Ogni copia è autografata e scarabocchiata con un vezzoso pennarelletto unipaint fucsia.

C'e' una mia (lunghissima) intervista

2010-12-27T10:10:00.005+01:00

QUI.

Grazie a Giulio Capriglione e a Lo Spazio Bianco!

LRNZ | DIS IRATIS NATUS

2010-11-21T01:05:00.003+01:00

GOLEM | ROSABELLA FILAGONE | BACK TO ANALOG

2010-10-17T04:45:00.005+02:00

Some anticipations. Let me introduce you Rosabella.

It's been a while since I did my last analog penciling work, here is the original drawing I started from.

The dark side of the sun | Keyframe studies

2010-09-25T01:54:00.005+02:00

Some breakdowns:

The dark side of the sun | Model Sheets

2010-09-25T01:46:00.003+02:00

Starting to archive my studies in a more organic way.
Here are some files from the character design.
Mckenzie (redesigned from scratch):

And Rachael:

THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN

2010-08-24T15:57:00.012+02:00

The Dark Side of the Sun is a film about children that have a very rare disease, XP.
In people with XP, sun causes skin cancer and other serious body damage even with very short exposure to it's UV rays.

Dan & Karen Mahar decided to make a dream come true and founded Camp Sundown, a very special place in the woods north of new york, where all the children with XP could play together in a UV free environment.

Carlo Hintermann (Citrullo International) went to Camp Sundown to shoot what it started as a plain documentary.
Things changed a lot :)

I was asked to try a completely different take on the narrative and develop an animated side story.
Now I'm so involved with this project I don't think I will find the time for anything else unless It's finished (march 2011, very optimistic).

The whole project will end in a 30/40 minutes 2K animated story, done in 2d traditional (but paperless) animation.
I'm now biulding a small and fast super hero team (4/5 people at the most) to help me with this ridiculous amount of work to do (8-12 fps hand drawn stuff!).

NHK, Japanese TV, is co-producing.
I'm VERY excited.

Here are the first studies, hope you'll like 'em!

Father Night:

Katie:

Hannah:

McKenzie:

Rachael:

Chris:

A first study of all the characters:

And a style/quality test render:

MAREMOTO

2010-08-22T04:49:00.003+02:00

A doodle I did one year ago at maremoto festival.
Always liked it, never understood why.
Today I noticed it resembles Kaki King.
Kaki King in my opinion is one of the most beautiful being in the world, ever (not to mention she's one of my favourite musicians too - if you never heard anything have a Look: 1. 2. 3. 4. and 5.).
Maybe this explains why I was satisfied with the doodle.
End of the story.

Yes: no way to sleep tonight and it's half past five in the morning.

YOU ARE NOW KYNE

2010-08-16T22:00:00.002+02:00

I opened a game related Blog. Beware.
Illustration by Roger Dean.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE | Tattoo design for my friend Davide.

2010-08-01T00:56:00.002+02:00

Davide and Elena just married!

Here are some progress shots.

Rough Sketch

Tracing the sketch:

The monochrome full composition.

Hommages

2010-07-20T03:46:00.008+02:00

A tattoo for my dear friend Riccardo:

And, at last, Sarah & Vlady, I managed to find some time for this "Dama con piccolo cane cinese":

In the next days I will post some breaking news.
Stay tuned.

LRNZ VIDEO DEPOT ON VIMEO

2010-07-07T20:03:00.003+02:00

Here!
I finally decided to open a Vimeo profile.

Alice in Wonderland | The Cheshire Cat

2010-07-04T17:20:00.003+02:00

My take on a super classic.
Soon available in a super secret super cool book, a compliation of several stories about Wonderland's citizens.

ILLUSTRATION TEST

2010-06-14T03:30:00.006+02:00

Forced myself to keep everything on 5 photoshop layers, no selections.
Layers are: Pencils, color, ambience post, blacks and graphics.

SKETCH

2010-06-13T03:35:00.003+02:00

Experimenting with a new technique.
Tomorrow the finished one.

MEDIATECA UBU | LRNZ | MAICOL E MIRCO

2010-06-13T00:50:00.002+02:00

Here we are at Mediateca UBU in Montefano, beautiful hometown of our friend Marco Bragaglia.
We took over the bar, and after drinking everything we could we decided to pay tribute to it, our way: we decorated it so that everyone could feel the friendship that Aperitivo Analcolico Sanpellegrino (AAS) and Red Wine can bring to us.
Hope to have the chance to colour it, maybe next time!

TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE MUSEUM | MATTER VS ENERGY

2010-06-13T00:33:00.008+02:00

Back from the grave!
Here's an illustrated (1mt tall) panel I made for the national museum of science and technology Leonardo Da Vinci , in Milan.
Seems like it will be there for a while (maybe permanent), and this is thanks to mr. Matteo Stefanelli for the never ending kindness in trusting this wild idea.
Hope you'll like it!

LRNZ | FUTURO ANTERIORE | EVENT HORIZON

2010-04-29T01:56:00.004+02:00

VERY VERY honoured to be selected for Futuro Anteriore 2010 (BLACK) at Napoli COMICON.

Event Horizon, my story, is about a lost spaceman that turns into a black hole, devouring the entire universe as we know it.

Event Horizon will be printed as part of the Futuro Anteriore 2010 book.
You can see the panels at Napoli Comicon.

Text by Alessandro Caroni.
Japanese Adaptation Federica Lippi.

See you in Naples!

GOLEM | Poster 1

2010-04-27T02:37:00.003+02:00

50x70 cm poster.
For sale at Napoli Comicon 2010.

MORE MIT 2010

2010-04-02T16:54:00.004+02:00

The second wave:

T shirt artwork:

Annnnd here is the big guy:

GOLEM | -18

2010-03-31T19:53:00.005+02:00

GOLEM | -19

2010-03-31T02:18:00.002+02:00

GOLEM | THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN

2010-03-29T02:04:00.010+02:00

I'm very excited to announce that my work on Golem has finally started.
Golem is my first long story, something between 23 and 25 episodes total, for approximately 500 pages.

First episode out on Pic Nic N°1, end of april 2010.

"Golem", original story by LRNZ, future concept and background scripting by Emanuele Sabetta, screenplay by Daniele Capuano and Alessandro Caroni, art by LRNZ.

JAPAN ANIME LIVE LOGO

2010-03-27T02:42:00.003+01:00

Designed this logo/mascotte for THE international Anime event, in collaboration with BANDAI, Shueisha, Studio Pierrot, SONY ANIPLEX, Toei Animation, TV Tokyo and Sunrise.

From their website:

The first and official live event made and performed by the
Japanese creators of the famous Manga and Anime series
WORLD PREMIERE – PARIS, Zénith - October 2010
The Greatest SHOW OF MANGA & ANIME ever conceived in the World.
JAPAN ANIME LIVE is an extraordinary event that brings live on stage the “all-star” of
the world of Japanese animation such as NARUTO-SHIPPUDEN,
FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST BROTHERHOOD, BLEACH, ONE PIECE
and GUNDAM Series.
A unique show for the first time on tour in Europe.
JAPAN ANIME LIVE is a mix of live action, live recitation, special stories, flamboyant
effects and live music to sing along with the public the original theme songs of the TV
series.
JAPAN ANIME LIVE is a fast paced POP OPERA that puts into reality a world of fantasy
and its heroes. A time-space gate that connects the fans with the dream world of Anime. A “must-attend” event for all cosplayers and Japanese pop culture lovers in general.
JAPAN ANIME LIVE is what you will never watch on TV: in fact all animations and
stories have been re-created and re-edited exclusively for the show and what’s more, they contain hidden facts about the stories of the beloved Anime characters.
Over two and half hours of breathtaking show, divided into five chapters, each one
devoted to an animated series, dynamically orchestrated by a script that combines all the different elements of the show.
All contents featured in JAPAN ANIME LIVE are licensed and created by Aniplex, Toei
Animation, Sunrise, Pierrot, TV Tokyo and Shueisha, which are the major Japanese
Anime-maker companies.

LRNZ | MEET IN TOWN

2010-02-23T01:43:00.009+01:00

Ok I know: this is a borderline illustration work.
It's more a illustration on photos process.
I usually don't like people working with photos.

Still I want to share it on this blog.

It's my work for Meet in Town, a music festival in Rome.
Xister involved me in the project as a creative director.

Honestly, I started working on it as a joke, but it did get dead serious in the end!
The basic idea was to develop a 3 step communication process, a teaser, the evolution and the final images.

Each step is made of 3 images and three simple animations I made starting from the illustrations.

The concept is very easy: 3 huge mysterious objects are coming, one from the desert, one from the ocean and one from the sky (yes, it's a SENTAI tribute).
Where do they come from and what are they coming for?

Then I got this idea to use the main auditorium structures as alien vessels and it was very fun to develop.
Hope that Renzo Piano will have fun as much as I did.

I hope that after the whole set of posters is out, somebody will think of the real auditorium as a GIANT action figure set of a sci fi movie rather than modern architecture. Maybe it will look like a fake repro of my spaceships.

Moreover: you are actually going INTO those BIG spaceships - to party.

These are the first images, including some previews for the next round of illustrations.
Enjoy!

Here are the first three videos:

EARTH VIDEO

SEA VIDEO

SKY VIDEO

Font by ADE Creative Studio!

Music and SFX by SNOB/MIT

Hobby Comics 3 | Astrogamma Ep02

2010-02-23T01:33:00.002+01:00

Things to come.

SOLOMON KANE + SINISTER BARRIER BOOKCOVERS

2010-02-23T01:11:00.008+01:00

Here are 2 book covers I did for Coniglio Editore.
One is for Solomon Kane, a novel by Conan the barbarian's author, the other is for Sinister Barrier, a classic scifi weird story.
Never did a cover for a book.
So I started with two :)

Both covers were done in the same VERY quick technique (2hours each).
It's basically a quick draft photoshop sketch, layered with true paint spatters, and then rendered with a quick, standard photoshop white brush.

The original files are very big, while the final output will be rather small so I didn't care to hide all the photoshop artifacts as they will blend during the downscaling process generating interesting subpixel details.

Below the covers and the process!

Here is Solomon Kane:

And Sinister Barrier:

And the process:

Quick sketch:

Watercolour Spatter:

Rendering details:

LRNZ EXHIBITION | FUSOLAB ROME | HHLV

2009-12-10T02:20:00.000+01:00

HHLV (Honba Hyper Laser Vision) is my selected works solo exhibition, presented by Laboratorio Creativo Fusolab.
Via G. Pitacco 29, Rome (click link for google map).
I'll be there for sure for the opening, friday 11/12/2009 starting at 9:00 PM till 2:00 AM. The exhibition will last one month ending on 17/01/2010.
You'll also have the chance to buy some very exclusive stuff, like portfolios and limited edition prints.
Don't miss it! Everyone is invited!

LRNZ for Zeroguide 2010 | Torino

2009-12-10T01:41:00.010+01:00

I illustrated book about Turin thanks to mr Matteo Stefanelli.
It's the 2010 guide to Turin by Edizioni Zero, a deluxe small book full of good informations to spend your time in F.W. Nietzsche favourite city!
Moreover it will be out SOON, and (TAH DAAAAH) for FREEEEE!
It features one of the 1825 named "Sol", acting as the main character.
Check it out!

400 Calci | ED-209

2009-11-27T18:59:00.002+01:00

Here! ED-209 strikes a pose for the official "i 400 calci" calendar!

SUBDANCE | CRUCIFIXUS ETIAM PRO NOBIS

2009-11-25T10:56:00.005+01:00

My friend RADRO from Subdance Records asked me an illustration for a music event in Winterthur, switzerland. Here it is, a weird space encounter. It will be printed as a flyer and as a A2 Poster.

Here you can see the draft...

An in between (fake) pencil step with details

The finished (fake) pencil linework

And the finished illustration!

MEGA PORNO + LRNZ INTERVIEW ON BANG ART #4

2009-10-04T01:33:00.005+02:00

BANGART reissued MEGA PORNO, my personal take on porn originally published on XZ Comics, by coniglio editore, a bible of porn, made by SUPERAMICI.
It's 8 full colour pages on two spreads, in a new horizontal fashion.

As a gift, you get a 2 page nonsense interview with that no vowel named hominid.

As you can see, the cover is for James Jean, he gets a big nice special - poster included, and just because he's one of my favourite artists, I will boast with my friends for a week or so ("I'm on the same magazine with James Jean, you don't"), making myself the worst person on earth, ever. So basically: stay away for a week and we will still be good friends.

BANGART is out NOW, so go ask your newsagent.

SPRAWL | MECHANIC PHUNK, Take 2

2009-09-15T02:56:00.001+02:00

Another take for SPRAWL'S Mechanic Phunk!

xister ADV page

2009-09-04T01:49:00.004+02:00

A small adv page I made for xister.

And here is a first rough of another take.

Roma Film Fest | Official Image

2009-08-26T15:23:00.001+02:00

My illustration work is featured as the official image for the edition 2009 of “Festa del Cinema di Roma” film festival.
Mystic defender Sarah Grimaldi from Xister did it again.

The claim of the 2009 edition is "il grande cinema attraversa Roma", wich sounds more or less like: "the great cinema goes thru Rome".

The work started more as a blend of graphic design and illustration, gradually shifting from the first revision you can see pictured down here in it’s step by step developing.

The first draft layout:

Polished linework and color flats:

Textured full colour illustration:

The idea was simple, the only things that stand out are the treatment of the film, I wanted the films to flow straight, planar, to celebrate the architecture of the auditorium pictured like a fallen spaceship in the background.

This image did not pass the final approvation so I had to start from scratch.

The main problem with this image was the total absence of life in it, was way too abstract: I was asked to bring in more life possible to exhalt the “festival” idea behind the whole thing. Keywords were: people, happening, engagement, entertainment.

Usually, from a graphic designer standpoint, I love minimal works, and I usually go very minimal when I have to do a graphic design job.
No decorative puke.
The sharper, the better.

On the opposite, as an illustrator, I like fresh and detailed linework, vivid color and complex compositions, with a subtle weird twist.

Basically I can say that while I like graphics to accomplish the communication of simple and strong concepts, I prefer drawing when I need to use advanced syntax to “expand” a concept rather than “contracting” it to a symbolic form.

The two approaches usually go along very well (lineart drawings + swiss typography = bliss), still for a very informal result.

Moreover, I like a pictorial approach too, like the polish movie poster illustrators do, but I usually use it for very serious and moody works. I have a limited expressive spectrum with it and it would not fit that keywords thing of the brief.
So I had to discard it. Linework will be.

First revision was not perfect but had a great feedback anyway so I tried to keep things together starting from those approved composition guidelines (an image that explodes in the white of the poster sheet) with a more cinetic push and more vivid details to concur in a rush of information. I wanted to build an image that at a first glance gives you the idea of a VERY busy situation were you can actually go in depth and find out what’s happening to the people involved. Graphically speaking I introduced the lineart layer missing from the first concept, with an explicit freehand look even on architectural and mechanic details.

My big problem was: try to draw without getting TOO MUCH cartoon look while keeping a super fresh result; focus on a strong composition that helps the whole piece to be easily recognizable among the other hundreds of posters you can find around in Italy.

Here is the first draft line sketch:

And here is the first refined skecth.

All the work is digital (drawn with a Cintiq21UW) and multilayered so the guys at Xister could split and freely rearrange content at will for different image formats usage, like using it in landscape mode rather than portrait. Linework is the result of my first test drive with new Photoshop CS4 brush engine*:

Coloring and texturing was made using Photoshop CS4 too.
Here are some details.

And here is the final 70cm x 100cm piece!

Hope you’ll like it!
See you at Roma Film Fest!

*: A small tech note
While I’m still impressed with the laziness of the guys at Adobe in fixing that tragic wacom tracking resolution glitch (10 releases of the most important raster graphic application suffered it. TEN BLOODY VERSIONS of a €800 painting software weren’t enough to fix it.), I must say that, AT LAST, you can use Photoshop for freehand raster inking without getting that “not so very cool mid 90’s smoothed pixel effect” on every single line you draw.

Well it’s still slower and less responsive than Metacreation/Corel Painter IX (which I still run under rosetta!) but you can live with it, especially when it comes to selection tools that in Painter are the worst ever made (you can’t expand/contract a freeform/channel/magicwand selection, so expect weird aliasing artifacts on ALL your bucket fills.) while in Photoshop, it must be said, they are top notch (well at least for today industry standards, but much more can be done, one day I will post my suggestions to Adobe forums).

New memory management was a big plus too. A 300DPI 70cm x 100cm image with hundreds of layers like this saves in 20 seconds for a 1.4 gb psd file. That’s quick (especially when compared to CS2, roughly three minutes per save, on the same machine – well still under rosetta.)!

SPRAWL | Mechanic Phunk

2009-08-02T03:10:00.002+02:00

Cover illustration for "Mechanic Phunk" by SPRAWL, published by solar one music.

GOLEM | DRAFT CONCEPT, COLOR

2009-07-04T02:46:00.002+02:00

Bah, step 2 was better anyway.

GOLEM | DRAFT CONCEPT, INKED

2009-07-01T04:07:00.002+02:00

Clicking on the image brings out a nice resolution preview.
Next step: color.

GOLEM | DRAFT CONCEPT

2009-06-30T04:24:00.001+02:00

See you tomorrow with the finished one.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN | 3

2009-06-22T02:31:00.008+02:00

I finished the animation process, still have to do the post production, but I built a sort of beta of the whole animation. Many errors can be spotted here and there and most important: keep in mind that post production is TOTALLY garbage, it's more a placeholder for things to come, but it gets to the point for a demo presentation of the project.
I will post the final thing (no ugly flares popping out from nowhere etc etc) as soon as I have the time to fix everything.
The whole promo of "the dark side of the sun" will be shown early this week at the international documentary market "the sunny side of the doc" (no it's not a joke, and it wasn't intentional) in la Rochelle, France.
In the end I'm very happy for what came out in five days of work (thanks to Gabriele Gianni who helped me with the colour fills for the cels), I hope I will have the chance to animate again soon.
Here is a frame of animation and the whole thing on youtube HD (only the animation part, the full promo will be online very soon). Watch it fullscreen and HD, please.
Hope you'll like it.

Music by: Carlo Hintermann and Mario Salvucci
Editing: Piero Lassandro
Assistant animator: Gabriele "Hundred Paintbucket Fist" Gianni

CRACK 2009 | IPhone Fun

2009-06-22T02:17:00.003+02:00

Colored two of the doodles I made at CRACK09 in Rome.

SUPER SPOON SHOT

2009-06-22T01:50:00.000+02:00

C'è solo un capitano.

Details to follow.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN | 2

2009-06-14T03:02:00.008+02:00

First lineart animation test.
Please watch it fullscreen for better resolution (HD available).

THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN | 1

2009-06-12T23:20:00.004+02:00

My friend Carlo Hintermann is directing a film called "The Dark Side Of The Sun".
It's about a very rare genetic disease that causes lethal skin cancer when you are exposed to sunlight.
It will host approx. 20 minutes of animation, and I'm in charge for this part of the movie.
I will do everything, from scratch to finish, including backgrounds and compositing.
I want to test myself on a big animation project, that's why I'm in.
It's been a while I wanted to do this, and after seeing Makoto Shinkai's works I started thinking more positively about the chance to do an animation short, all alone.
Here is the first background (click the image to see it), a multi layered image that spans thru 8 HD screens to allow parallactic panning.
I'll try to keep posting new stuff as soon as I finish each step. The first minute must be ready on thursday so expect more coming very soon.

DEVO for LAMETTE

2009-06-04T12:48:00.003+02:00

I did a 4 page ministory about DEVO for LAMETTE, Rock'n'Roll Special.
Here's the third page.

BACK IN GUM PALACE | REJECTED

2009-05-22T03:17:00.000+02:00

Here is some stuff I made some time ago for MAMMOOTH album "Back in gum palace".
All the guys from Mammooth were very happy with both of 'em, but the producer said they were "too weird" and gave the work to another designer. It happens sometimes. Still a good chance to draw, and this is the only thing that matters.

THE PASSENGER

2009-05-20T03:42:00.005+02:00

A (very) young director: my illustration for "The Passenger", a special issue about cinema.

HYPER ADVANCED BEAUTY | 5

2009-05-11T21:40:00.000+02:00

PALAZZO DEI CONGRESSI: HUGE EXPLORER

2009-05-09T19:25:00.005+02:00

Hey!
It's me!
When I got to dissonanze festival tonight, I was shocked seeing my drawings used THIS BIG.
Hah!

(SORRY FOR THE PHONE QUALITY PHOTOS, IPHONE CAMERA SUCKKKKS)

ARA PACIS EXHIBITION FOR DISSONANZE 09

2009-05-09T18:36:00.009+02:00

Here are some crappy phone camera shoots of my illustrations 2 days exhibition at ARA PACIS AUGUSTEA in Rome.

DISSONANZE 09

2009-05-09T17:35:00.013+02:00

Sarah Grimaldi, creative director for Xister, an advertising agency based in Rome, asked me to develop her concept for Dissonanze 09 music festival. My work consisted in 24 black and white 70x100 cm hatched illustrations. The visual/conceptual guidelines were to give a Darwinian scientific discovery twist to the artists involved into the festival. They should have looked like a hand renderd note of new animal species, something nobody has never seen before described in it's peculiar details by hand, pen and ink.

Here is the official image for the festival, neon blue graphic design and classy typography by Sarah Grimaldi:

And here are the illustrations for the artists. Design and Typo by allmighty Sarah Grimaldi.

If you had the opportunity to see the printed things (20 A3 folded flyers weree created for the event promotion, one for each artist), you can actually appreciate the hatching details. For your web viewing pleasure here are some close shots of the orginal b/w versions (most of them are 25% of the final 70x100 cm thing).

HYPER ADVANCED BEAUTY | 4

2009-04-29T19:31:00.005+02:00

Took longer than expected. Please click the first image to see it at full (web) resolution. The original print is 70x100 cm tall.

GOING TO NAPOLI COMICON, I'LL BE BACK SOON

2009-04-24T04:55:00.004+02:00

And here is a small preview of the next entry in the HYPER ADVANCED BEAUTY series.
See you on TUESDAY NIGHT (not monday) with the finished one.

HYPER ADVANCED BEAUTY | 3

2009-04-22T14:47:00.004+02:00

Skipping tracks.

2009-03-29T04:01:00.006+02:00

A set of two small moleskine page illustrations for my friend Tommaso.

Had fun adding some flavour with photoshop.

An in between step.

HYPER ADVANCED BEAUTY | Modo

2009-03-19T05:10:00.006+01:00

BILBOLBUL | Draft for a poster

2009-03-18T03:17:00.001+01:00

Quick sketch for a poster.

HYPER ADVANCED BEAUTY

2009-03-11T03:43:00.005+01:00

BILBOLBUL 2009 | Superamici children classes.

2009-03-10T01:56:00.002+01:00

Here's me doing some serious drawing.

You can find more photos of this beautiful day HERE.

BILBOLBUL2009 | HOBBY COMICS 1/2 OUT NOW!

2009-03-10T01:34:00.006+01:00

Here! A quick excerpt from HC1/2!
Look for it in your bookstore or at upcoming Napoli Comicon 2009!
Published by our super unblockable desperation critical nuclear savior cancel Silvana of GRRRZETIC.

(these are color version of the actual B/W panels, custom made for the BILBOLBUL exhibition in piazza del Nettuno, Bologna)

Intimidative cover by intimidation master, Tuono Mr. Pettinato.

SD001 | PLISSKEN

2009-03-10T01:10:00.008+01:00

Cover illustration for "Plissken", a LORY D remix EP for John Carpenter's "Escape from New York" OST.
Yes: I actually wrote John Carpenter's name on a record label (and Alan Howarth's too)
I can die in peace now.
Published thanks to my friend Radro at Subdance.

And here's the promotional sticker design.

A mysterious project is approaching faster.

2009-03-10T00:55:00.003+01:00

Breaking details soon to follow.

BLUE ISSUE 194 | Cover illustration

2009-03-10T00:41:00.007+01:00

Blue 194, out now. Ask your newsagent.
This is my humble contribute to a forbidden sacred magazine.
I wanted to catch that exotic super futuristic flavour of those early super pricy '90's newtype japanese magazines.
Hope you'll like it.

***UPDATE***
Here's my copy!

BILBOLBUL 2009 | Nicotine

2009-03-10T00:30:00.015+01:00

An excerpt from my personal panels of SUPERAMICI exhibition in Piazza del Nettuno, Bologna for BILBOLBUL 2009.

BILBOLBUL 2009 | Diverso da me. All’improvviso non sono più io...

2009-03-10T00:20:00.004+01:00

From Bilbolbul website:
“Diverso da me. All’improvviso non sono più io...” (Different from me. Suddenly I am not myself any more...) is the theme of the second comic contest referred to all the elementary and the intermediate schools in Bologna and its province. What would happen if once we waked up with the head of an animal instead of ours? Starting from this idea, the young participants invented the stories that are going to be showed in the exhibition. The best stories will be awarded during the Bilbolbul festival. The exhibition is being prepared in Sala Borsa Ragazzi and it's also showing the works of some famous cartoonists who are testing themselves on the same theme. Moreover, the exhibition is moving all over the libraries in Bologna and its province, creating new meeting oppurtunities for children and for all the citizens. The initiative is promoted by Provincia di Bologna, Emil Banca, Biblioteca Sala Borsa Ragazzi, in collaboration with Quartiere San Vitale and Quartiere Savena; and it is shared by Biblioteca Casa di Khaoula, Biblioteca Natalia Ginzburg, Biblioteca Scandellara, Biblioteca Comunale di Crespellano, Biblioteca Comunale di Monte San Pietro, Biblioteca Comunale di San Giorgio di Piano, Biblioteca Comunale di Zola Predosa.

Ghost Machine: NEW COLOR AVAILABLE.

2009-03-01T01:04:00.000+01:00

VIOLET!
Buy it from 7piedi CLICKING HERE!

Some drafts for a commercial project.

2009-02-10T02:32:00.000+01:00

A savior sun and a black sea. Drafts for an animation project.

Dai Superamici mi guardi Superdio che dai Supernemici mi guardo io.

2009-01-29T14:08:00.005+01:00

Superamici are a special guest of BILBOLBUL 2009, that will take place in Bologna, March 4-8. We will have the big square, "Piazza del Nettuno", to make our exhibition. This image is the official illustration for a convention/lecture we were invited to do by Hamelin. We will talk about or work and our special project for the exhibition! I will post the date of the event here! Don't miss it!

U2 for Rolling Stone magazine. Wrong.

2009-01-24T12:02:00.011+01:00

I'm veeeery happy.
I was contacted by Mr. Marco Cendron, art director for Rolling Stone Magazine, to do some illustration work. My job was to introduce NO LINE ON THE HORIZON by U2. I tried to develop their abstract cover (by the japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto) into a narrative illustration that helped me to skip the "draw Bono Vox minigame" step while adding a more dramatic, hyeratic feeling to the piece.
It's like the next image in a sequence with the album cover. Where do these huge things come from? Where are they going? Why did they stop over the city?
I wanted to draw an advent, not a tribute: this was to keep the sensation of a new thing coming, I didn't want to celebrate the old good U2.

Now the funny part. The illustration you see above is NOT the one that will be published on RSM because I was so excited to work with them that I didn't ask for the image W/H ratio they needed.
Guess what? I had to redraw the whole image in an horizontal format and throw away this one :)
Well I was so happy to do some drawings that it was a double pleasure: I did the second image (wich has a wider angle and holds much more details in it) in a night session of work, from scratch to finished color version.
The "right"version of the illustration will be published on RSM March 2009 issue, I will show the final artwork here sooner or later.

Astrogamma, panel 01

2009-01-05T19:47:00.003+01:00

Some preproduction stuff...

2009-01-04T17:16:00.004+01:00

Astrogamma first draft!

2009-01-04T03:56:00.002+01:00

BLUE SNIFF COMICS

2009-01-04T03:40:00.004+01:00

A preview for a short comic published by Coniglio Editore on BLUE "SNIFF COMICS" special issue.
As the name suggests, this special erotic magazine's thread is "smell".
Ratigher of SUPERAMICI published a story on the same issue too!
Don't miss it!

XCOMICS COVER

2009-01-04T03:30:00.000+01:00

Cover Illustration for the special SUPERAMICI XCOMICS issue, "donne nude con le mani in tasca", published by Coniglio Editore.

XCOMICS MEGA PORNO

2009-01-04T03:15:00.005+01:00

Superamici VS porn.
This is my personal take on sexy comics, published on XCOMICS, SUPERAMICI Special Issue "donne nude con le mani in tasca" by Coniglio Editore. The story is about a couple that grow bigger and bigger while having sex. That's it. They get so big that, after destroying a whole city, they become too heavy even for the earth's gravitational field. They detach from he planet and get lost in space becoming a symbol of universal beauty and will expand more than the universe itself as long as they continue to love each other.

2008-12-19T06:05:00.001+01:00

2008-10-26T02:42:00.000+02:00

2008-10-26T02:41:00.000+02:00

2008-09-13T11:19:00.000+02:00

2008-09-05T11:21:00.000+02:00