Some recent book launches!
Over the summer, a few of the books I worked on during the last part of 2023 came out. It’s always exciting to get the physical copy through the mail and add it to my ‘published’ shelf - of course, one copy has to go to my mum who also keeps a ‘Memo’ shelf and has been adding to it since my kindergarten drawing years.
It’s Her Story: Billie Jean King
'It's Her Story: Billie Jean King', published by PI Kids Media, written by Donna Tapellini and illustrated by me
This is the first graphic novel I’ve worked on, so of course I’m very fond of it. It was challenging to work out the panel layouts and produce a large amount of pages for the same project. The lineless style I adopt for illustrated books is rather time-consuming in the colouring stage, so I had to re-think it and adapt it to a more fast-paced production. I ended up inking each page with proper lineart and opting for a flatter look for the colour render. All in all, it was a hugely educational experience for me and I think it turned out beautiful!
You can find it here
The Fight to Be Funny
'The Fight to be Funny', published by Fair Share Publishing, written by Mike Dulin and Griffin Reed, illustrated by me
What happens when a bunch of kids get fed up with their dads’ constant jokes? They organise a joke battle to force them to stop - in case they win. This is the premise of ‘The Fight to be Funny’, a book that is rather serendipitous since my partner and I have recently become parents and the ‘daddi-fication’ of our jokes has already started. Seriously though, I don’t usually work on fully illustrated picture books - my usual gig is middle-grade chapter books - so this was a lovely change of pace. I particularly enjoyed being able to work in my ‘full lineless’ style, focusing on a textured feeling that I can’t always achieve because of time constraints. Nathan at Fair Share is also one of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with, so a great experience on all fronts!
You can get it here
Mystère en Belgique book 5: L’Ombre des Égouts
'Mystère en Belgique: L'Ombre des égouts', published by Auzou Belgique, written by Salvatore Minni and illustrated be me
This series is my longest project to date! I started working on it since the beginning, creating the character design and style for the whole project. I’m so happy the author (Salvatore Minni) and publishers (Auzou Belgique), gave me a lot of creative freedom as it allowed me to push a little out of my comfort zone and go for a more cartoony/exaggerated character design. The cover of Book 5 is probably among my 2 favourites for the whole series (the other one is Book 2, you can see it here) and the whole story was really interesting, taking place in the mysterious gutters of Bruxelles and once again involving Lisa’s best friend Sam. As you can imagine, I’ve grown quite fond of these characters and I’m so pleased that the series is doing well! Just yesterday I finished the cover for Book 6, so get ready for a new episode coming out soon!
You can find the whole series here
