Selected clients
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- Giunti Scuola (Italia)
- IRES - Regione Piemonte (Italia)
- Raffaello Libri (Italia)
- Ibiscus Libri (Italia)
- Il Capitello (Italia)
- A.R.A.I Regione Piemonte (Italia)
- CLEUP edizioni (Italia)
- Agra Editrice (Italia)
- Italian Climate Network (Italia)
- Éditions Anas (Arabia Saudita)
- Pearson (USA)
- Across Cultures (UK)
- Prima Edu Limited (UK)
- Quatio Pty Ltd (Australia)
- Break Loose Publishing (Australia)
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About me:
I grew up in a happy country house in Piemonte, northern Italy, with many cats, a beautiful garden, and a supporting family. Since childhood, drawing has been my favourite tool to explore my emotions and tell imaginary stories. I started by drawing comic strips depicting my schoolmates as colourful animals living absurd adventures.
Education:
By graduating in Graphic Arts at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Torino, I had the opportunity to study Art History and traditional artistic techniques like real-life drawing, watercolour, and etching. Then, I won a scholarship for a Children’s Book Illustration triennial course at the European Institute of Design in the same city. Here I familiarised myself with contemporary illustration and digital programs for art and graphic design. While finishing my studies, I published my first illustrations in a medical university training book, a calendar for a local natural park, and my first picture books for children.
About my work:
In my career, I had the opportunity to explore a variety of projects.
I illustrated textbooks and other educational publications for leading publishers in Italy, like Giunti Scuola, il Capitello, Raffaello, and the primary regional public institution (Regione Piemonte); I worked long-term with Across Cultures (UK) on their award-winning language learning digital programs, illustrated educational materials for Pearson and MindPlay (USA), and collaborated with an Australian company making kids activity games, puzzles, promotional books, and e-books. I also worked on two medical publications and four children’s books, including three for self-publishing authors (adventure and fantasy genres and non-fiction).
I want to inspire interest, respect, and empathy for humans, animals, and the natural world, so I depict animals and characters with various intensities of playfulness, realism, and expressiveness. Looking for immersive atmospheres and compositions, I play with soft, painterly textures and lively lines and shapes. I work with gouache painting, graphite, mixed media, and vector programs.
I have worked as a designer for books, e-books, board games, and printed and digital communication. I created and now maintain my website.
Interests:
Besides drawing, I adore hiking in the nearby mountains and cultivating our family vegetable garden. I’m particularly interested in environmental issues. Since 2018, I have volunteered for local environmental associations (Italian Climate Network, Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace), helping with graphic design tasks, donating prints for fundraising, and participating as an activist.
Thanks for your interest!
Su di me:
Il disegno è sempre stato il mio strumento prediletto per elaborare le emozioni e raccontare storie. Da bambina disegnavo i miei compagni di scuola come colorati animali antropomorfi in bizzarre avventure a fumetti.
Dopo aver frequentato il Liceo Artistico di Romagnano Sesia, mi sono laureata in Grafica d’Arte all’Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti di Torino e successivamente mi sono specializzata in Illustrazione con una borsa di studio triennale presso l’Istituto Europeo di Design della stessa città. Questo percorso scolastico mi ha permesso di sviluppare sia solide basi di disegno, pittura e arte tradizionale, in particolare l’acquerello e l’incisione, sia una conoscenza ad ampio raggio dei software di creazione digitale vettoriali, reaster, di animazione e di impaginazione. Duranti gli ultimi anni di studio ho pubblicato le mie prime illustrazioni in un manuale chirurgico con CLEUP e su un calendario naturalistico del Parco Naturale del Gran Bosco di Salbertrand, ed i miei primi libri illustrati per ragazzi/e con Agra Editrice e Seneca.
In seguito ho illustrato progetti educativi, divulgativi, narrativa, testi scolastici (Regione Piemonte, Giunti Scuola, il Capitello, Raffaello, Ibiscus…), e progetti digitali, pubblicazioni promozionali, giochi e attività stampate per ragazze/i (Quatio e Griffin+row), oltre che programmi di insegnamento dell’Inglese come seconda lingua per ragazze/i e adulte/i (Across Cultures UK). Collaboro volentieri con privati per i loro progetti personali e realizzo dipinti e ritratti.
Il mio obiettivo è sempre creare illustrazioni coinvolgenti, ricche di atmosfera e dettagli, affinché chi le osserva si immerga in una storia ed entri in contatto con la sua parte emotiva ed empatica. Voglio stimolare interesse e rispetto per il nostro prezioso e vario mondo umano e naturale.
Come grafica, mi sono occupata di impaginazione di libri, e-book, giochi da tavolo, comunicazione digitale e stampata. Ho creato il mio sito web e lo gestisco.
Oltre a progettare e disegnare, amo camminare in montagna e nei boschi accanto a casa. Sono fortemente interessata alle problematiche ambientali, perciò dal 2018 faccio volontariato per organizzazioni locali che si occupano di crisi climatica, aiutando con progetti grafici, materiali artistici e partecipando come attivista (Italian Climate Network, Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace).
Skills
Illustrations for fiction and non-fiction books, digital and board games, medical textbooks, and printed and digital media educational projects for children and adults. Sequential art (comics): line art and digital coloring.
Traditional media skills: acrylics, watercolor, gouache, ink, pen, colored pencils, graphite, pastels. Raster and vector digital art, basic 2D animation.
Design: digital graphics for social media, websites, and printed products: packaging, cover design, book layouts, interactive e-books, comics, infographics, and icons.
Computer skills: Excellent knowledge of Adobe CC Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
Good knowledge: Adobe Animate, Adobe XD, WordPress CMS. Ms Office, Open Office.
Basic knowledge: HTML and CSS coding, responsive web design, Git.
Confident with platforms for shared online work (Dropbox, Drive).
Publications and commissioned work
“The King of Average” – Gary Schwartz – 2024
“Guida mia”. History, class V – GIUNTI Scuola – 2023
“Community Village” – Across Cultures – ongoing
“Ma prière” – Éditions Anas
“Guida mia”. History, Geography, class IV – GIUNTI Scuola – 2022
“SOFIA” – IRES Regione Piemonte
“Capire, Formare, Agire” – IRES Regione Piemonte
“Mon Dictionnaire Arabe-Français Illustré” – Éditions Anas
“The Islands” – Across Cultures – 2021
“The little black book of fabulous skin” – Griffin+Row – 2019
“Lawrence Littlefoot – The HiNor Landers” – Zophar Santè
“Project ConNet” – Diaconia Valdese
Roll-up design – Climalia
Voluntary graphic designer work – Italian Climate Network – 2015 – 2018
“Veterinary surgery procedures” – Veterinary Surgery Center of Sarasota – 2017
“Spruntzel” – Twinwood Animation – 2017
“Know your skin” – Griffin+Row – 2016
“Happy Calc” – Quatio
“Psychological assessments for school students” – Break Loose Publishing
“Lawrence Littlefoot – The Stone Demon’s Nephew” – Zophar Santè
Calendar, “Menu vegan” campaign logo – Agire Ora Edizioni
“Vacanze Sprint”. Maths – Class V – Raffaello Libri – 2015
Illustrations for the website – Nuritionfacts.org
“Fun Comet” – Quatio – 2014
“Learning Village” – Across Cultures – 2013
“La Narrazione” – ARAI Regione Piemonte
“Mind Play” – Break Loose Publishing – 2013
Logo design – La Riposa alpine hut
“Canine characters” – Zarbi Design Ltd
“Guida per Insegnanti” class V – Ibiscus Libri
“Guida per Insegnanti” class IV – Ibiscus Libri – 2012
“Allegro vivo multimediale” – Il Capitello – 2011
Illustrations for website, t-shirts, leaflets – Associazione Vivi la Natura
“500 disegni” Alessandro Soncin e Fiat 500 Club Italia- Seneca editore, 2010
“San Giorgio, il drago e la rosa” – Agra editrice – 2009
“Giornata Mondiale del Libro 2009” – Agra editrice
“Manuale di chirurgia plastica pediatrica” – Edizioni CLEUP – 2007
“Calendario 2006”, ill. vari. Parco Naturale del Gran Bosco di Salbertrand – 2006
My clients say...
<< I can’t say enough good things about Sara. Her illustration skills are fantastic, just what we were looking for (vintage scientific illustration style). She was a good communicator, fairly priced her work, and got the job done quickly. I’m excited to work with her again!!!>>
Christman Hersha – Goldleaf Ltd (USA)
<< Sara did an amazing job with the images we had her draw and was very receptive to changes and critiques. We will definitely use her in the future. >>
Scott Rose – Veterinary Surgery Center of Sarasota (USA)
<< Sara is an amazing illustrator who can work in a number of different styles. I was extremely pleased with the illustration and graphic design work she has done. Everything was perfect and she is a pleasure to work with. Sara, looking forward to working with you again in the future! >>
Michael Stager – Quatio Ltd Pty
<< Sara did a great job on our project and was very communicative. She produced beautiful art on a quick timeline >>
Debbie Dugdale – Pearson USA
<< I really enjoyed working with Sara,the illustrator of my book. I was attracted by the diversity of her styles and how she expressed the emotional state of the characters she illustrated. I noted the five pages I wanted to have illustrated along with the one for the cover. But before she did anything, Sara read the book! It’s not a small book, about 125k words. I was impressed that she took the effort to read it cover to cover especially since it’s geared toward 9-12 year olds. Sara started working quickly and the sketches were very close to what I imaged. After just a few edits, we were finished. Sara communicated constantly and we truly worked in a collaborative fashion. I highly recommend Sara as an illustrator, She is very talented, creative and professional! >>
ZPT Santé – Author of “Lawrence Littlefoot” book series
