Burrufu on Amazon!

...So there was something in the attic :) 

At last, My Monster Burrufu is out and you can find it on Amazon! Yay!

Also, the furry guy's got his own website, check it out: www.mymonsterburrufu.com

Fashion illustration

Oh la la, I'm back again ;) Some time ago I've been asked to create a few illustrations for a clothing boutique in the US. I had to take inspiration from style icons Audrey Hepburn, Kirsten Dunst, Alexa Chung and Tennessee Thomas, reinterpreting them with my own graphic style (if you click on the links you can see the reference pics I've been given). 

It was such a fun job to do, when it comes to draw pretty ladies and cute dresses I'm the happiest gal in the world!

And soon they will come to life, appearing on totes, mugs, t-shirts and limited edition prints. I'm very curious to see the final result!

click to enlarge

Verne on vacation is online!

As promised, here it is!! At last, online! 

"Verne on vacation" is a short I've been animating with Alfredo Cassano and Sylvain Marc for Cartoon Network in 2009.

It was made in 3 months and won the Pulcinella award for best tv pilot last year. It's currently being considered as a tv feature, which is definitely a great news!

The animation is all made on Flash. Frame by frame traditional approach, good old brush tool. 

(...yeah, and is there anything I haven't made using flash lately? :) I swear, I DO have some pencils on my desk!)

These characters were so much fun to animate. Simple shapes allow you to push the posing, play with extreme crazy looking drawings and focus on what you want to communicate. 

You know those days when you wake up in the morning and just can't wait to start drawing? That was what happened to me when I worked on this film.

Again, a huge thanks to Sylvain for creating such an exciting project, being a fantastic director and a lovely friend. 

I'm aliveee!!!

from Leila Blue, vol.2 - © Mondadori

(click to see it full size!)

Oh my, sorry for the ridiculously long silence here... But yes, I'm alive and thankfully very busy! So much has been going on in the past few months, some very exciting projects I look forward to share with you.

However, nothing I can post here yet because of that "old friend" I'm sure everyone knows very well: Mr. Non-Disclosure-Agreement ;)

So here is another illustration I did for the 2nd book of Leila Blue. The 3rd volume was published err.. last month? Two months ago? I've sort of lost my sense of time, anyway I'll post some pictures from it very soon.
I'm working on the 4th volume now, which was supposed to be the last one *but*...! Apparently little girls are really loving Leila's books, so there's going to be plenty more for them to enjoy in the near future.

Speaking of illustrations, I've also completed "My Monster Burrufu". I'm happy with the way it came out and I hope to see it on paper very soon!

Right now I'm storyboarding on a really cool show for Cartoon Saloon, I actually just came back from Kilkenny and it was lovely to spend some time there with my old friends. The show is directed by the amazing Jez Hall, it's always a pleasure to work with him, he's such an inspiring and fun lad.

What else, oh yes! Eventually, I will soon be allowed to post "Verne on vacation", the short film I animated with Alf and Sylvain for Cartoon Network a while ago. Yay! So stay tuned, I hope you will love it as much as I did.

In a couple of months I will also be doing a 2-weeks storyboard seminar for the students at CSC, the same animation school I graduated from. It's my first time at teaching and it's going to be great fun :)

Hope you all had a fantastic holiday, talk soon!
Ale

More Burrufu!

This is another illustration I made for the book "My monster Burrufu". Looks like something's going on in the attic.... :)

These last weeks of the year have been crazy, so much work to wrap and I am really looking forward to these holidays! 

I wish you all a fantastic Christmas and tons of cutenessssssss in the new year!! :D

Ale

My monster Burrufu

Here's a sneak peek of one of the books I'm illustrating right now! It's called "My monster Burrufu", written by the very talented Alberto Corral and it's one of the cuuuutest stories I've ever read. And when I say "cute"... well, you know me ;)

This one is a quick sketch I made on flash when I was designing the characters. 

The book is going to be out very soon, so keep an eye out! 

Leila and Florian

One of the black and white illustrations from "Leila Blue" volume 2.

Character design for Leila Blue

I thought it would have been nice to share some of the work I've done before starting illustrating on the actual book. 

Here's some character design studies. The first picture shows how much Leila has changed since my first sketches, every time I look at this panel I can't decide if it's either Leila growing up or just totally different worlds :)

Creating these characters has been so much fun. As usual, it's all made with good old Flash. 

Leila Blue vol.2

Here are the first pictures from the second volume of Leila Blue, out in bookshops today.

Illustrations are on the way!

UPDATE: many of you asked me about how to get the books shipped outside Italy, so I just decided to create a paypal page to make that hopefully easier. The link is here or in the sidebar. Any questions, just let me know, and thanks again for your lovely supporting emails and comments :)

Lucca Comics 2010

Hiya! Just a very quick update as I'll be at the Lucca Comics festival tomorrow and friday for the first official presentation of the book. Hope to see you there! Ciao :)

Here's the book!

"Leila Blue" vol.1 - Mondadori

I grabbed a few copies of "Leila Blue" on tuesday but I've been so busy wrapping the illustrations of volume 2 that I've barely looked at it. Well, so here it is!

And it's super glossy! That feature actually came as a big surprise, I thought the border was going to have a regular matte lilac finish. Even the tiny windows shine as they catch the light! ...Ok enough with the girly rambling :)

Anyway, I must say it's a pretty sweet book, nice and thick. I'll take more pictures as soon as I can!

For those who asked it, the illustrations are in black and white, plus 16 full-color pages.

160 pages - 14 x 20 cm (5.5" x 7.8")

Leila Blue

And finally here it is, I can show you the cover of my first illustration book!

I've been working on it in the past months and still am actually, as it's going to be a series of 4 volumes. The story is very sweet, I admit I utterly enjoyed reading it!

So this is the final look of the main character, it's pretty different from my first sketches :)

I haven't seen it printed yet, so I'm very curious about it. I'll post pictures as soon as I get to grab one copy!

The book is out on the 21st of September! Yay Leila!

Oh, and yes. It's all done in good old Flash ;)

Flash

Flash is the name of a friend of mine's pet, which also happened to be Julius' dad.

Gorgeous cat, huge, fierce, won countless feline competitions but most of all he was an amazing friend with a lovely personality. He passed away today, so I felt like doing this quick sketch that will never be able to capture his beauty but hopefully send a bit of love to his family.

Old book design

Wow, 2 posts today! Here is some old design I made for the book series I mentioned earlier. My idea for the illustrations was having tiny and kind of cute characters, but then the design changed and evolved according to the publisher's needs - I just guess it wasn't commercial enough :) I'm quite happy with the final result anyway, I hope I'll be able to show something soon, as the first volume is out in a few months!

And yes I'm still alive... ;)

Just for fun

My friend Angela is a CG modeler and makes amazing maquettes, so when she asked me to make a few drawings of Tarzan for her I squealed with joy :D I actually had to draw him in a stiff vitruvian kind of pose (she is making some cool experiments in Zbrush) but when I started sketching from the movie I couldn't help but drawing more poses! I am so busy at the moment that I don't get much time to do personal work, so that was a real fun break.

UPDATE! Verne WON THE AWARD at the Cartoons on the Bay festival!

A huge congratulations Sylvain and all the amazing crew at Cartoon Network, we're so proud to have been part of this project!

Verne at the Cartoons on the Bay festival

"Verne on vacation" - copyright 2009/2010 Turner Entertainment Networks International Limited

Yay! So two reasons to be happy: one is the nomination, and the other one is that I can finally show you a picture from it!

As I already mentioned, a few months ago Alf and I had the pleasure to animate on this great flash short film for Cartoon Network, with our friend and super talented director Sylvain Marc.

The pilot has been recently selected to go to further development and we are very excited about it!
So here are a couple of images for you to bite.

The first two are actual stills from the short, the last one is an early character concept made by Sylvain.

I hope it will be aired soon, so I can show also some animation ;)

Oscars weekend

I'm just back from a very quick but intense trip to LA. Alf and I went there to support our Kells pals at the Oscars and we had a fantastic time with them.

The party at the huge irish pub in Hollywood was crazy, we had SO much fun even if we were still jetlagged! We followed the Awards ceremony from there and it was quite exciting to see on the screen this scene Alf and I had the honor to animate to represent the movie.

The characters from this year's Best Animated Feature category had to say what being nominated meant to them, so this was our take on it.

We animated Aisling on good old Flash. Brush tool, frame by frame.

Thanks Cartoon Saloon for this awesome opportunity.

Many thanks to Aaron at Cold Hard Flash for the lovely post! LINK

The secret of Kells at the 2010 Oscars!!

The Secret of Kells has been nominated for an OSCAR! Yaaay!

That one on top is the very first scene Alf and I animated on the movie. It's been ages ago but feels like yesterday :)

Congratulations everyone and good luck!

Missing in action

An old design I made a while ago for the little witch girl.

The character has evolved a lot since then, so you'll find her a bit different in the book ;)

Hi all!
It's been a long while since my last post.. Mad schedules as usual, I'm still waiting for my summer holidays while Christmas decorations have already invaded the town! I even hoped to get a little cold or something but it looks like I can't enjoy a day off this year ;) Ah well, enough with the rumbling!

So, lot of things are happening here. A couple of months ago I had the pleasure of working with Alf on a very cool short film for Cartoon Network and since I can't show any of the artwork yet, I'll just take the chance to thank and introduce our friend and director of the film, Sylvain Marc. I don't want to say much as I think his work speaks for itself loudly and clear, he's such an utterly talented guy, but I care to say that working with him has been one of the most enjoyable experience an animator can look for. This project really showed up how much more can be achieved when the crew is highly motivated, everyone gave 110% and it's great when you wake up in the morning looking forward to have fun with your work, it's just how it should always be :)
So yeah, all animated on good old flash by myself, Alfredo and Sylvain, used wacom tablets but drawing frame by frame the traditional way (as we like to!).

You can see some of mr.Marc's work on his blog, here's the link http://polyminthe.blogspot.com

After the CN short we've been involved in a couple of other projects, mainly storyboards for tv shows, but there's a little news I am very excited about and that I can finally share.. I'm officially working on my very first illustrated book :)
It's a lovely novel written by M.Dubini about a little witch and her family, very cute, very vintage, and takes place in London. Actually there will be more than one book coming out but I'm trying to stay focused on the first one. It will be published next year by Mondadori, so stay tuned for updates..

Other news for the italians.. The secret of Kells will premiere in Italy this saturday in Turin, during the Sotto18 film festival. There will be two screenings:
saturday 28th of november - 20.30 at Cinema Massimo 1
and friday 4th of december - 18.30 at Cinema Massimo 3
Alf and I will be there and on the friday we'll have a short Q+A after the movie.

During the festival I'll be also part of the jury for the Kids Short Competition, I'm so curious to see what those little ones have come up with!

And last but not least, a news for the US friends. Kells will have an Oscar-qualifying run from December 4-10 at the AMC Burbank 8, with a 7pm show each day.
Here you can find all the screening details and info about tickets. Bring your friends! Oscar Qualifying Screenings

The movie will have a wider release in the States in march 2010, probably around St.Patrick's day. Go Ireland!

Have a great weekend everyone, talk soon!

Tom Caulfield!

Good autumn everyone :)

In the last few months I've been mad busy working on several new things I can't show yet (sigh) so I decided to introduce you to my good friend Tom Caulfield. He's one of the greatest animators I've ever met and definitely one my favourite people on the planet.

Check out his blog!

Sky Doll hommage

This is my little and very quick contribution to the "Sky Doll hommage concours".
It's definitely been a fun way to wrap a lovely weekend!
And tomorrow...starting a new exciting job ;)

The secret of Kells Flash animation

I've been doing some updates and added a few animations on my website now that The Secret of Kells is out and released in many countries (New York premiere is this weekend!)
So here it is: www.alessandrasorrentino.com

As many of you were curious to see the "special" flash sequences Alf and I animated for the movie, I decided to post some of them here.
Digital Fx are made by Jeremy Purcell.
The blackboard effect has been applied later by Digital Graphics on our black on white animation.

I might post some of the traditional animation here later, but if you wish to have a peek now, just go to my website!
Enjoy :)

Annecy UPDATE!

Just got the news, The Secret of Kells won the Audience Award at the Annecy festival!

Hurray to the whole crew!!!

a frame from one of the Flash sequences Alf and I animated

Annecy 09 and "The secret of Kells" US release

Just a silly doodle but still..it's a new post :) Life has been nuts over the last couple of months or so, but finally Alf and I decided to take a tiny little break and go to the Annecy festival!!

We're leaving tomorrow, can't wait to meet up with old friends, get inspired by tons of animated films out there and support the Kells crew, as the movie is in feature competition this year.

About that, I have a juicy news for all the US followers: there's going to be an american release in early 2010! It will be a limited one, but if the opening goes well, that might encourage a wider distribution. So.. don't wait for the dvd and go to the cinema!!!

Song of the sea

In the past months I've been doing some animation on Tomm Moore's new feature film development. It's a lovely story inspired by irish mithology called "Song of the Sea".. and it's going to be 2D!!

This is the movie teaser made by Cartoon Saloon (animation, character design and bgs) and Digital Graphics (compositing and animation effects).

We animated everything on wacoms. The guys at Cartoon Saloon used Tv Paint, while Alf and I worked on Flash.

The animation has a traditional approach, frame by frame, no tweens. Brush tool for the rough and pencil tool for the cleanup.

Hope you'll enjoy it.

(HQ recommended)

..a little "behind the scenes"

(you can spot part of a scene I animated)

Movie premiere in Dublin

We're ready to leave!

"The Secret of Kells" will premiere in Ireland this sunday. Gala screening at the close of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival - Savoy movie theatre.

(online tickets are sold out - tickets will be available at the venue 1 hour before the screening)

Can't wait to see you guys there!

The secret of Kells - english trailer

"Brendan and the secret of Kells" on the Asifa Italia website

Alf and I have been asked to write a few words about the movie on the Asifa Italia website.

So we thought it would have been nice to share it here, especially for our families and friends who always complain that our blogs are in english only.. :)

Buona lettura!

---------------------------------------------------------------------

a cura di Alessandra Sorrentino e Alfredo Cassano

E' finalmente online il trailer del film d'animazione "Brendan and the secret of Kells", lungometraggio 2d coprodotto da Cartoon Saloon (Irlanda), Les Armateurs (Francia) e ViviFilm (Belgio), che vedra' la luce per la prima volta nelle sale cinematografiche a Parigi, l'11 febbraio 2009.
Per il momento il trailer e' disponibile in francese, distribuito da Gebeka, mentre il trailer originale in inglese distribuito da Disney/Buena Vista sara' online nei prossimi giorni.

IX secolo. Brendan, un ragazzo di dodici anni, cresce circondato da monaci nell'abbazia fortificata di Kells, sotto la tutela di suo zio, Abbott Cellach, un uomo severo e autoritario che lo educa con grande rigore, confidando nel fatto che un giorno potra' seguire i suoi stessi passi.

Ma ben presto la monotona vita del giovane Brendan viene sconvolta dall'arrivo di Brother Aidan, un anziano maestro illuminato che gli mostra la bellezza dell'arte e stimola la sua creativita' attraverso le pagine dello straordinario, ma non ancora completo, Libro di Kells.

La minaccia di una terribile invasione vichinga e' imminente, tuttavia Brendan e' determinato a inseguire la strada dei suoi sogni: completare le ultime pagine del Libro prima che sia troppo tardi. Per farlo dovra' intraprendere un rischioso viaggio e, accompagnato dalla misteriosa fatina Aisling e dal gatto Pangur Ban, scoprira' per la prima volta il mondo al di fuori delle mura dell'abbazia, e le sue piu' profonde paure.

Kells e' un piccolo centro abitato che sorge nella contea di Kilkenny, in Irlanda. Ed e' proprio qui che tutto ha inizio, 10 anni fa, presso lo studio Cartoon Saloon, dall'entusiasmo del regista Tomm Moore e il suo team di giovani talenti, ai quali col tempo si sono affiancati artisti provenienti da tutto il mondo.
Il film e' forse uno degli ultimi lungometraggi realizzati in animazione tradizionale con carta e matita. La ricerca stilistica, particolarmente influenzata dall'arte medievale, ha dato luogo ad uno scenario visivamente suggestivo e ricco di dettagli, a cui si integra un character design decisamente grafico e dal gusto fortemente illustrativo.
Anche il team di animazione, del quale abbiamo avuto l'onore di far parte, ha avuto lo stimolante compito di mantenere questa coerenza stilistica. E' stato adottato un approccio "pose-to-pose", che favorisse l'appeal del singolo disegno, conservando pero' la forza emotiva dei personaggi.
Particolarmente interessante e' stato per noi curare anche le "sequenze speciali" del film (sogni, flashback, racconti), realizzate in Flash e graficamente differenti l'una dall'altra.

In un periodo in cui l'animazione sembrerebbe orientarsi definitivamente verso il 3d, "Brendan and the secret of Kells" rappresenta una preziosa eccezione che ci auguriamo possa raggiungere presto le sale cinematografiche italiane.

copyright Cartoon Saloon/Les Armatures/Vivifilm