Last week I had one of “those days” at work. But it’s interesting to observe how your body language changes when you get pissed off. So what’s the difference between me happy and me angry?
Italic
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A slow start of the year. Lots of grey days. But don’t you agree that by just feeling confident that things will turn out fine, they generally go well by default?
So here’s a hymn to optimism.
I’ve just come back from my 2-week holiday in Levanto (Italy), where, between a chapter of the latest Tom Wolfe novel and a quick splash in the sea, I filled a Moleskine with lots of doodles, having fun with all the colourful characters on the beach. Humanity is definitely at its most vulnerable – and yet charming – when half-naked and sweaty under the hot sun…
I live a kind of dual life. No, not in a Jekyll and Hyde sort of way, but as I work both with British and Italian clients/publishers, I often end up keeping these two sides of my work separated. I’ve often even wondered if I should have this blog in both languages, then I always assume that English is the international tongue nowadays and keep it only the way it is (or maybe it’s laziness…).
Anyhoo, to try and set things right, today I’m introducing my latest characters, which I recently created for a comics page that runs once a month on the Monday edition of the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano. Cico [read “Chico”], is a child modelled on the newspaper’s logo (an old-fashioned newspaper-boy) and named after… myself (yep, that was my nickname as a kid and my sister still calls me that to this day); Toto is his friend, a mouse who lives in his house. It’s aimed at kids and it has very simple storylines, as they have to unfold and conclude in only 4 strips, but I really enjoy working on it and I find the effort to make a story work in the economy of one page quite a nice challenge.
Here is one of their latest adventure as an example, where Toto gets a job as tooth fairy (in Italy we have tooth mice instead!) to get money for his Christmas shopping. Buona lettura! (well, at least I managed to squeeze two words in Italian in the blog…)
End of the year. And I have been shamefully inactive in this blog. But not in the real world. And to prove it, here is my entry to this year’s Observer/Jonathan Cape graphic short story competition. Title: The Errant Letter. The story of something that was created with the aim to convey love to somebody, and because this love was rejected, this thing had to find different outlets to deal this love out to the world…
(If you click on the image it will open in a new window. Click again and you’ll be able to zoom in)
And of course we couldn’t miss the latest “literary” sensation (sorry for the inverted commas, but I struggle to see those books as a work of literature…).
It’s not completely confirmed, as accurate dates from the 14th century are hard to come by, but they say Dante started penning his Inferno in 1312, right at the start of his exile in Verona. So I wanted to celebrate this 700th birthday with a cartoon, showing Dante in his signature look: grumpy face and red beanie-hat/cape combo. And then I thought: maybe the two were related?…
I’m applying for British citizenship (after 17 years in London I’d like to be able to vote for whoever is going to decide my taxes, thanks very much) and whilst filling the form I came across this:
so I looked closely…
and this is what it says:
This is so mental for so many reasons that I won’t even start commenting. Hence: blank post.
No particular reference to personal facts or current situations. But as I was horridly busy until now, juggling two fan-hitting-shitty jobs, my poor knackered brains came up with this.
…but don’t worry: they’re dead!
Yes, my new book is out and it comes with a new website and animations, so go to
deadmeerkats.com to find out all about it.
I had a blast working on these cartoons, so I hope you’ll enjoy them too. And here is a little preview especially for you:
MASSIMO FENATI 