STEFANO CARDOSELLI: EXPORTED TO AMERICA
By EAM Staff

Our staff recently caught up with Italian illustrator Stefano Cardoselli and had a chance to ask him some questions.

EAM: Tell us how you decided be become an illustrator; was it a
life long passion or was it a skill you discovered in school?

SC: I started drawing when I was little, and I read a lot, too. Always loved drawing and become a comic artist, I designed and wrote my first comic books when I was 10 to 11 years old... had some success among my relatives. I’ve always drawn comics and have been drawing all time, but did not know at all how to send something to editors.

EAM: Where did you attend art school and what was your focus
of study?

SC: Art school here called, Liceo Artistico In Grosseto - Tuscany (near where I was born) and Comics-School in Rome.

EAM: What role did art school play in your career as a comic book illustrator?

SC: Certainly Liceo Artistico was really important, I can not say the same for the school of comics, it was completely useless and without sense to me. I believe that a school of
comics should prepare artists to work by providing tools, such as how we relate with how to send a submission or how to contact a publishers etc... this is not what happened. So I learned everything in the course of a direct experience.

EAM: Tell us about your company and how you came to start it with your wife.

SC: Azurek Studios, is a comic-studio and the idea of it was born in 1998, created by me and my wife Rita, the official date of the birth date of 2001. It is the date of our first story in Heavy Metal magazine. We are a group of artists and we can provide complete book, story through artwork (pencils, inks, colors: hand made or digital and lettering). We can also realize toys, t-shirts, and more recently also pins. Rita is editor in chief and is responsible for the management and approval of projects and proposals, drawing and coloring as well as writing. I am co-editor and I see the submissions we receive from artists and colorists. In fact, in the staff we have different colorists with different color styles, an English supervisor, a letterer, and an
animator. The great thing is that we have collaborators from all around the world. I think Azurek has grown a lot, if you think about it, the studio was born on the benches of the school when there were only 2 employees, now we are 12…

EAM: Have you shown any of your works in a gallery before?

SC: Here in Italy? Italy is a dead country, where art is considered a hobby, the comic is not considered at all, the funny thing is my first exhibition was made in the USA at Burger and Friends in Texas last summer, it was a great thing.

EAM: What advice would you give to emerging illustrators?

SC: Always be yourself, humble and proud of your work.