(Penguin Book Cover Competition) Artist Research- Felicita Sala

Felicita Sala

Felicia Sala is an Italian illustrator and painter. She was born in Rome however grew up in Perth, Australia where she studied philosophy at university. However, after time spent around Europe she settled back in Rome and began teaching her self how to draw and experimented with illustration. Now Sala is making a range of picture books and editorial style illustrations for magazines. 

I found Felicita Sala’s work on Pinterest whilst researching and looking for inspiration on this project. I found her work captivating in the way she uses soft colours and fun patterns. The illustration below was the first drawing i found of Felicita’s, this is an example of a double page spread from one of her children’s picture books. This illustration really stood out to me as i love the interesting composition and how the trees stand above as though you are looking up above. This composition could be seen as intimidating however, i feel the use of pattern and shape adds this cosy warm feel almost creating a connection with the surrounding nature. 

 

Another amazing example was this cover designed by Felicita Sala, i loved this unique particular cover and central composition on the character. When looking briefly over Sala’s work i had not seen her approach to character design before so seeing this cover i instantly loved the style and feel its full of so much character. I also particularly loved the colour palette as it had colder elements that contrasts against the characters brighter hair and therefore draws the reader in. I also feel a successful part of this was the typography that was chosen as it a that fun hand drawn feel that reflected that child like feel of the book. 

This was a third great example i found on Felicita Sala portfolio I’m guessing it acted as another double page speed within one of Sala’s Children’s picture book. I felt this was a great example as it allowed me to see how the artists captured a scene such as the one below. I love this particular scene as you can really get a sense for the texture and pattern especially within the bark of the tree. I also like the contrasting colours within the colour palettes of the colder leaves in the foreground to the warmer tones in the background. I feel this is something that isn’t always done however i feel in this case it is successful and rather effective. 

Overall, i really like Felicita Sala’s work and feel it would be a great inspiration for my own work from the use of pattern to the way the colours have been considered throughout and feel this is definitely something i will think about when it comes a to creating the cover for my own work.