Art for Mary Balogh's The Secret Pearl

I have been wanting to write about this topic for some time, and having spent the afternoon on this little drawing reminded me of this.


I have been working professionally as an artist for almost three years now, producing comics, storyboards, and occasionally ads and single commissions. I am not at all “born taught”, as we Italian say; I am slowly trying to get better and to draw in a more effective way.
I don’t always like what I draw. I don’t always get what I what at a first try. Most of my job, in fact, is made of corrections, re-drawing, throwing things I don’t like away. There are many drawings that never get scanned and posted online.

In the case above, I had first drawn the third picture. I have re-drawn Fleur’s face so many times that the eraser started to scratch the paper off. When I inked it, I didn’t like how I inked her at all. I had inked without a specific idea in mind.

So I re-drew it from scratch, despite the fact that I quite liked how Adam had come out, and that I still prefer the first Adam to the one I later colored. But the second try seemed to me more balanced, overall, and I inked also Fleur with a purpose. Not that I believe it’s a particularly spectacular drawing, but I enjoyed making it.

By the way, I also looked for references for 1822 fashion, but in the end I simplified her dress.

What’s the point of all of this? Possibly to support those who don’t like their first drawing and think that they are making it all wrong, too. That’s not the case. Art, or more simply a drawing, it’s not a matter of reaching your aim at first try. In fact, drawing over and over can be one of the most meditative aspect of the whole practice. Don’t give up after the first line went awry. Art is made with erasers too.

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Draw anything

One of my favourite comics ever is The Calling by Reiko Okano, an adaptation of the novel The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip (in Italian, La maga di Eld). I fear that Okano's adaptation has never been translated into English, but it would be totally worth it. You can read an article about it here.

Okano's drawings are the very essence of lyricism, ethereal-ness and otherworldliness. I was as in awe when I first read it, ten years ago, as I am today. I wish it was universally considered a masterpiece.

In her afterword to The Calling, Okano writes that she first read The Forgotten Beasts of Eld when she was almost 20, and that it was the novel that pushed her to become a mangaka.

"To achieve my dream [to give a visual dimension to McKillip's novel], I will become a comic book artist, and to master the art of drawing, I will illustrate anything, no matter its subject." So I took this decision, and for the next 10 years I drew any kind of subjects, from monks to sumo wrestlers. Being able to represent those magical beasts became closer little by little.

Okano's words came back to my mind. In the last eight months, I've drawn things I'd never thought I would draw before. I was extremely lucky in that. Although you've been able to see only a small portion of what I've drawn during this year, I know that it has made me a better artist than I was before. And this was able only because of the people who trusted me with their works, and whose I have to humbly thank.

I know that, during this period, I've almost stopped drawing my own stories and sparse illustrations. I know. It's not that I wouldn't like to do them again. But I'm training to make them better one day, hopefully. I also needed some time without personal involvement in what I was drawing. Please follow me in my journey.