Nemo, the Boy Without Name

This is the cover art I did for Nemo, il ragazzo senza nome (Nemo, the Boy Without Name) written by Davide Morosinotto and published by Rizzoli. It tells the story and adventures of young Nemo before he grew up to be the immortalized character of Jules Verne. It was my first collaboration with an Italian publisher. We went through lots of concepts for the cover trying to convey action and adventure without going into too much detail or a particular scene. After many rounds of unsuccessful sketches I saw an image of a balustrade in Certosa di San Martino -an Italian monastery- decorated with truly creepy skulls. So the idea of a bass-relieve representing elements of sea adventure and danger clicked on my mind and consequently the chosen concept for this cover.