Designer/illustrator Cesare Asaro is a curious monkey with a background in fine arts, a passion for drawing and an interest in production. Born in Sanremo, Italy in 1973, he lives and creates in Vienna, Austria with his wife, where he has been constantly working and studying in many different branches of the visual arts.
He began his career after graduating from Cal State Long Beach, first designing interactive exhibits for kids at the newly opened Discovery Science Centre, and then moving into multimedia design at the United Nations. Later he dove into animation where he got to play with projects like Disney’s 2D Princess and the Frog, Sesame Street’s stop-motion Bert and Ernie’s Great Adventures, and the upcoming 3D project Rotzbub, which celebrates the works of the European cartoonist Manfred Diex.
After his short stint at Disney Animation Studios, in 2010 he began working with his wife, writer Kirstie Shepherd, to bring the fictional world of Curio & Co. to life. The alternate history of the Curio world allows them to develop characters and stories in a variety of styles and genres – from 1960s animation or 1970s newspaper comics, to turn of the century advertising or woodcuts from the 1700s. Even the website is completely in character, with the work signed with the names of the fictional artists they’ve created – although the copyright notices do indeed bear their real names.
The focus on nostalgia in the Curio & Co. world means that the details of each object, from production techniques to the choice of materials, work together to bring the world to life.This includes the Eisner-nominated book, Finding Frank and His Friend, and The Gadabout Time Machine User’s Manual, optioned to Columbia Pictures for a feature film.
Cesare relies on his background in fine art to create believable facsimiles of period-specific illustrations – from pencil originals, to digital production processes – to recreate the past and provide a nostalgic trip down memory lane. His unique approach has brought requests from companies to develop historical content for their own brands, such as the revival of the Harvey Hits characters and the redesign of Batman in the style of Fleischer Studios’Superman.
While holding down the fort for Curio & Co., Cesare has had the opportunity to teach workshops and speak on panels at events such as the Comic-Con International in San Diego, as well as trade and university conferences. At present Cesare is focusing on further expanding the Curio & Co. universe, providing publishing houses or game companies with visuals, as well as quenching the fires of a daily service operation for clients. He couldn’t do all this without the support of his wife.
