A Storyteller in Pictures
Designer and illustrator Cesare Asaro has one foot in Europe and one in the US. He has worked on both continents in the animation industry, on projects including Sesame Street’s stop-motion Bert and Ernie’s Great Adventures, Disney’s Princess and the Frog, the animated film Welcome to Siegheilkirchen, and the upcoming animated series Chill Out, Zeus.
Down to the Last Detail
Since 2010 he has helped create the fictional worlds of Curio & Co., including the Eisner-nominated Finding Frank and His Friend and the Gadabout TM-1050 Time Machine User’s Manual, later optioned for a feature film.
Cesare relies on a background in fine art and an eye for period-correct detail to create illustration, from pencil to digital originals, that looks like it stepped out of another era and rewards a closer look. He’s brought the same skill to other companies’ properties, including a revival of the classic Harvey Hits characters and a redesign of Batman in the style of Fleischer Studios’ Superman.
Shaped by Hand
Curio & Co. has always cared how its objects feel in the hand, the weight of a book, the finish of a card, the way a thing lives in the world once it’s yours. That same care has led Cesare somewhere unexpected: a line of hand-carved black walnut sculptures, each one made by him, individually and to order. He shapes the wood with chisels and gouges, then tools by hand the leather base it stands on. The finished pieces are unlike anything else the studio makes, and they still feel right at home there.
Whatever the medium, the instinct is the same. Get the details right, and make something worth keeping.
Selected Works
- Finding Frank and His Friend, Curio & Co., 2010 (2011 Eisner Award Nomination, Best Graphic Album, New Material)
- Gadabout TM-1050 Time Machine User's Manual, Curio & Co., 2011
- Time for Frank and His Friend, Curio & Co., 2012
- Frank and His Friend – Special Collector's Edition, Vol. 1, Curio & Co., 2013
- Spaceman Jax: Through the Mantagon Minefield, Curio & Co., 2014
- Tarot of Musterberg, Curio & Co., 2015
- Hand-carved black walnut sculptures, Curio & Co., ongoing
