Anna & Elena Balbusso

In our work there is a clear reference to artists and paintings. The Italian art plays a key role in our work, it is an important source of inspiration but not the only. Every project is different, we do not work in series.There is not a specific art period but art in general, from Ancient Rome mural painting (frescoes at Pompeii), Italian Renaissance, Romanticism (prelude of modern art) Modern Art (symbolism, surrealism, Russian constructivism, Italian Futurism) and Contemporary Art. We use mixed media, traditional methods (acrylic, gouache, pencil, pen) were combined with digital programs, however we do not use the virtual paint brushes instead relying on doing all our brush stroke by hand with black gouache on paper. We work in many fields of communication with different styles: graphic style and painterly style.

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  Title: a_e_balbusso_sorrow_and_such
  Caption: Of Sorrow and Such, Tor Books
  Description: Winner image selected from Society of Illustrators 58 New York Annual Competition 2016. Cover art for Angela Slatter’s Of Sorrow and Such, a dark fantasy novella published by Tor Books. Mistress Gideon is a witch. The locals of Edda's Meadow, if they suspect it of her, say nary a word-Gideon has been good to them, and it's always better to keep on her good side. Just in case. Gideon is captured, bound for torture and a fiery end.
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  Title: balbusso_among_the_thorns
  Caption: Among the Thorns, Tor Books
  Description: 2015 BEST OF SHOW JOSEPH MORGAN HENNINGER AWARD SILA 53rd Illustration West. Selected Society of Illustrators 57 New York Annual Competition 2015. This artwork accompanies the dark fantasy novella “Among the Thorns” by Veronica Schanoes, published on Tor.com, 2014.
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  Title: a_e_balbusso_house_fire
  Caption: House on Fire, Reader's Digest Magazine
  Description: 2016 AWARD OF EXCELLENCE COMMUNICATION ARTS ILLUSTRATION ANNUAL. Winner image selected from Society of Illustrators 58 New York Annual Competition 2016. Our artwork accompanies the true story "House on fire" by Hollye Dexter for Reader's Digest Magazine, November issue 2015. My House Burned Down, and Here’s What It Taught Me: One Mother’s Heart-Pounding True Story.
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  Title: balbusso_burning_girl
  Caption: Burning Girl, Tor Books
  Description: This artwork accompanies the dark fantasy novella: "Burning Girls" written by Veronica Schanoes. Our artwork represents a final episode of the story. It is a clear reference to the The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers, most of the victims were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women aged sixteen to twenty-three; it was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in the history of the city of New York. The story tells about a Jewish girl growing up in an increasingly hostile environment in Poland in the late nineteenth century. She is forced to emigrate to the United States in search of work.
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  Title: balbusso_autoimmune
  Caption: autoimmune disease, The New Yorker Magazine
  Description: 2014 AWARD OF EXCELLENCE COMMUNICATION ARTS ILLUSTRATION ANNUAL The Image accompanies the article written by Meghan O’Rourke “Personal history by Meghan O’Rourke. Living with an autoimmune disease”. “Soon I could no longer write or read: focusing my eyes and my mind was impossible”. We imagined the symptoms of the autoimmune disease as a network of branches within the body.
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  Title: balbusso_modern_love
  Caption: Modern Love, Middlebury Magazine US
  Description: Image for Middlebury Magazine to accompany “Modern Love” by Leah Fessler, an in depth exploration of the desire for emotional commitment amidst the hook-up culture of college life.
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  Title: balbusso_moral_distress
  Caption: Moral distress, Scrubs Magazine
  Description: Image for Scrubs Magazine to accompany “Occupational hazards: Burnout. Compassion fatigue. Moral distress”. The article explores the causes and effects of nursing's most formidable occupational hazards.
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  Title: a_e_balbusso_mischief_midnight
  Caption: Mischief at Midnight, cover art, Scholastic US
  Description: Winner image selected from Society of Illustrators 58 New York Annual Competition 2016.
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  Title: balbusso_the_kept
  Caption: The Kept, Middlebury Magazine
  Description: Winner image selected from Society of Illustrators 57 New York Annual Competition 2015. Book review "The Kept" by James Schott. Article "Mother's sins" by Regan Eberhart, Middlebury Magazine 2014
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  Title: balbusso_tatyana
  Caption: Tatyana
  Description: 2013 GOLD MEDAL SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS NEW YORK- AWARD OF EXCELLENCE COMMUNICATION ARTS ILLUSTRATION MAGAZINE...and other honors Image from the book "Eugene Onegin" by Alexander Pushkin, The Folio Society 2012
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  Title: a_e_balbusso_richard_II
  Caption: Richard II, cover art, Penguin UK
  Description: Winner image selected from Society of Illustrators 58 New York Annual Competition 2016. Cover art for the book “Richard II” by Laura Ashe. Our personal artistic interpretation of the portrait of the Richard II King. The title is part of the "Penguin Monarchs", series of books about Britain’s kings and queens. It is the ambitious new publishing project from Penguin, which will see 45 titles. Each book is written by a contemporary historian.