Scrooge McDuck

1947-2022, 75th anniversary

Scrooge McDuck, a Scottish-American anthropomorphic Pekin duck created by Carl Barks for the Disney comic books, first appeared in the story "Christmas on Bear Mountain", published in December of 1947 (Four Color #178).

Living in Duckburg, Calisota, in his own "Money Bin" placed on Killmule Hill, he's Donald Duck's maternal uncle, as well as Huey's, Dewey's, and Louie's grand-uncle.

The richest duck in the world, he was initially characterized as a greedy miser and antihero, but in later appearances, he has often been portrayed as a thrifty hero, adventurer, and explorer.

He's, without a doubt, my favorite Disney character.
My ideal Scrooge McDuck story would be written by Carl Barks and illustrated by one of the Italian Disney artists I love!

***

As soon as I was able to confirm my attendance at the Lake Como Comic Art Festival 2022, I contacted Riccardo Federici to see if he had a slot available for a commission (I knew I was a bit late since he opened the pre-commission list a few months before)… he had already closed that list, but decided to make an exception (lucky me!) and also gladly accepted my bizarre request, that was a Scrooge McDuck oil painting!!!

It was a weird request because Riccardo's work usually falls into the "hyper-realistic", so funny animals are not something people usually ask him to do, even though I remembered an amazing painted piece he did about "Ratman" (a funny character created by Leo Ortolani), hence I thought he could do wonders also with Scrooge.
He only asked me if he could do it in his style, and I immediately answered that I specifically asked him for this commission to see Scrooge in his style! It doesn't make any sense to me to ask an artist, also with a strong, powerful, and personal style, to mimic someone else's style.

That's how it started, it was March, LCCAF was in mid-May, and at a certain point, a few weeks before the Festival, Riccardo started working on it. I was blown away by the pencils alone. And I knew that with the colors, Riccardo would have further added magic and sheer beauty. He did step by step (as you can see in the additional images, some work-in-progress shots).

The final piece is something that I believe words cannot describe.

His version of the old Scrooge is a thing of beauty.

In Cernobbio, Riccardo also told me this piece (that he posted in his social accounts, from the pencils through the various coloring phases) generated quite a lot of interest, with many people willing to buy it ("sorry, it's a commission, already sold") and he got commission requests for new pieces with Disney characters.
Maybe something started there. We'll see.

Huge thanks to Riccardo!!!


Paper size: 21 x 29.7 cm