Q&A with Fabio C.

Which piece in your gallery is your favorite and why?

Most of my pieces have a special meaning to me. If I had to choose only one, I would say Fabio Celoni's "L'Inferno di Topolino" Illustration. It's special in so many ways. Because of the subject, the story "L'Inferno di Topolino", first parody (of Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia) realized by Italian Disney artists and published in 1949 on Topolino (Mickey Mouse) magazine #7-12. Because Fabio is an incredible and outstanding artist and also a friend. Because I love the way Fabio gives life to Disney characters. Because of the absolute magnificence that Fabio managed to achieve with this Illustration.

Please tell us a little about yourself.

I was born and raised near Latina (60 km from Rome), in Italy. Been a comic book fan since I was a kid, started going to Comic Conventions at 15 (I like going to Lucca Comics and Games... if you're wondering how big it is, just think that the attendance is now above 250,000) and still do now that I'm 40+. I attended to a School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Rome (Scuola Romana dei Fumetti) where I had the chance to meet and learn from many Italian comic book artists, but as of today I still draw only as a hobby, my real life work is a different one (in Information Technology). I read and collect comic books of all kinds (Disney, Superheroes, Franco-Belgian, manga etc.) as well as statues and figures and... original art, of course. I love metal and classical and rock music, art and illustration, cinema and TV shows and animation. And video games, too, even if I manage to play and complete only a few titles per year.

How long have you been collecting comic art and what prompted you to start?

As far as I can remember, I always loved comic books and was interested in particular with the art. Collecting original art ain't cheap... so I started collecting sketches in Comic Conventions and began buying original pages, pin-ups and commissions only many years later, when I was able to afford it... my first "serious piece" was a Lobo illustration by Simon Bisley, followed by a Glenn Fabry Preacher commission, and then it was too late to stop. I rarely sell or trade any of my pieces. I buy everything from the pencil prelim to the color piece, I just have to be touched by the artwork. In particular, I love pencil drawings because the art is so fresh and alive (inking often times cools things down).

How do you display/store your collection at home?

Walls and (mostly) Itoya portfolios.

What are your top five most wanted original pages or commissions?

Not easy to say... I'm quite happy with what I already got in my collection, but there are still plenty of stories of which I would love to own a page, and also artists to whom I would love to commission a piece.