CMON Comics - Volume 1: interview with Marina Sanfelice and Matteo Brembilla
In these days we have followed with particular curiosity the Kickstarter of CMON Comics Vol. 1, thanks to a first meeting with one of the comic book writers, Luca Enoch. Enoch is part of a team made up of Stefano Vietti and an artistic team made up of big names from our own comics (Riccardo Crosa, Giancarlo Olivares, Alessio Moroni, Diego Bonesso and Paolo Francescutto), which can also boast two important figures in central roles such as the graphic design and the lettering, entrusted respectively to Matteo Brembilla and Marina Sanfelice.
How graphics and lettering of CMON Comics are born - Volume 1 Matteo Brembilla has already been appreciated recently for having created the graphic layout of two successful Bonelli productions, namely Sottosopra and Dragonero - Il rebelle, whose new look Matteo has designed. Marina Sanfelice's lettering, on the other hand, is a familiar presence for Bonellian readers, who appreciate monthly his work on Dragonero.
A role, that of Brembilla and Sanfelice, which is often forgotten, despite being a part essential for the creation of comic books. The importance of these two figures is certainly no less in a project like that of CMON Comics, which indeed can represent a new challenge
CRM_ADS.addZone({tag:"crm_srl-th_culturapop_d_mh2_1",name:"th_culturapop_d_mh2",matchMedia:"(min-width: 1300px)"}); : For this type of publication, I focused immediately on finding a font that was compatible with the american market, which was exactly in line with the publications sui generis. for the realization of the lettering, I tried to do a clean, understandable and harmonious with the style of the tables. Made exclusively in vector, even if some tracks are obtained manually. In short, a fumettatura typical of this kind of publication. Also, knowing that you realize the various language versions, I have tried to give the shapes and positions that are compatible with the dimensions that would be changed. You will find some balloon positioned in different areas in the various publications in Italian, English and French, where this has not been possible to find a unique solution for the different versions,
If you give an entry for ‘international’ to the protagonists of the three adventures has been challenging for Marina Sanfelice, a similar task is also touched by Matteo Brembilla. The three comics are, in fact, linked to a vision, already consolidated thanks to the success of the board game which inspired, making necessary a connection to the visual context to the stories of Enoch and Vietti
: The main objective was to find the right meeting point between the graphic style of the boardgame CMON and a style that was more suited to the editorial environment of the comics; of course, the final result always had to communicate with the visual language, just c'mon. The initial approach was purely of observation and study: I took the boxes of the games and I have analyzed the appearance of every single element, from the miniatures in the rulebook. Many of the visual elements of the games were already designed by the team of CMON and wanted that are also present in the comics, so that the universe CMON it could be perceived also in the volumes. Since this is a project of the all-new, every element has been so redesigned and adapted to the world of comics. The difficulty was to move with dexterity between the constraints and new ideas to produce a creative product new, fresh and eye-catching but consistent with the universe of a single boardgame. The most exciting part of it, in fact, was to pass from the world " gained of Cthulhu, to the pandemic of Zombicide, to the alien of Zombicide Invader, each with its own precise identity and well-defined; each project has been brought forward in parallel in order to maintain a consistent graphics between the three volumes, with a personal imprint again to emphasize the graphic style of each brand. One thing that I often do in my work is that of entering in the right mood, letting myself be emotionally involved, to help my creativity. So I started reading books and comics (such as the anthology of the works of Lovecraft), watch movies (e.g. the zombie apocalypse), listen to music (mainly contemporary electronic music) meant to influence my mood, and direct the creative process. Of course, the games, c'mon they were the first source of inspiration.
Create a work so complex and dynamic, has required to face the difficulties arising from the approach to a different market. In the case of the lettering, Marina Sanfelice has had to lend their experience in different languages, given the international scope of the histories of the CMON Comics – Vol. 1, which will be published in English and French
CRM_ADS.addZone({tag:"crm_srl-th_culturapop_d_mh3_1",name:"th_culturapop_d_mh3",matchMedia:"(min-width: 1300px)"}); : foreign-language version provides a greater attention also needs to be taken into consideration habits and practices of the foreign market, which in Italy are different. For this I especially thank the editors for their patience and understanding, have been very cooperative.
Matteo Brembilla has had to deal with some complicated steps in creating a graphic important: the title pages of the stories. This is the first impact of the reader with the narrative context, especially visual, of the story, you need an approach to create immediately an interest, a great deal of responsibility
: Surely the title-pages of the individual stories contained within were a nice challenge. I had to create a graphic element that would the individual chapters, but that was not too invasive to the picture; there was a good cooperation between me and the team work to achieve the best result. The same attention to detail found in the boardgame CMON has been applied in the realization of the individual volumes. Nothing is given to chance: each element of this has been done, and sometimes made more and more times until we were all satisfied. In fact, the graphic design should always pay attention to everything that surrounds it, can never be an end in itself. Another interesting challenge were the icons of the individual volumes. The goal was the creation of the illustrations that were the most synthetic of the logos, but the identification of the brand. Are to be applied on the coast, for example, and help to identify the volumes
But the processing graphics of these stories contains elements challenging. Readers often take for granted the work of the graphic behind the creation of an album, yet there are dozens of details that must be cared for and taken care of, as told by Matthew, thinking back to the work done for CMON Comics – vol. 1
CRM_ADS.addZone({tag:"crm_srl-th_culturapop_d_mh4_1",name:"th_culturapop_d_mh4",matchMedia:"(min-width: 1300px)"}); : A little curiosity I can reveal is how they are sometimes treated within the plant chart, the portions of the design extrapolated from the individual vignettes. In some parts of the volume, as the colophon – there are illustrations from the plates of the interior of the volumes. Because a cartoon has a composition well-structured and more or less complex, I had to isolate the individual characters, excluding the background and boundary elements. To match the best designs at the graphic system previously studied, I had to intervene directly on the illustration in a manner to arrange the portions of the images that are lost at the time of isolation; I have often had to intervene directly in order to recreate small portions of the body – such as a missing eye or a part of the tentacle – in the beginning hidden by other elements in the foreground. In this way, I could isolate the subjects that rimandassero directly to the drawings of the story.
A challenging job, but rewarding, that has allowed Marina Sanfelice and Matteo Brembilla to get closer to a world unknown as that of the board game. Be working on a project like CMON Comics – Vol. 1 pushed the two professionals to deal with the boardgame, the discovery that they lived with a certain curiosity
I have never had the opportunity to approcciarmi to the boardgame, if not the classic traditional table games such as the various Risk, Cluedo, immortal Monopolies, Visual Game, etc... the type of board game that brings together physically friends at the same table. The type of boardgame in question is to me totally unknown, but I guess I'll try sooner or later, to face such a challenge.
my experience with the boardgame, it is quite common to many others: I grew up with the classics like Monopoly and Risk game (I found myself often with my friends to play for an evening alternative and fun), but I never in-depth truly the world of the boardgame. Join the team to work and collaborate with CMON even gave me the chance to broaden my horizons, discovering a world a lot vaster, made of passion and attention to detail. It was the care and study of every single detail that struck me the most, in addition to the complex dynamics of the game that are at the core of every single boardgame. Nothing is left to chance and everything is studied in detail, from the rules to the realization of the individual thumbnails.
But in addition to the curiosity for a game dimension unknown, Marina Sanfelice and Matteo Brembilla you are faced with a new mode of creation of the comic book, facing for the first time the adventure of crowd funding, an experience that has particularly struck a veteran in the world of comics nostrano as the Sanfelice
: this collaboration has brought me, in addition to make the acquaintance of new colleagues, a great emotion: it is always exciting to build new projects, and, in this case, in particular, the experience of the kickstarter (for me new) has excited me very much: the mix of tension, anxiety, and adrenaline that brought energy and satisfaction for the result, perhaps naively, I was certain we would have reached, given the quality of these books... I must Confess that at the opening of the campaign, after the shock of the crash to 4 hours occurred a minute after, and I remained connected throughout the night, checking periodically on the progress and a look every so often, the I date for the duration of the campaign. I must also confess that working on a product that will be distributed at the international level and that will be my “hand” on its pages, makes a certain effect.
luckily, Marina Sanfelice there are only two more days to the conclusion of the Kickstarter, so you can breathe a sigh of relief with the knowledge of having contributed to the realization of an idea that has gotten a return to the crazy during this campaign. Now we have to wait until February 2021, when the hard work of this large cast of artists of the Italian comics will take the form of the three volumes of the CMON Comics – Vol. 1
