Welcome and Keynote with Felicita Sala

Welcome and Keynote with Felicita Sala

Happy Day Two of the 2024 SCBWI Summer Conference!

The morning began with the most exciting presentation by Felicita Sala! Though she wasn't able to join us for a live session, the pre-recorded keynote was absolutely fabulous! 

Felicita Sala began with a bit of her background but spent most of her time diving into her influences, why she makes picture books, and how they shaped her work.

Felicita wasn't always a picture bookmaker. In fact, it wasn't necessarily her dream. She just happened into it. But as a kid who loved to read and to escape to fantasy worlds with imaginary friends. From a very young age, Felicita had a love and fascination with fairytales that she would listen to on audio cassettes and read along. Some of her earliest influences were Italian illustrators and authors from the 60s and 70s. She would pour over them, and attribute them to her sense of aesthetic. 

Felicita thought that these books just existed. She didn't realize that an artist- made the pictures, even though she grew up in Italy looking at brilliant artwork. 

So she began to ask herself:

"What it means to be a child, and what is her service to them?"

When Felicita creates, she doesn't think of the audience when she begins a story but rather, thinks more about the personal need of what the story needs.

As a teenager, Felicita read Sophie's World which led her to study philosophy.

That is when she became interested in the word "WONDER," which she feels means to "leave space for something mysterious."

What attracted her to "wonder" was the connection between child and philosopher. This connection to the artist.

" I don't believe we can make children's books if we have lost the faculty of wonder."

Disillusioned by modern and post-modern art, Felicita went on to explore other things. She didn't think illustration could be a career path until she returned to Europe where she discovered picture books were an art form. 

Picture books lives outside the conventional art world. It bridges the world of adults and children and called back to the fairytales of her childhood. 

"Children have the key to understanding them (on picture books), that most adults have lost."

So Felicita began her work in the publishing world. She mostly works with Australian and UK publishing which she believes has a different sensibility than US publishing, and this has been a great environment for her experimental and playful aesthetic and storytelling.

Felicita loved books that "help children climb through the window, not the door."

Here are some of her INFLUENCES:

Gianni Rodari 

A creator of picture book from 60s through the 80s who played with words  annd surrealism. 

Felicita loved the experimental aspects of his writing and own "The Grammar of Fantasy" by Gianni Rodari, which dives into the storytelling she admires and loves. 

Emanuele Luzzati 

Illustrator that was influenced by folk art from Eastern Europe. 

The decorative, flat style influenced Felicita's aesthetic. 

Loves surreal, nonsense, over-the-top things, entertaining- Feeds her inner child

Scandinavian Literature: 

Felicita loved the way these artists drew children and this influenced several of her books and how she drew children.

"When you work on something that appeals to your inner child, it will appeal to children as well"

Russian Influences: 

Leo Lionni "Swimmy" 

It is textural, and experimental, where the artist is free from creative constraints.

This influenced Felicita's book "When You Find the Right Rock." 

In this book, she allowed herself to play with paint, brushes/brushstrokes, and collage which she usually doesn't do. It felt very freeing and this is one of her favorite works which releases in September 2024.

FELICITA'S PROCESS

Starts with a light sketch to map out the piece.

Using masking fluid to keep some spaces white, and light washes of color

More washes of color and added color detail.

Deepening color, defining shapes, and adding more details.

Color pencil to add features, minute details.

Then she scans and adds/cleans up digitally.

At the very end, Felicita showed some pages from SKETCHBOOK:

 Sketchbooks allow you to work on fundamental skills (linework, texture, etc) and allow you to learn to play.

Check out her STUNNING work!

https://www.felicitasala.com/

Felicita Sala
Illustrator

About
Felicita was born in Rome but grew up in Perth. She graduated with Honours in Philosophy form the University of Western Australia. She moved back to Italy in 2007 where she taught herself illustration and very slowly started making picture books. Over the years she collaborated on various papercut animations with husband and animator Gianluca Maruotti. She now works as a full time illustrator. One of her books 'She Made a Monster' was selected among the 10 best picture books of 2018 by the New York Times, and her self authored book 'Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street' has been translated in over 10 languages. In 2020 she won the Premio Andersen as best illustrator in Italy. She lives in Rome with her family.