Irene Savino, editor of Ekaré, and Arianna Squilloni, manager and editor of A buen paso, share extensive professional careers in the publishing world, which converge in the Postgraduate Diploma in Narrative Illustration for Children's and Teenagers' Publications at EINA.
Specifically, in the seminar on Album Theory within the subject of Illustrated Children's Album Project. After a long teaching career in this field, in the 2023-2024 academic year Irene will hand over the baton to Arianna.
Gabriela Rubio, coordinator of the postgraduate diploma, talks to them before starting classes on this programme, which enables the development of leisure and dissemination projects in different environments: pre-reading publications, illustrations for magazines and games, textbooks and children's books and children's albums.
Irene, what lessons have your students taken away with them?
I've been teaching for almost 20 years, it's a bit scary to think about the amount of time this means. I started the first course with a lot of enthusiasm and I can say (which I'm glad to say) that over the years I didn't lose it. I was fortunate that the subject of my classes, "album analysis", has changed dramatically over the years. This type of publication has redefined its limits, its target audience, its staging, its themes, etc. Being attentive to these changes and incorporating them into what I wanted to transmit to the students has certainly been very stimulating. I hope I have been able to awaken their curiosity about how these "artefacts" work and have given them the tools to identify their mechanisms.
After all this time Irene, your students have become professionals in the sector.
I really like it when a book illustrated by one of the postgraduate students appears on the market. There are many illustrators with a solid career who have come out of it. I have had the opportunity to work with some of them as art director on books published by Ediciones Ekaré.
And in your case, Arianna, how long has it been since you founded A buen paso and what is your experience in the world of illustration?
A buen paso was born 15 years ago - yes, this year we are celebrating - and it could not have been born without the close collaboration and complicity of the creators of album books. A buen paso publishes almost exclusively work of its own creation, less than 10% of the books in the catalogue correspond to a purchase of rights, therefore, the curious conversation with illustrators is at the basis of what we publish. I have been meeting illustrators at congresses, fairs, giving classes and browsing the internet, looking for portfolios, following the trail of stimulating images with immense narrative potential.
Everything is ready for the start of the Postgraduate Diploma in Narrative Illustration for Children's and Teenagers' Publications, which begins at the end of October.
Irene Savino & Arianna Squilloni