We have just got some charming new silkscreen limited editions in from illustrator and comic book artist Simone Lia so we thought we would take a closer look at her and the inspiration for her work.
Her latest limited edition print ‘I am not a bunny’ features perhaps her best know character Fluffy and bunny who thinks he is a human, and was the star of her first graphic novel.
Simone first made the drawing that would inspire fluffy when she was in college. She then started wondering about this bunny and his personality and who his Daddy might be and what their relationship was like. She describes the story of Fluffy as 'a story of unanswerable questions, love, despair, adventure and happiness'.
In the finished graphic novel Fluffy is a baby rabbit who is being looked after by an anxious, single man called Michael Pulcino. Michael tries to make it clear to Fluffy that he is not his daddy, but Fluffy appears to be in denial.
‘When making work I really want for it to be accessible and to communicate to an audience who may or may not be interested in comics or in art. I want to communicate ideas in a simple way.’ Simone Lia
Along with Fluffy Simone has a range or regular characters who she creates stories for including a wilful sausage, a carrot, a chip who doesn’t speak, a bean and bunnies of various shapes and sizes. They have appeared in The Independent, The Guardian and The DFC, as well as hanging on the walls of Tate Britain.
If you want to try and create your own Fluffy take a look Simone’s piece on how to draw a bunny which appeared in the Guardian in 2011.
Simone is British born Maltese and currently lives and works in London but still frequently visits Malta. She studied for a BA at university in Brighton and went on to a Masters degree at the Royal College of Art.
