Posted in: Comics | Tagged: artist, Comics, entertainment, Italian, LRNZ, Renaissance

LRNZ – An Italian Artist Leading A New Renaissance

Mike Kennedy of Magnetic Press writes,

Italy has bred some of the greatest artists the world has ever known — Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Caravaggio, Raphael, Botticelli, Donatello… the list goes on.  Their influence on everything that came after them is unquestionable.  Some of the most unique and original comic artists grew out of that long tradition — from modern masters like Liberatore, Minara, Toppi, and Pratt to contemporary stars like Gabriele Dell'Otto, Francesco Francavilla, Simone Bianchi, and Sara Pichelli.  But brightest among these rising stars has got to be LRNZ.

LRNZ is the penname of artist and designer Lorenzo Ceccotti, who has made waves throughout many different fields of visual art around the world. Hailing from Rome, Italy, he is a founding member of the collective SuperAmici studio and BRUTUS/CHIMP Co. He was animation director for the documentary "The Dark Side of the Sun," concept artist on the live action sci-fi short film "The Nostalgist," and production designer for both the graphic novel and upcoming live action feature film "Monolith" due for release this year.

But English-language fans only recently became introduced to his work with the release of GOLEM, his first graphic novel opus which hit shelves in February.  It is a 280-page tale filled with sci-fi adventure, futuristic intrigue, political commentary, and spiritual metaphor using the universal archetype of visual storytelling: sequential art.  Already entering its second printing, this smash hit story has been translated into several languages, bringing his unique visual style to audiences around the world. Which is only fitting, since his style is such a synthesis of global influences.

With a passion for music, video games, animation, and film, he has blended all of these inspirations into a unique visual style that mixes line art, painted brushwork, and graphic design. It takes just a quick look at his comic and illustration work for it to very quickly becomes obvious that LRNZ is not only integrating the varied techniques from three of the biggest global comic book traditions — American, European, and Japanese — but he is doing it in a way that few people have done before. You can not only see traces of the great masters' techniques, but blended with a cutting-edge graphic design that makes them brand new again. His work sets him apart within a diverse peer group of masters such as Katsuya Terada, Moebius, Katsuhiro Otomo, James Jean, Enki Bilal, Joe Madureira, Jim Steranko, & Bill Sienkiewicz.

Throughout his career, he has created astonishingly cool work in almost every artistic field imaginable: comics, animation, music, fashion, graphic design, automotive and industrial design, motion graphics, and early pioneering in flash, UI & UX design, rich media website development, and virtual reality.  And in all of those years, his portfolio grew more and more mesmerizing and diverse, showcasing an adaptable range of techniques inspired by masters from around the world, matching each to the narrative or visual need of each project.  He truly is a visual synthesizer.

And now he is preparing to collect the best of that work into his first monograph art book, VIEWPOINT, now running on KICKSTARTER.

Originally printed in extremely limited quantities of three separate volumes only available in Italy, this brand new, 144+ page collection will include the most inspiring pieces from that library, combined with new and never before seen pieces produced in the years since the original run, including step-by-step commentary for some of the work.  This oversized, 9×12" gallery-quality art book will be printed on heavy woodfree paper with a thick, un-coated card stock cover emblazoned with glossy foil-stamped elements.

And download a FREE 30-page PDF sampler from Noisetrade: 

Being a small, self-funded publishing company, Magnetic Press is looking to raise funds to cover the printing costs of what will undoubtedly be a beautiful library edition art book by this emerging, influential artistic figurehead. To encourage your support of this exciting project, we're offering a number of backing tiers to choose from, with a variety of rewards for your help, including print and digital copies of the book itself, print and digital copies of GOLEM, designer Tee shirts, original art, and a limited portfolio of frame-worthy lithographs of his most iconic pieces.

And because Bleeding Cool readers have been such wonderful supporters of our previous project campaigns, we are giving a bonus limited-edition 5×7" cardstock print exclusively to backers at the print tier or above who message us with the phrase "BLEEDING COOL".  (Note: this will be a different limited-edition print from the early-backer print offered at the launch of the campaign, so there's still time to get both!  Only 30 early-backer prints left!)

The campaign runs until 12pm CST July 14th, but your timely support will insure your pre-order and help add even more content to this beautiful book (up to 200pages!), with potential upgrades such as deluxe hardcover copies and more.

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