'Gli Urbani Paperi' (Topolino #3465 - -#3469, 2022). © Disney.
Emmanuele Baccinelli is an Italian artist, who began his career working through Daniele Statella's Studio Creative Comics on some horror and crime comic books. Since 2014, he been an artist for Disney comics and magazines. Besides work for the Italian publisher Panini, he has also worked on projects for Disney Publishing Worldwide and the French licensee of Disney comics, Unique Heritage. Although he has done story art on a couple of notable comic stories and projects with the Disney characters, he has been mostly active as a cover artist.
Early life and career
Emmanuele Baccinelli was born in 1988 in Casale Monferrato, a city in the northwest of Italy, and currently resides more up north, in Varese. He graduated from the Liceo Artistico in Vercelli and furthered his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Turin. Baccinelli's drawing style is rooted in the tradition of both humor and realistic comics. Among his primary influences are Disney masters such as Carl Barks, Floyd Gottfredson, Giovan Battista Carpi and Don Rosa, as well as cartoonists like Charles M. Schulz. Regarding the realistic and "Clear Line" tradition, he has been deeply inspired by Vittorio Giardino, Gianni De Luca and Hergé.
'Paranoid Boid' #3.
Studio Creative Comics
Baccinelli's professional training included a specialized comic book course held by Daniele Statella at the Università Popolare in Vercelli. Remained at his teacher's side, he has collaborated on various projects through Daniele Statella and Alessia di Giovanni's Studio Creative Comics association. These have included doing artwork for storyboards and posters, as well as illustrations for books and school textbooks. His comic book work through Creative Comics has included working with Statella on a couple of custom-made 'Diabolik' volumes, and doing artwork for some small publishers. For Star Comics, he worked with Statella on issue #5 of 'Legion 75' (2012), a series created by Walter and Renato Riccio. With scriptwriter Giuseppe Peruzzo, he made the volume 'Il Re Del Crimine' in the series about a mysterious 1960s master criminal in Turin, 'Atrox', published by Q Press. In 2017, he was part of the art team of issue #3 of the horror title 'Paranoid Boyd' by Edizioni Inkiostro.
Illustration work for 'Super Picsou Géant Hors-Serie' and 'Les Chroniques de Fantomiald'. © Disney
Disney comics
In 2014, Baccinelli won the national contest for new comic talent, organized by Disney/Panini Comics, which launched his professional collaboration as a penciler and inker for Topolino and other Italian Disney titles. In the early stages of his Disney career, Baccinelli created story art with Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Goofy and the other "standard characters" in the Disney universe for the Italian magazines, and also for several special book projects by Disney Publishing Worldwide, like 'Topolino Junior' (2018), 'Wizards of Mickey: New Misadventures' (2019-2020) and 'The Great G̶r̶e̶e̶k̶ Duck Mythology'. A notable Italian comic serial drawn by Baccinelli has been a six-part story set in the Roman age, 'Gli Urbani Paperi' (2022), written by Alex Bertani and Matteo Venerus. In the following year, he drew another multi-part serial with the Disney characters, 'Operazione Zeus' (2023, written by Marco Gervasio). In 2024, Baccinelli drew his first story for the French Picsou magazine, published by Unique Heritage Entertainment.
However, since 2020, Baccinelli has been mostly active as a cover artist for several series, including the Disney Legendary Collection and the new Almanacco Topolino. In addition, he has frequently provided covers and illustrations for French magazines such as Mickey Parade Géant, Picsou Magazine and Le Journal de Mickey.
'Topolino e lo Specchio di Manto' (Topolino #3188, 2017). © Disney.
Teacher
In addition to his creative work, Baccinelli has shared his expertise as a teacher of Humorous Comics and Inking Techniques at the Academy of Fine Arts in Novara. He has also regularly conducted drawing workshops and masterclasses at international comic book conventions and art schools.
Recognition
In 2019, Emmanuele Baccinelli was honored with the Albertarelli Prize for emerging cartoonists. In 2023, he received the ANAFI Award as "Best Cover Artist".
Cover artwork by Emmanuele Baccinelli. © Disney.