Over the course of the summer I wrote and illustrated this very brief story, (The Summer I Met Barton), more similar to a journal entry really, as a personal project in which I wanted to explore very emotional themes such as growing up with emotionally unavailable parents, finding comfort and reliability in your own pet, and dealing with a sort of lonesomeness. 

At the first stage of the project, the main character Oliver, whose point of view coincide with the story told, was illustrated as a child, not older than 6 y.o, but then along the way I made some necessary adjustments. As I was writing the story, I decided that I wanted him to be a bit older (10 y.o), to counterbalance for the fact he is very in touch with is feelings and well versed in expressing them. 

I illustrated the entirety of the story in black and white, using an ink outline for both characters and backgrounds, then pencils and gouache for textures and shadows. 
There's not a particular reason for this choice, only that I wanted to approach this story like a memory, a nostalgic recollection. 

This is the first time I'm sharing the story online and it feels a bit emotional, interestingly enough 'cause I think I definitely filled Oliver with tons of my personal baggage. Working on this personal project made me dig deeper (just like Oliver does) into things I'm still in the middle of processing. Throughout this journey, I learned a few more things about myself while improving some skills of mine and falling in love again with inks. 

I think storytelling help us grow and I aim to achieve a sense of wonder in the stories I illustrate. A bizarre feeling of sweet and sour, a balance between loneliness and the warm fuzzy feeling of guiding lights. Sometimes things are not the way we want them to be, but we try to make the best out of everything and continue our journey. 

I hope you'll enjoy this story as much as I do, maybe soon I'll have the chance to elaborate further more on this topic. 

thanks for stopping by
giulia💫