Moderna - Educational illustrations
A collection of illustrations for educational books by Brazilian publisher Moderna made in 2022.
The subject of the illustrations is history, ranging from ancient Rome to World War I.
Art Direction: Rodolpho de Souza
Illustration: Vini Capiotti
Magyar warriors
Before the Kingdom of Hungary was created around the year 1000, Hungarians were divided in tribes. They conducted many raids in Europe during the 10th century, and this illustration depicts two Hungarian warriors on horseback during an attack against a village.
Medieval hierarchy
Understanding the meaning of medieval titles of nobility can be a bit tricky. To explain this hierarchy visually, each title was represented by a character on the staircase of a castle. From top to bottom:
Duke, Marquess, Count, Viscount, Baron, Peasants.
All characters are based on portraits of real noblemen from various countries.
Roman wedding
Depiction of a banquet after a wedding in ancient Rome. The way the illustration is composed here is adapted from the original spread layout, in which the ceiling is visible and the scene is integrated with the text.
Tug of war
As a representation of the opposing alliances that existed in Europe right before WWI started, leaders of the corresponding countries face each other in a game of tug of war, with the map of Europe at the background. The concept comes from a drawing by Theodor Zasche.
I decided to mute the colors a bit and layer a sepia tone over the image to give it a feeling of an old photograph instead of some type of painting. The printed composition uses the book gutter at the center of the illustration to emphasize the division between the two sides.
