DILLON
CORSAIR

THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO

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Illustrations for the classic Italian fable “The Adventures of Pinocchio” by Carlo Collodi, done with watercolor and watercolor pencil. 

A limited collection of prints are being sold at the Pinocchio Museum in Florence, Italy.

Cover

Pinocchio is depicted as he moves between destinations, alluding to the episodic structure of the book. He is lured forward by the coins he tosses carelessly into the air, symbolizing the themes of greed and naiveté which repeatedly divert him from his path.

The pages slipping from his school primer nod to his neglect of responsibility and personal-growth. His growing nose loops back around to nearly “stab him in the back,” capturing the fable’s central message that selfish decisions have dire consequences.

Surviving Mangiafuoco

This illustration for chapter 11 portrays the puppeteer Mangiafuoco (“Fire Eater”) as he deliberates sacrificing Pinocchio or Harlequin.

Inspired by the story’s Florentine roots, the images’ pyramidal composition references Renaissance Holy Trinity imagery. It also acts like a balance scale, with Pinocchio and Harlequin cornered on Mangiafuoco’s sides as he weighs the value of their lives.

In contrast to traditional devotional artwork, the puppets are turned away from the central figure to communicate their opposition to him. The subtle arches in his Mangiauoco’s suit frame them in sculptural niche-like spaces, reinforcing their narrative significance in spite of Mangiafuoco’s visual dominance.

Swallowed by the Shark

At the turning point of chapter 34, Pinocchio is swallowed by the shark, stopping him from reaching The Blue Fairy who appeared in goat form.

The monstrous shark looms over the image with gaping jaws that envelop the characters, asserting its role as an inescapable force of chaos. The composition guides the viewer’s eye spiraling through the descent of the moment.

Pinocchio’s fetal position expresses his vulnerability and desperate yearning for protection. His outstretched arm intersects his gaze with The Blue Fairy, who remains just out of reach. Her silhouette cradles him from a distance but doesn’t completely enclose him, symbolizing how she can’t guard Pinocchio from his own flaws.

For Sale

A limited collection of prints are being sold at Florence’s Museo del Giocattolo e di Pinocchio.

Character Design

Each character was developed through a research-driven and iterative design approach. Studies in different mediums informed the visual direction.

Pinocchio’s skeletal structure was inspired by the hinge-jointed construction of 19th-century marionettes. Pinocchio’s wooden body is exposed beneath his iconic headwear, invoking Renaissance sculptures like Donatello’s David. The blend of youthfulness with structural complexity highlights the magic of his creation. 

For Mangiafuoco, I began by analyzing past Italian Pinocchio illustrations and eccentric hairstyles from traditional European portraits. I experimented with shape and proportions within Collodi’s description of the character to find a striking design that delivered the character’s emotional complexity.

Creature Design

The Terrible Dogfish from the book is described as a giant shark-like fish with a gaping mouth. My design is based on the basking shark, which visits Italian waters and matches the book’s description. 

I tried exaggerated silhouettes in the early ideation phase but decided that these concepts were incompatible with the established visual direction and drifted too far from the original text.

The final design is a fearsome basking shark with visual elements pulled from Renaissance fish sculptures, sand tiger sharks, and great white sharks to enhance the monster’s recognizability and predatory menace.

Process

Through thumbnailing, I developed a set of narrative and cohesive compositions which I polished digitally in Procreate. The digital drawings were printed, traced, and used as a reference for the final watercolor illustrations.