Romics Special to Gigi Cavenago: From Italian Smoke to Spider-Man and Netflix Animation

Gigi Cavenago, cartoonist, illustrator, concept artist, and art director among Italy's most internationally acclaimed talents, will receive the Romics Special Award at the 36th edition of Romics, scheduled for April.

After training between the Milan School of Comics and an advertising graphics program at the Rizzoli Institute, Cavenago made his publishing debut in 2005 with anthologies and comic series, before joining Sergio Bonelli Editore in 2008, where he worked on the miniseries Cassidy and Orfani.

In 2014 he was assigned to Dylan Dog, for which he created covers for Dylan Dog Old Boy and the thirtieth anniversary special issue Mater Dolorosa. From that moment on he became the official cover artist of the magazine for the next five years, decisively contributing to redefining the visual imagery of the Nightmare Investigator. For Bonelli he also signed projects such as I Racconti di Domani and the historic crossover between Dylan Dog and Batman, in collaboration with DC Comics.

In 2021, he left his role as cover artist for Dylan Dog to work alongside Mark Millar on the third volume of The Magic Order, ushering in a new phase in his international career.

In recent years, his talent has also extended to the world of animation: since 2023 I have been working as a concept artist and character designer for Netflix Animation, in 2024 I collaborated with Titmouse Studio on sequences from the film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and as art director for the episode How Zeke Got Religion of the fourth season of Love, Death & Robots (Netflix), Winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation - Production Design and an Annie Award for Production Design with the short How Zeke Got Religion.

Cavenago currently continues his collaboration with Titmouse on the Mister Miracle series for Warner Brothers, as main character designer, and with Sony Pictures Animation as visual artist on the highly anticipated film Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

During the 36th edition of Romics, an exhibition dedicated to Gigi Cavenago will be held, with original panels, illustrations, and materials that retrace his artistic journey from comics to animation. The author will also be the subject of meetings and signing sessions with the public, offering visitors the opportunity to discover his work and his extraordinary visual universe up close.