Sol and the Red Serpent
Sol and the Red Serpent is a short story pictured in five comics-inspired illustrations. The characters are reminiscent of the Romanian folkloric style. The main character’s Design was inspired by the traditional Romanian masks, while the blue and red accent colors are meant to reflect two of the typical colors present in the traditional clothing of the Romanian people. The illustrations are presented in a manner that combines aspects of comic books and children’s illustration, which is meant to be readable without the need of words. The use of sequential illustration, combined with rich stylized elements, has the purpose of creating a sense of depth and variety, while maintaining the narrative space easily understandable. The textures used, mainly of watercolor, charcoal and pastels, have the role of completing the traditional aspect of the story.
Bianca Ionela Tulea is currently pursuing her PhD in Children’s Book Illustration at the Faculty of Arts and Design of the West University of Timișoara, where she also got her BA (2019) and MA (2021). She has been a part of exhibits in Bucharest, Timișoara, and Cluj-Napoca. Her work has been awarded at the Comic Contest of Europe of the Carpathians – Legends and folklore (2022); iJUNGLE Illustration Awards (2022); Apila´s First Printing Award (2022); and the illustro: Student (2020).
