Bologna notes No. 4

BCBF 2026

Hello, everyone,

I’ve been enjoying my sketchbook experiments and our interactions on Substack notes very much (welcome, new subscribers 🍋!) but now it’s time to write a long overdue recap of 2026 Bologna children’s book fair.

This year the BCBF got scheduled quite later in the year, mid April, which unfortunately didn’t translate into warmer and drier weather, so Bologna online chatrooms were buzzing with “What clothes to pack for the fair,,” “Will there be a chance for outdoor sketching,” and “Oh no, I was looking forward to Aperol spritz in the sun 🙁…”

This time I decided to show my portfolio printed on loose sheets of paper instead of adding my heavy iPad to already full daily backpack. I also took a tiny version of my board book dummy and lots of postcards - the new, 2026 postcard with a more textured, hand drawn style and some leftover cards from last year (it’s something I learned from previous fairs – you never know which image the people you meet will respond to the most).

My humble poster (that managed to stay up until the end, thanks to some heavy duty double sided tape) and my printed materials

The first two days of the fair were very gloomy and rainy and the weather only cleared up as most of us were leaving on the afternoon of day three - still, the light drizzle didn’t discourage us from taking a break outside, at least the lines at various food stands were shorter… And evenings on the town usually don’t requite an umbrella, there are always some arcades to shelter under, whichever way you’re heading.

This year I didn’t have any prescheduled meetings so I focused more on the lectures and listened in at as many master classes as I could.

Illustrators Sophie Blackall and Sergio Ruzzier talked about their favourite childhood picture books and how they deal with different challenges like fear of perspective (Sergio explained how he doesn’t feel comfortable drawing interiors so he would focus on very elaborate floor tiles in order to distract the viewer from noticing the faults in perspective). They both draw inspiration from places they’ve visited or by studying old masters’ paintings and frescos for new colour palettes ideas (Sophie wrote her picture book Farmhouse inspired by an old decrepit house in her neighbourhood, full of old letters, bits of hand sewn clothes and vintage furniture).

Sergio Ruzzier (left) and Sophie Blackall, with Sergio’s elaborate floor tiles 😊

Chris Haughton gave a master class on his creative path from graphic designer to author illustrator whose style hasn’t changed much since his days designing ads and apparel for People Tree. His knowledge of typography and layouts has helped him create unique picture books with compelling visual sequences and vibrant colour palettes.

Chris Haughton and one of his more recent art techniques of torn collage paper

A panel of conservationists from the estates of authors and artists Katsumi Komagata, Maurice Sednak and Tomi Ungerer spoke about the challenges of archiving original art on often very inappropriate medium. Tomi Ungerer, for instance, would draw on loose sheets of cheap, acidic tracing paper because using fancy and expensive sketchbooks made him too uncomfortable (sounds familiar?). Sednak never kept track of his work and just threw drawings into drawers and Komagata would offer his paper prototypes to his toddler daughter to play with and test so not many survived intact.

Illustrator Mark Janssen held a very interesting lecture on mastering shadow and light in illustration, comparing them to salt and pepper in cooking - one always needs to add just the right amount. Janssen works traditionally, mostly in watercolour and pencils, then scans separate pieces, combines them and adds shadow digitally, through subtle, translucent layers. I will write more about the tips he shared in a separate post.

Mark Janssen with a couple of examples from the lecture

This year I also managed to get a spot at one of the workshops (unlike master classes these have limited places and require booking), with author illustrator Kate Cosgrove. She presented her favourite drawing tools, a simple mechanical pencil and a tiny, battery operated eraser – she likes to layer doodling lines or different marks, like numbers and letters, to create interesting textures and then erase parts of them to add negative space.

At Kate Cosgrove’s workshop

On Wednesday, unofficial last day of the fair (most stands start packing up their stuff at the end of day three), some publishers offer their editions for sale and it’s time to buy some picture books! This is also a great opportunity to have the books signed by illustrators and it was interesting to watch how different artists approach this task (a huge pencil case with all sorts of materials vs. a very disciplined selection of only a few favourite colours).

This year I didn’t collect many postcards and business cards from other artists but I did take a few magazines and catalogues from publishers – I always prefer flipping through physical pages to scrolling on the screen, as long as my suitcase can stand the added weight.

And speaking of other artists, I got to meet some old and dear friends and make some new ones, unfortunately we didn’t always remember to take pictures… casualty of the fact that we’ve all become much more relaxed about the whole Bologna experience so we spent more time enjoying it than documenting it.

With illustrators Lily Baron and Lena Jacobs (left) and Katie Stack and Pauline Dussert (right)

So this is it for my notes, like I said I forgot to document everything, time flies when you’re having fun!

One last observation: sadly, the illustrator wall was again covered in that slippery material like last year so a lot of lovingly created and carefully attached posters peeled off before the end of first day. If you’re going to Bologna next year (April 5-8), bring extra strong double sided tape!

x Damjana