New Project Proposals & Commissions
To help us evaluate your request efficiently, please write to our Shannon Associates Team via email with everything we should know about the project, including:
- The Timeline & Schedule
- The Budget & Usage
- The Style & Aesthetic Direction
- The Number of Images & Subject Matter
- The Project's Objectives & Goals
If you have a new assignment or collaboration to propose, please visit our CONTACT US page.
Our team will review your proposal and provide you with all the necessary information quickly. Many thanks for your help!
How We Work: Commissioning & Creative Process
Welcome! If you have a new project or collaboration to propose, CONTACT US!
We are always excited to evaluate fresh ideas, special fine press editions, and unique artistic commissions.
©2000-2026 Anna and Elena Balbusso. All rights reserved.
All ©Balbusso twins images and content are copyrighted. No Machine Learning, AI. You may not use our ©images, our name (as authors), and content of this website (including any caption information, keywords or other metadata associated with content) for any machine learning and/or artificial intelligence purposes.The artworks above cannot be used for commercial purposes by any third parties without explicit permission from the copyright holder ©Anna and Elena Balbusso Twins. Violation of this right means an infringement of copyright law and is indictable.
“We focus on the quality of the project, not the quantity. We continually experiment, conducting deep research and aiming for excellence with an open-minded mentality. We prefer assignments that grant us the freedom to experiment because two souls coexist within us: the artist and the designer. To remain unpredictable, personal research is essential. We love images driven by strong ideas, conceptual synthesis, and power of expression.
Our goal is to create images that arouse curiosity and evoke deep emotions while strictly avoiding stereotypes. This is our daily challenge; it is not easy, but we try!”
Our Craftsmanship & Haute Couture Philosophy
Much like Haute Couture in fashion, we view our illustrated books and artworks as unique, unrepeatable masterpieces tailored with meticulous precision. Our creations are never serial or standardized; each project is rooted in deep artistic research and extensive study, customized to meet the specific vision of our clients. Our method is built upon a strong design culture: the image is not merely drawn, but first and foremost rigorously designed. Multidisciplinarity, continuous artistic research, versatility, and innovation form the very core of our approach. There are no shortcuts, no tricks, and no virtual filters or ready-made brushes—only intense, time-consuming hard work, profound dedication, patience, and care to consistently deliver the absolute highest quality.
Our Technical Process: Integrating Fine Art & Digital Innovation
Our technical process intimately integrates traditional fine art mediums—such as pencil, pen, watercolor, gouache, tempera, collage, and frottage—with digital tools like Adobe Photoshop®. To avoid flat, computer-generated processing, acrylic spray is manually applied to achieve sophisticated gradients characterized by a subtle, irregular analog grain. Every texture and brushstroke is crafted by hand on paper, then scanned and layered. The color is deeply built up, mimicking the texture of a traditional fresco where the physical depth of the raw pigments can be visually perceived. By dedicating precise attention to preserving these physical pictorial layers, we guarantee a rich, tactile artwork with an effect similar to tempera or acrylic on paper. Throughout the creative process, we conduct multiple test press runs, utilizing high-technology digital fine art printing on premium substrates to achieve the ultimate final output. This meticulous fine-tuning and digital color proofing during production ensures that our final artwork guarantees an impeccable fine art print result with a flawless and technically uncompromised execution on the page.
Creative Freedom & Tailored Solutions
In our workflow, the pictorial and graphic styles are never antithetical; instead, they maintain a constant, fluid dialogue. We demand creative freedom to choose the best path—whether pictorial or graphic—based on the specific nature of each assignment. Our personal, distinctive choice of color is foundational to our vision. Our approach is purely artistic, free, unconventional, and non-stereotypical—yet every project remains meticulously tailored to our client's unique needs.
The Tip of the Iceberg: Art History & Concepts
The final artwork is only the tip of the iceberg of the whole creative process. You have to go very deep to get powerful images. It is important to study art history and to know the past as well as the present. In all our work, there is a clear reference to historic painters and art movements. Most projects require a strong knowledge of art history—spanning from Ancient Rome mural paintings and frescoes at Pompeii, through the Italian Renaissance and Romanticism, to Modern Art (Symbolism, Surrealism, Russian Constructivism, Italian Futurism) and Contemporary Art.
When developing Conceptual Images for editorial assignments, we study the topic, read the article, and distill the most important concepts. Our goal is to obtain an image that is as strong, concise, and centered on the topic as possible. We generally submit two to three grayscale layouts to best convey the core idea. In our style, the composition and the interlocking of light and dark build the foundation of the sketch, while color plays a crucial, defining role.
Cover art U Magazine 2023
Illustrated Books: “...it’s like making a film...”
After carefully reading a story, we select the scenes we want to illustrate, choosing compelling narrative points and balancing the total number of illustrations throughout the entire book. We always start by talking and imagining what we want the project to become.
We conduct preliminary historical and iconographic research to understand how best to create the characters and settings, collecting a vast library of visual references, photos, and sketches. We develop the core ideas through very different layouts and compositions until we achieve the desired effect. We use graphite pencil on tracing paper, then digitalize our sketches to refine them. We work and rework each scene to make the art the best it can possibly be within the assignment's schedule.
The Handmaid's Tale, Folio Society 2012
Our Three-Step Workflow
Once you have discussed the assignment's details (usage, budget, copyrights contract agreement, schedule, style, and size) with our Shannon Associates team, we will work directly with you on the project through a structured three-step process:
