Senior Italian illustrator, 2D digital artist and visual artist based in Croatia, with 17+ years of professional experience in commercial illustration since signing with The Bright Agency in London in 2009. My work spans publishing, board games, fantasy and historical illustration, graphic design, and museum exhibition assets. I have produced fiction and non-fiction illustration for international publishers and media companies including Oxford University Press, Pearson, Macmillan, Templar, Miles Kelly, Kyowon, Benchmark, Compass and Warner Media. I am detail-oriented, fluent in English, Italian and Croatian, and experienced in direct client communication, briefs, revisions, licensing boundaries and print-ready delivery.

Fabio Leone

Senior Italian illustrator, 2D digital artist and visual artist based in Croatia, with 17+ years of professional experience in commercial illustration since signing with The Bright Agency in London in 2009. My work spans publishing, board games, fantasy and historical illustration, graphic design, and museum exhibition assets. I have produced fiction and non-fiction illustration for international publishers and media companies including Oxford University Press, Pearson, Macmillan, Templar, Miles Kelly, Kyowon, Benchmark, Compass and Warner Media. I am detail-oriented, fluent in English, Italian and Croatian, and experienced in direct client communication, briefs, revisions, licensing boundaries and print-ready delivery.

Available to hire

Senior Italian illustrator, 2D digital artist and visual artist based in Croatia, with 17+ years of professional experience in commercial illustration since signing with The Bright Agency in London in 2009.

My work spans publishing, board games, fantasy and historical illustration, graphic design, and museum exhibition assets. I have produced fiction and non-fiction illustration for international publishers and media companies including Oxford University Press, Pearson, Macmillan, Templar, Miles Kelly, Kyowon, Benchmark, Compass and Warner Media. I am detail-oriented, fluent in English, Italian and Croatian, and experienced in direct client communication, briefs, revisions, licensing boundaries and print-ready delivery.

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Language

Italian
Fluent
English
Fluent
Croatian
Fluent

Work Experience

Freelance Illustrator / 2D Digital Artist at Various International clients
January 1, 2021 - Present
Editorial, board-game, and exhibition-related illustration for editorial clients in Europe and the US; historical and fantasy narrative artwork; map art and print-ready assets; direct client communication including briefs, estimates, revision cycles, licensing scope and final delivery.
Illustrator at Astound US
January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2020
Continued professional publishing work in fiction and non-fiction illustration for international markets; produced client-facing artwork under agency deadlines with emphasis on dependable execution and visual consistency.
Illustrator at The Bright Agency, London
January 1, 2009 - December 31, 2015
First professional agency representation, establishing a commercial illustration career in the international publishing sector; published worldwide across fiction and non-fiction projects for Benchmark, Compass, Kyowon, Macmillan, Miles Kelly, Oxford University Press, Pearson, Templar and Warner Media; built speed, production discipline and experience with structured editorial art direction.

Education

Fine Arts studies at Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma
January 11, 2030 - June 20, 2026
Fine Arts studies at Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma
January 11, 2030 - June 20, 2026

Qualifications

One-day workshops with Karl Kopinski and Todd Lockwood
January 1, 2018 - June 20, 2026
Best Artwork - Tolkien Society Awards
January 1, 2015 - June 20, 2026
Language Learner Literature Award - Sleepy Hollow, Extensive Reading Foundation
January 1, 2012 - June 20, 2026

Industry Experience

Media & Entertainment, Gaming, Education, Professional Services, Other
    The Tuor Simphony

    Composed and orchestrated by Aaron Dunn, The Silmarillion Symphony: The Fall of Gondolin is an ambitious symphonic work inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s First Age of Middle-earth. Centred on the story of Tuor, the composition follows his journey from the aftermath of the Unnumbered Tears to his fateful encounter with Ulmo, Lord of Waters, and onward to the hidden city of Gondolin, its fall, and the echoes of Tuor’s destiny beyond mortal life.

    Structured as a cinematic orchestral narrative, the album translates one of Tolkien’s most tragic and heroic tales into music, moving between moments of exile, revelation, wonder, siege and remembrance. Track titles such as “The Hill of Slain,” “The Hidden City,” “The Assault Begins,” “Ecthelion, Lord of the Fountain,” “Tuor & Maeglin,” and “Immortality (A Mortal in Undying Lands)” reflect the dramatic arc of the story and its central figures.

    Recorded with Nashville Music Scoring at Ocean Way Studio in Nashville, the work combines symphonic composition, fantasy atmosphere and a strong narrative sensibility. Rather than functioning only as musical accompaniment, the project becomes an interpretive retelling of Tuor’s legend: a passage through grief, calling, heroism, catastrophe and transcendence.

    Fabio Leone contributed the front and back cover artwork for the physical release, helping to define the visual identity of the project and its connection to the mythic, monumental world of Gondolin. In this context, the artwork serves not simply as packaging, but as a visual gateway into Dunn’s musical interpretation of Tolkien’s legendarium.

    Knightology

    Published by Templar Publishing as part of the celebrated Ology series, Knightology: A True Account of the Most Valiant Knights is an illustrated interactive volume that brings the world of medieval chivalry, castles, tournaments and legendary quests to life. Presented as a richly designed “lost” account by Sir Lancelot Marshal, the book blends historical material with Arthurian legend, inviting young readers to explore the codes, skills and mysteries of knighthood through a highly visual and tactile reading experience.

    As part of the illustration team, Fabio Leone contributed to a project that required a strong balance between historical atmosphere, narrative world-building and decorative medieval imagery. The result is a lavishly produced children’s book that treats knighthood not only as a subject of history, but as an imaginative gateway into myth, adventure and the visual language of the Middle Ages.

    Permanent Exhibition in the Knin Fortress

    Set within the monumental walls of Knin Fortress, this permanent exhibition presents the story of one of Croatia’s most important historical strongholds and its enduring connection with King Dmitar Zvonimir. Rising above the town of Knin on Mount Spas, the fortress developed from the early medieval period into a vast defensive complex, shaped over centuries by changing rulers, military needs and political transformations.

    At the heart of the exhibition is the figure of King Zvonimir, one of the most significant rulers of medieval Croatia. Knin became closely associated with his reign, serving as a royal seat and a powerful symbol of Croatian statehood. Through historical interpretation, visual storytelling and contemporary museum design, the exhibition explores the world of the 11th-century Croatian kingdom, the role of Knin as a political and strategic centre, and the memory of Zvonimir as a ruler whose legacy remains deeply embedded in the identity of the city.

    The exhibition also follows the wider history of the fortress itself: from its early formation and medieval importance to its transformation under later Hungarian-Croatian, Ottoman, Venetian, French and Austrian influences. Rather than presenting the fortress only as a military structure, the display reveals it as a living historical landscape, shaped by rulers, soldiers, local communities, archaeologists and generations of inhabitants.

    Combining archaeological material, immersive scenography, multimedia interpretation and references to early medieval Croatian ornament, the permanent exhibition invites visitors to move through time: from the age of Croatian kings to the fortress’s later defensive phases, and finally to its role today as a cultural landmark and a place of collective memory. King Zvonimir’s story becomes the gateway to a broader understanding of Knin Fortress — not only as stone architecture, but as a symbol of continuity, resilience and historical identity.

    SIberian Manhunt

    Siberian Manhunt is an asymmetrical hidden movement game for two players. One player takes the role of a U-2 spy plane pilot who has crashed behind enemy lines and must escape across the border into China. The fugitive must use their wits to navigate the dangerous landscape, survive encounters with predatory animals, and avoid starvation and hypothermia, all while being pursued by the KGB. Do they dare enter towns, risking detection by the local authorities, or will they strike out into the wilds and rely on their wilderness survival skills to stay alive?

    The other player is a Soviet general assigned to capture or kill the fugitive. At their disposal is the full might of the USSR: KGB agents and Yakut trackers, the Red Army, aerial searches, road blocks, and propaganda campaigns. But the Soviet government is fickle and not all Russians are loyal communists — and sometimes the hunted is deadlier than the hunter.

    —description from the designer

    "Orange shall Ovecome!" Artwork

    Dutch Resistance: Orange Shall Overcome! is a scenario-based cooperative game about the Dutch Resistance during the Second World War. The main mechanisms are pick-up and deliver and resource management. The game has five very different highly replayable scenarios. They are not directly connected to each other but focus on different aspects of the resistance work. Each scenario has its own goals, special rules, cards, and other elements.Each player controls a character that is based on a real resistance fighter. These ten different characters have their own deck of three unique Character cards, based on what this person did during the war.