Tostoini

@tostoini

Illustrator with a soft spot for odd creatures, graphic recorder, friend of manatees, anthropologist, ND. I wrote&illustrated Fossili Viventi published by Aboca Kids. She/her www.tostoini.it

545 Siguiendo1099 Seguidores4352 Publicaciones

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¿Es tu perfil?Reclámalo y tostoini.dirty.social es tuyo.Reclamar perfil

Tostoini@tostoini· 18d

Me, genuinely enjoying my day: 🏔

Tostoini@tostoini· 22d

If we are making progress but we don't have a definite destination in mind to make progress toward, maybe instead of making progress should we call it a stroll? In that case, we should definitively get ice cream along the way. A post for my manapeeps on Patreon! www.patreon.com/tostoini/pos...

Patreon preview card from Tostoini with the words "Puzzling, pointless progress" superimposed on a detail of a bigger illustration

Tostoini@tostoini· 23d

I love making pet portraits, browsing cat pictures FOR WORK, developing a parasocial relation with the subjects of the illustration, hearing stories about them to decide how to best capture their characters. I loved drawing those two, she'e even rounder than this, and he's even lōôœnger.

Portrait illustration of two striped cats with round eyes and faces on a cat scratcher, surrounded by a garden jungle

Tostoini@tostoini· Jul 10

Yes I have parasocial relationships with all the cats in my timeline, why do you ask

Vincenzina the cat sitting on the edge of the balcony at dusk surrounded by plants and string lights

Tostoini@tostoini· Jul 8

Discovery and wonder is a neverending job.

Illustration of a pink leaf bug in the forest

Tostoini@tostoini· Jul 8

or Uromys Vika, an arboreal rodent re-discovered in Vangunu in 2015, after decades of research based on stories and nibbled coconuts.

Illustration of a uromis vika giant rat sipping a coconut with a straw

Tostoini@tostoini· Jul 8

Or Potamotrigon Rex, a giant polka-dot frying pan living in the river Tocantins.

Illustration of a potamotrigon tex stingray swimming

Tostoini@tostoini· Jul 8

Animals we didn't know that existed, and now we do: creatures we didn’t know were around, like Eulophophyllum kirki, Eriovixia Gryffindori, or Pheidole Drogon, an ant from Papua New Guinea with a spiny back named after the big dragon in Game of Thrones.

Illustration of a Pheidole Drogon ant peeking form behind a tree

Tostoini@tostoini· Jul 8

One of the perks of being an illustration is that you are allowed to go back to your older illos and make another pass on them! It's allowed! It's not cheating! #sciart

Illustration of an Eriovixia Gryffindori spider on a leaf in the forest

Tostoini@tostoini· Jun 27

My body made absolutely clear in unequivocal terms that he's not ok with being outside in a heatwave, so instead of being at the Pride parade I made this illustration. STAY ZESTY! 🍋 www.patreon.com/posts/162240...

Preview of patreon post from tostoini with a Nineties colorful pattern and the words "when life gives you lemons, bring a zester - A zesty drink to make the messy lasagna of living a little more digestible."

Tostoini@tostoini· Jun 26

Aside from humans, manatee have no predators. Adults can swim alongside crocodiles and nobody will try to take a bite. If you think that's baffling you should remember that yes, they're gentle giants, but they're still giants. They defend themselves by taking up space.

A manatee occupying almost all the image surrounded by the words TAKE UP SPACE

Tostoini@tostoini· Jun 10

Once again,

This is why we can't have nice thing grumpy bird

Tostoini@tostoini· Jun 4

Maybe it's being overheated that made me decide that translating the monthly newsletter that I wrote in Italian for the last eight years in English was a good idea. www.patreon.com/posts/160158...

Tostoini@tostoini· May 24

Spent the day at Artropocene Festival (excellent name) speaking about why treating science, science communication, art, creativity & humour like they're separate is part of the reason we're in this mess. I finally met a gar in person! And a Insulindian Phasmid from Disco Elysium! A very #sciart day.

Tostoini dedicating a copy of fossili viventi to a child while sitting on the grass

A gar swimming in a tank in esapolis museum

Tostoini smiling while holding a big phasmid

Tostoini smiling while holding a madagascar hissing cockroach

Tostoini@tostoini· May 22

I don't want to undermine your expertise but from the picture they don't look like popcorn, they're clearly a lost flavour of Pastiglie Leone candies.

Pastiglie leone hard candies from turin on blue background

Tostoini@tostoini· May 14

A hat full of stars, and a kimono full of manatees.

Trickster kitsune goddess with a kimono with manatees pattern on a ocean blue wavy background, a mischievous smirk and a halo made from a sliver of moon

Tostoini@tostoini· May 14

I'm very proud of myself for sendind my patreon their monthly illustration while bouncing around Italy speaking to children on the inexhaustible topic of weird but real creatures. If you want to subscribe to you monthly dose of manatees - or, this month sloths: www.patreon.com/posts/beacon...

a card with the tile "A beacon of weirdness" and under that the text "I fel that I am well on my way to fully transform in the Unmanageable Old Lady I was always destined to be, shedding one layer of decency at a time.

a handlettered "weird" with a blue marble effect with a ornate illustrated marble frame

Tostoini@tostoini· May 4

Sometimes inviting people to touch grass is not enough.

A illustration of an artichoke on pink background and the words "go lick an artichoke"

Tostoini@tostoini· May 1

It's International Workers Day 🫡

An illustration of a pencil writing the words "work abolitionist" and a small plant blooming from it

Tostoini@tostoini· Apr 25

Buon 25 Aprile, Festa della Liberazione dal Nazifascismo*. Per Irma, Ines, Norma, Ancilla, Clorinda, Vera, Modesta e tutte le altre. * (il "da + complemento" di causa è importante, lascia fare.)

Illustrated portrait of Irma Bandiera, Italian partisan fighter, tortured and killed by Nazifascist regime

Tostoini@tostoini· Apr 14

I chose to attend only two exhibitions yesterday: I Will Eat You in the End by Marianna Coppo and David Duff, and Woolf! Woolf! by Letizia Iannaccone and Serena Ballista at Senape Vivaio Urbano. Both are a JOY, tested and loved for you, if you are in town don't miss them! #BCBF

I will eat you in the end by Marianna Coppo, with her original drawing sticked to the wall with fluo colorful washi tape, a glass vase to pick what you'll become after your death and a book fo drawing requests

Tostoini@tostoini· Apr 14

#BCBF is alway such a lovable, exhausting joy. I'm one, and the Fair and the events in city is an entire world I'd like to see, do and hug, always fewer than I'd like to (especially hugging the people and their pets).

Woolf! Woolf! Exhibition of original drawings by Letizia Iannaccone at Senape Vivaio Urbano in Bologna, with her drawing hanging between lusciuos plants

Tostoini@tostoini· Apr 10

Also also also, more joy: in May I'll be holding a workshop on Living Fossils at @labaracca.testoniragazzi within Atmosferico festival, where some teenagers will probably eat me alive and whole like an egg, but I'll worry about that in May.

Atmosferico festival at teatro testoni card, a event iside BOOM! Crescere nel libri in Bologna

Tostoini@tostoini· Apr 10

It's the chapter where Pinocchio encounters a giant flaming snake on his path and tries to sneak around it, but fails and falls facedown. The snake, seeing this, laughs so hard that it DIES. Priceless.

A close-up of the illustration inspired by Pinocchio novel of the scene where Pinocchio met a flaming snake, tries to sneak around it, faceplant in the dirt and the snake laugh so much that it dies. The illustration depict the giant snake taking most of the image, laughing uproariously, spitting flames

Tostoini@tostoini· Apr 10

Before Bologna, I also submitted an illustration to Pinocchio's New Clothes. I wasn't selected, but I'm very happy with this illustration, inspired by one of the book's most weird moments, in a book that CERTAINLY has no shortage of weird.

A illustration inspired by Pinocchio novel of the scene where Pinocchio met a flaming snake, tries to sneak around it, faceplant in the dirt and the snake laugh so much that it dies. The illustration depict the giant snake taking most of the image, laughing uproariously, spitting flames, while pinocchio is planted in the dirt, flaying its legs

Tostoini@tostoini· Apr 10

I first attended BCBF in 2014: I took my time because I'm as slow and winding as rivers, but I'm thrilled to be on the other side of the table this year. So, if you're in Bologna, come say hello on Monday the 13th at 3:00 PM in Hall 25, booth B12, Hall area.

Card with the book signing hours at aboca stand at Bologna Book Fair: monday april the 13th at 15.00 book signing by Roberta Ragona, author and illustrator of Fossili Viventi, Hall 25 Stand B12

Tostoini@tostoini· Apr 10

In April, I'm taking a single trip out of town for Fossili Viventi, but what a trip: I'll be at the Bologna Children's Book Fair for a book signing at the Aboca Edizioni booth. #bcbf #bcbf26 #picturebook #childrenbooks

Roberta Ragona aka Tostoini, lookin sideways with a smirk, in the Aboca Edizioni Stand surrounded by Aboca books as her own, Fossili Viventi, and many many plants

Tostoini@tostoini· Apr 9

Living in interesting times is not all it's cracked up to be, just ask the dinosaurs www.patreon.com/tostoini

The preview of the monthly illustration for my patreons

Tostoini@tostoini· Apr 7

"You guys look great" Christina Koch, Artemis II #sciart #artemisII

A manatee astronaut loungin jn a crater on the moon watching back to earth and the words "a room with a view" with the word room striken and corrected to satellite

Tostoini@tostoini· Apr 3

In 18th century Catholic Church decided to classify capybara as fish to allow its consumption during Lent. The rationale was, in theory, that capybaras spend most of their time in water, THEREFORE is essentially a fish. 🐡 (in reality, as it always happens, the real reason is rooted in colonialism).