Projects
  • Children's book
  • Illustration
  • Travel story

Bilia e Aquilone

A children's book created during a journey through North-East India. Photographs taken on the road become the ground for illustrated characters and a story about adventure.

The project turns a shared travel experience into a gentle editorial object: part field diary, part visual story, part invitation to stay open to what arrives.

The cover frames the book as a small adventure held between travel, image, and drawing.
The cover frames the book as a small adventure held between travel, image, and drawing.
Type
Illustrated children's book
Place
North-East India
Period
June 2026
Authors
Alessandro Daz and Leila Penna
Question

How can a journey become a children's book without losing the openness of the adventure that produced it?

Context

Bilia e Aquilone was born and completed while travelling through North-East India. The project does not simply document the trip: it transforms days, places, and encounters into a story for children about how adventures arrive, pass, and leave us ready for the next one.

Process

How it was built

  1. 01

    Collecting photographs during the journey as a direct record of places and days.

  2. 02

    Building a narrative around adventure as something temporary, shared, and unpredictable.

  3. 03

    Drawing characters and signs over the images so the real landscape could open into fiction.

  4. 04

    Composing the book as an editorial object, balancing photographs, colour fields, short text, and illustrated interventions.

Outputs

What came out

  • Children's book
  • Cover design
  • Illustrated photographic spreads
  • Travel narrative
  • Editorial mockups
  • Visual system for photo and drawing
The closed book makes the project feel like an object, not only a digital story.
The closed book makes the project feel like an object, not only a digital story.
The spreads show how colour, photography, and short text move through the book.
The spreads show how colour, photography, and short text move through the book.
A real place becomes a page once illustration enters the photograph.
A real place becomes a page once illustration enters the photograph.
The book keeps the memory of the journey visible without becoming a literal diary.
The book keeps the memory of the journey visible without becoming a literal diary.
Each spread holds a small scene where adventure is present but never fully explained.
Each spread holds a small scene where adventure is present but never fully explained.
Why it matters

The project matters because it keeps the work close to the moment that generated it. A lived adventure becomes a form that can travel further: from two people, to a book, to the imagination of a child.