I was born in Portsmouth in 1974 and grew up between Italy and England, moving between two languages, two landscapes, and two ways of looking. My mother, Mary Rubick, was an English lecturer and translator; my father, Enzo Arnone, is a photographer who published a book about childhood, with words by Bruno Munari. Between them, I was surrounded by language and images.
I trained in Illustration at Falmouth College of Art, graduating in 2002, and later worked as an animator on the BBC’s The Adventures of Abney and Teal, contributing to both the animated series and its companion books published by Walker Books.
Today, I live in Milan with my wife and our two sons. I lecture in Storyboarding and Sequential Design at NABA, teach English at a private language school, and work as a translator.
Drawing has been with me from the beginning. As a child, I had an easel and a never-ending roll of paper. I painted, splattered, and smudged. Over time, the sky became a blue line across the top of the page.
I remember one school day clearly. I was obsessed with an image in my head: an aerial view of a funfair. I wanted to draw the rollercoaster, the structures, and the movement of the rides exactly as I imagined them. That moment felt like a turning point. I didn’t just want to draw. I wanted to draw the best funfair in the world.
Please feel free to drop me a line at: darubick@icloud.com