Antonio Rubino

Antonio Rubino (15 May 1880 – 1 July 1964) was an Italian illustrator, cartoonist, animation director, screenwriter, playwright, author and poet. He was the most prolific comics illustrator in Italy before World War I.

Born Antonio Augusto Rubino in Sanremo, Rubino graduated in law, then, as an autodidact, he turned focused into drawning, debuting as the illustrator of the Alberto Colantuoni's book L'Albatros. After collaborating with several newspapers and magazines, in 1908 he started a proficuous collaboration as illustrator and cartoonist with the children magazine Corriere dei Piccoli, for which he created numerous successful comic characters, notably Quadratino and Italino. In the 1920s and 1930s Rubino was also chief-editor and sometimes founder of several children's publications, such as Il Balilla, Topolino, Mondo Bambino, Mondo Fanciullo. Rubino also directed several animated films, debuting in 1942 with Paese dei Ranocchi (The Land of the Frogs) which won the best film award at the Venice Film Festival in the animation cateqory. His film I sette colori (The Seven Colors, released postmously in 1955) is regarded as one of "the most innovative and eclectic films" in the Italian animation field.

The surreal style of Rubino has been variously associated to Futurism East Asian painting, and above all Art Nouveau.