We have been drawing since we were three years old and were those children who could always be
found sketching something.
About US
ANNA AND ELENA BALBUSSO, twin sisters also known as the Balbusso Twins, are an international recognised award-winning Italian artist duo living in Milan. Their work has been published by major international publishers and companies through out the world on various media. They've illustrated more than 50 illustrated books, including the luxury limited edition of The Great Gatsby for Beehive Books, the deluxe Folio Society editions of The Handmaid's Tale, Pride and Prejudice, and Atlas Shrugged. Their work has been featured in numerous publications, including The Economist, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The New York Times Book review, Reader’s Digest, and Corriere Della Sera. In their career they received more than 100 international honors & awards, including #4 Gold Medals, a Silver medal and the Stevan Dohanos Award from the prestigious Society of Illustrators of New York, as well as #2 Joseph Morgan Henninger Awards Best of Show and a Silver of the SILA of Los Angeles; a Best of Show, a Gold and #2 silver Awards of 3x3 The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration; #30 CA's Award of Excellence; the Victoria and Albert Museum Illustration Awards Best Book; two Graphis Platinum Design Awards, a Graphis Gold Design Award, a Graphis Silver Award from Graphis Inch. The Norman Rockwell Museum has included Balbusso Twins in the illustration history among the illustrators of The Decade 2010. Their artwork has been exhibited internationally. They are part of the Tolerance project, the Tolerance poster travel show curated by artist-activist Mirko Ilic with famous artists and designers from all over the world. Balbusso Twins have been featured in many prestigious publications, online magazine, blog, annual books of the visual communications industry including the prestigious Graphis Journal Issue #377 and Print magazine The daily Heller (article by Steven Heller).
Some publishers we worked with: Walt Disney Hyperion, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Knopf Books, Simon and Schuster, Beehive Books, Candlewick Press, The Criterion Collection, Adaptive Books, Orbit Books, Tor Books, Farrar Straus and Giroux, Scholastic, The Creative Company, Reclam Verlag, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Holiday House Inc, Macmillan, Watkins Publishing,The Folio Society, Penguin Group, Headline Publishing Group, Editions Gallimard, Éditions Milan, L’Autre Revue Transculturelle, Rizzoli Libri, Mondadori Ragazzi, Dea Agostini Group, Black Cat Publishing, Giunti Progetti Educativi, Einaudi Ragazzi, Edizioni El, Yeowon Media.
At the age of three we drew the figures upside down, with the head at the bottom and then turned the sheet over. We drew always and everywhere, on the walls of the house, objects, sheets ....
Balbusso Twins children's drawingPen drawing inside a small lacquered wooden box. For us it was like a notebook....
Balbusso Twins children's drawingAt the age of three we drew the figures upside down, with the head at the bottom
Our first "Mickey Mouse" Bronze Medal at age 7 with this drawing in felt pens on paper.
Chi Siamo
Anna ed Elena Balbusso, conosciute anche come Balbusso Twins, sono un pluripremiato duo artistico italiano che opera a livello internazionale nei campi dell’illustrazione, arte e design. Vivono e lavorano a Milano. Le loro opere sono state pubblicate da importanti editori e aziende in tutto il mondo. I loro clienti includono giornali e riviste come The Economist, The New Yorker magazine, The New York Times, Reader’s Digest e Corriere Della Sera.
Hanno illustrato più di 50 libri tra i quali la pluripremiata edizione illustrata di The Handmaid's Tales di Margaret Atwood dell’editore inglese Folio Society. Walt Disney Books (USA) HarperCollins Publishers (USA) The Criterion Collection (USA) Hachette Book Group (USA), Candlewick Press (USA) Creative Editions (USA), Beehive Books (USA), Tor Books (USA), Penguin Random House (USA), Simon and Schuster (USA), Scholastic (USA), Macmillan (UK), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (USA), Reclam Verlag (DE), The Folio Society (UK), Headline Publishing Group (UK), Editions Gallimard (FR), Éditions Milan (FR), Rizzoli Libri (IT), Mondadori Group, Mondadori Ragazzi (IT), Black Cat Publishing (IT), De Agostini Group (IT), Giunti Progetti Educativi (IT), Einaudi Ragazzi (IT), Edizioni El (IT), Yeowon Media (Sud Corea).
Il loro lavoro ha ottenuto oltre oltre 100 premi e riconoscimenti internazionali, tra i quali diverse Gold e Silver Medals dalla prestigiosa Society of Illustrators di New York, due Joseph Morgan Henninger Awards e un Silver Award dalla SILA di Los Angeles, il Best of Show dal 3x3 Magazine Annual 20, due Graphis Platinum Award, un Gold Award e un Graphis Silver Awarddalla storica rivista Graphis.Inch; il V&A Illustration Awards Best Book dal V&A Museum, il Premio Andersen Miglior Illustratore dalla rivista Andersen.
Le loro opere sono state esposte a livello internazionale. Il Norman Rockwell Museum ha incluso Balbusso Twins nella storia dell’illustrazione del Decennio 2010-20. Il critico d'arte Steven Heller, rettore della School of Visual Arts di New York, ha descritto il loro lavoro come “enticingly Renaissance and eerily new wave.” Fanno parte della mostra itinerante Tolerance Poster Show curata dall'artista-attivista Mirko Ilic che coinvolge i più famosi artisti e designers di tutto il mondo. Sono state selezionate tra i 18 più grandi artisti italiani nella mostra itinerante “Illustrazione per bambini: Eccellenze Italiane” curata da Bologna Children's Book Fair. Hanno partecipato alla XXI Triennale di Milano nelle mostre TDM 9: W-Women in Italian Design curata da Silvana Annicchiarico e “Normali Meraviglie - La mano" curata da Alessandro Guerriero e Alessandra Zucchi.
Le loro opere appaiono regolarmente sulle più importanti riviste, blog e pubblicazioni internazionali di settore. Nel 2023-2024 Il loro lavoro è stato presentato sul Graphis Journal 377 e su rivista di cultura visiva Print magazine The Daily Heller. I professori Alan Male (Falmouth University) e Andrew Selby (Loughborough University) hanno incluso Balbusso Twins nei loro libri dedicati all'illustrazione contemporanea e pubblicati da Bloomsbury UK. La storica dell’arte Paola Pallottino ha incluso Anna ed Elena Balbusso nel volume “Le Figure per dirlo”, storia delle illustratrici italiane attive dal ‘600 ad oggi a cura dell’Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani.
