Maria Lia Malandrino is an illustrator and conceptual artist from Italy. Self-taught, she grew up with Disney films, Italian comic books (W.I.T.C.H., Corto Maltese, Dylan Dog) and Japanese anime (the work of mangaka Rumiko Takahashi and the inspiring imagination of Hayao Miyazaki), the mix of which helped to develop her own style. She spent most of her formative years in England, earning her BA in magazine publishing from the University of the Arts, London. She then worked and travelled in Asia. She has worked in various industries as a graphic designer, animator and conceptual artist and always feels compelled to tell stories through images, whether in the form of a short film or a video game. She now lives in Turin, where she lives with Muta, a small raccoon dog from China. She works as a concept and story artist in the fields of animation and gaming.