Manuela Santoni is an Italian comics artist and illustrator.

Born in 1988, she studed art at Liceo Artistico in Rome. In 2012, she graduated in Contemporary art history at "Roma La Sapienza" University.

Meanwhile, she attended Scuola Romana dei Fumetti, and in 2013 she was selected for a Master Degree in Illustratrion based in Macerata. Since 2017 she's a teacher at the Pencil Art" comics and illustration school.

Manuela has illustrated the young adult fictions Girl R-Evolution (De Agostini, 2016) and Storie proprio buffe (Editrice Il Castoro, 2016), and the collections Sacerdotesse, Imperatrici e regine della musica (BeccoGiallo Editore, 2018) and Sister Resist (BeccoGiallo Editore, 2021). She has published the graphic novels Jane Austen (Beccogiallo Editore, 2017) and Le sorelle Bronte (Bronte sisters) (Beccogiallo Editore, 2018), while in 2020 she has been the main artist for Mary Shelley (BeccoGiallo Editore). In 2022 she publishes La lettera perduta (The Lost Letter, Bao Publishing), while in 2023 she publishes a comicbook travel guide about the city of Rome, 24 ore a…Roma (24 ORE Cultura Comics, by the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 ORE).

Her books have been translated and published in the United States, in Germany and in Spain

Manuela lives and works in Fonte Nuova, in the Roman countryside.


Exhibitions

2011:
  • 'Dodici Pose', collective exhibition - Roma
2012:
  • Circolo degli Artisti, 'Wi-fi Art', collective exhibition - Roma
2013:
  • 'CRACK fumetti dirompenti - Rome Festival of Drawn and Printed Art', collective exhibition - Roma
2015:
  • Parione9 Gallery, 'Morrissey' for 'Sexy Rock', collective exhibition - Roma
  • Hulahoop Club, 'Lombroso' for 'Inklist', collective exhibition - Roma
2016:
  • 'CRACK - Fumetti Dirompenti' - Rome Festival of Drawn and Printed Art, collective exhibition - Roma


Publications

2015:
  • 'Nowhere Fast', webcomic - Verticalismi
2016:
  • 'Girl R-Evolution', (Alberto Pellai) - DeAgostini
  • 'Storie proprio buffe', (Paul Jennings) - Il Castoro
2017:
  • 'Jane Austen', graphic novel - BeccoGiallo
  • 'Anatomia dell'adolescenza – Omaggi all'opera di Davide Toffolo', selfproduction - Legione degli Artisti
  • 'Papayas Pineapples and the Apocalypse', selfproduction - Ossi di Peppia
2018:
  • 'Le sorelle Bronte', graphic novel – BeccoGiallo Editore
  • 'Sacerdotesse, imperatrici e regine della musica' (Clarice Trombella), illustrations – BeccoGiallo Editore
  • ‘Jane Austen – Her heart did whisper’, graphic novel – Lerner Publishing Group
2020:
  • 'Mary Shelley - l'eterno sogno' (Alessandro Di Virgilio), graphic novel – BeccoGiallo Editore
2021:
  • ‘Mary Shelley – Die comic biografie der Frankenstein – Schopferin‘ (Alessandro di Virgilio), graphic novel – Knesebeck
  • 'Sister Resist' (Clarice Trombella), illustrations – BeccoGiallo Editore
  • ‘Las hermanas Bronte’, graphic novel – Herder Editorial (LaOtrah)
2022:
  • ‘La lettera perduta’, graphic novel – Bao Publishing
  • ‘Jane Austen’, graphic novel – Herder Editorial (LaOtrah)
  • ‘Cuori aperti contro la guerra’, illustrations – Mondadori Electa
  • ‘Tutta un’altra storia – 20 eventi che hanno cambiato il mondo’, illustrations – Feltrinelli
  • ‘Il secondo sesso di Simone De Beauvoir’, selfproduction – Antifanzine n.10
2023:
  • ‘La carta perdida en el tiempo’, graphic novel – Libre Albedrio
  • ‘24 ore a... Roma. Itinerari a fumetti per una giornata in città', comic book pages – 24 ORE Cultura (Il Sole 24 ORE)
2024:
  • ‘Flussi’, collective artists' book – Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma
  • ‘Sono a pezzi’, artist's book – Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma
  • ‘Nella mia testa’, selfproducted graphic novel – Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma