Why They Work: Sergio Toppi Sergio Toppi was an Italian illustrator and comic author. He was born in 1932 in Milan, where he lived and worked until his passing in 2012. He was a self-taught artist and began his career in the 50s with UTET, an Italian publisher, where he completed illustrations for Enciclopedia dei Ragazzi, a series of children’s encyclopedias. It was here that he honed his ability to render figures and objects realistically, with the addition of frequent promotional material also requiring him to develop a caricature style. Later in his career, he would combine these experiences with his more artistic aspirations, resulting in a form of expression uniquely his own, the stylings of his mature works that have come to captivate audiences the world over.