About Eli Nicolosi
Illustrator, comic creator, graphic designer and creative director from Rockford, Illinois. Twenty-five years of professional work, one continuing obsession with visual storytelling.
SINCE 2001
A career that never stayed in one lane.
Eli Nicolosi began building a professional creative career in 2001, combining illustration and graphic design with a growing interest in the web. That combination became Astute Web Group, a Rockford-based creative and digital agency serving businesses, nonprofits, municipalities and community organizations.
Over the years, the work expanded across logos, branding systems, websites, print campaigns, advertising, search strategy and creative direction. The tools changed. The core job did not: understand the idea, find the strongest visual language for it, and make it communicate clearly.
Illustration first.
Drawing and visual storytelling came before the agency work and continue to shape it. Eli's creative process starts with character, composition, gesture and story: the same fundamentals whether the final piece is a comic page, a brand mascot, a campaign concept or a website.
That foundation is why illustration remains an important part of his professional identity rather than a side note.
Then came Overdrive.
Overdrive is Eli's original independent science-fiction comic series, developed as a long-form story about loneliness, identity, sacrifice and the unexpected bonds that change people.
Set against the energy of 1992 Chicago, the series combines superhero action, cosmic mythology and a deeply personal emotional core.
Rockford roots. Independent work. Long-term relationships.
Eli continues to live and work in Rockford, Illinois, collaborating with clients through Astute Web Group while developing Overdrive and other illustration-driven projects.