I mean, nobody is prepared for a success like that because it is completely unexpected. Was such immediate success in the comic industry daunting? It went on to spawn four more volumes translated into numerous languages, collecting all kinds of awards around the world, including several Eisner awards.

Thanks to animation, I met a lot of awesome artists from all around the world, and have had the opportunity to work with many of them.īLACKSAD was first released by Dargaud in 2000 to almost immediate and massive success. JDC:We quit Tridente-Monigotes in 2006, but it was such a marvelous experience that allowed me to work on very exciting national and international projects. How did those connections change the direction of your career? This introduced you to several European and American companies. We’ve worked for studios in France, USA, England, Canada, Germany, Italy, and Denmark. That’s the way we became a fairly big studio offering our services to the biggest Film and TV producers from both sides of the Atlantic ocean. Soon we made a joint-venture called Tridente-Monigotes with a partner studio that specialized in animation.

We were all former Lápiz Azul pals, so we were mostly specialized in pre-production stuff: character design, storyboard, and mostly layout. In 1995 I quit my Arts studies and join Teresa Valero (my wife), Angel Martín, and JC Moreno. You actually formed an animation studio with three other designers in the 1990s called Tridente Animation.

We both kept in mind our idea of creating some comic stuff together, really just for fun. Meanwhile, Juanjo was hired by Disney Features through their brand new studio in Paris. After that, I stayed in Madrid, making a break from the animation world to start Fine Arts studies for the next four years. We worked together on the Tintin series for a year, and we became great friends. JDC:Juanjo and I were part of the layout team. That’s when you first met Juanjo Guarnido, who soon after went to France to work at Disney. At this time, the studio was involved in several American and European productions such as Duck Tales, Batman Animated, and the Tintin series. He worked in a Spanish animation studio called Lápiz Azul and told me they were looking for artists to create a team specialized in layout. JDC:I started in the animation business back in 1990, thanks to Rafa, one of my older brothers. How did you first get involved in animation as a profession? Many readers will of course be familiar with your wonderfully successful creation BLACKSAD, but some might not realize it was in fact your first published book and that your background is in animation.

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