Guarnido

Biography

Juanjo Guarnido is a Spanish illustrator and the co-author of the comic book series Blacksad. Born in Granada, Spain, he studied painting at the art school of Granada.

Juanjo Guarnido got his degree in fine arts in birthcity Grenade. He cooperated on several local fanzines, while also made illustrations for the Spanish Marvel publications (Comics Forum - Planeta de Agostini). He worked in an animation studio in Madrid for three years, where he met his future scriptwriter Juan Diaz Canales. Guarnido moved to Paris in 1993 and was employed by Walt Disney Studios in Montrieuil as a lay-out man and animator on films like 'Tarzan', 'Hunchback of the Notre Dame' and 'Hercules'.

In his spare time, he started making comics together with Canales. After contacting several editors, Guarnido and Canales finally signed on with French publisher Dargaud, and in November 2000, Quelque part entre les ombres (Somewhere within the Shadows) was published. It was a success among critics and the public, and won the Prix de la Découverte at the Sierre International Comics Festival and the "Avenir" Prize at the Lys-lez-Lannoy Festival, respectively in Switzerland and France. In March 2003, the second album Arctic-Nation was released. It was once again a success, winning the Prize Awarded by the Audience and the Prize for Artwork at the 2004 Angoulême International Comics Festival. The third instalment of the Blacksad series, Âme Rouge (Red Soul), was published in 2005. In 2006 it was awarded the Angoulême Prize for a Series.. Guarnido's film noir-inspired comic is inhabited by a great many remarkable and unusual animal characters, including anthropomorphic cameos of famous persons and a wide range of reptile villains. The series is published in French, Spanish, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Czech, English, Finnish, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Swedish, and Turkish.

Guarnido was also the cover artist and illustrator of the final installment for Pierre Boisserie's collective science-fiction series 'Voyageur', that was published by Glénat between 2007 and 2011. With Canales' wife Teresa Valero he additionally set up the heroic fantasy children's series 'Sorcellières', that is published by Dargaud since 2008.

Guarnido collaborated on several fanzines and produced work for Marvel Comics. Unfortunately, the small size of the Spanish market forced him to turn to other means of earning a living. In 1990, he left Granada and moved to Madrid, where he worked on a TV series for three years. There he met Juan Díaz Canales, with whom he discussed producing comics. In 1993, Guarnido applied for a job with the Walt Disney Studios in Montreuil, France and consequently moved to Paris. He was the lead animator for the character Sabor in the Disney film Tarzan.

Bibliography

Blacksad series (Dargaud)
- Somewhere Within the Shadows (2000)
- Arctic Nation (2003)
- Red Soul (2005)
- The hell, the Silence (2010)

Awards

2000: Prize for Best First Album at the Lys-lez-Lannoy festival
2000: Prix spécial at the Rœulx (Belgium) festival
2000: Prix Némo at the Maisons-Laffitte festival
2000: Prix découverte at Sierre International Comics Festival
2001: Best Artwork Award at Festival de Chambéry
2002: Best Artwork Award at Grand Prix Albert Uderzo
2003: Prix spécial du jury au Sierre International Comics Festival
2004: Angoulême Audience Award, for Arctic-Nation
2004: Angoulême Best Artwork Award, for Arctic-Nation
2004: Virgin Prize for Best Album, for Arctic-Nation
2006: Angoulême Best Series Award, for the Blacksad series
2006: Bédéis Causa - Prix Maurice Petitdier for the best foreign comic at the Festival de la BD francophone de Québec for Blacksad
2008: Iluminart Artward, for the Blacksad series

Nous serons au Festival de Perros Guirec le 13 et 14 Avril prochain. Dédicaces prévues avec Régis Loisel et Juanjo Guarnido. A Bientôt!
— granitassocies.com (@GranitAssocies) 13 mars 2013