Juanjo Guarnido, the Workshop Secrets of a Master

Famous for his amazing series Blacksad, Juanjo Guarnido is an author whose artistic talent soon swept him to foreign shores. He was born in Spain in 1967, and he has been passionately drawing since his early childhood. After studying at the School of Fine Arts in Granada, and following numerous collaborations in fanzines, he worked on television series in Madrid and later became part of the animation team at the Walt Disney studios in Montreuil on the outskirts of Paris. He worked hand in glove with the scriptwriter Juan Diaz Canales to create his first comic book entitled ‘Quelque part entre les ombres’ [Somewhere between the shadows], which in the USA is simply called Blacksad (Dargaud, 2000), in which he plunges the reader right into the heart of the USA of the 1950s and into the investigations of the private detective John Blacksad. To date, this animal-based series has been translated into several languages and has a huge following. Guarnido excels in watercolour drawings and in creating ambiances. Whether this be set in a dark dank alley or in the bright sunshine of New Orleans, this master’s brushes simply do wonders. He also created the drawings for Sorcelleries [Witchcraft] (Dargaud), which recounts the adventures of a fairy in the country of witches written by Teresa Valero. With Alain Ayrolles as the scriptwriter, he is now working on a new series by the name of Les Indes Fourbes [The Treacherous Indies] (Delcourt), which is set in the Spanish Golden Age and the New World. The exhibition will feature his first pencil sketches up to his completed drawings, and visitors can come and explore the fascinating universe of this famous contemporary author! Exhibiton curator: Mélanie Andrieu