Cris Ortega (born 1980) is a Spanish painter, writer, and

comics artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

. Her style is a mixture of

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

and

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

, a somewhat dark semi-realism. ''Forgotten'', one of her principal works, combines gothic and romantic elements, as well as a mixture of horror and fantasy.

Biography

Cris Ortega became interested in art and literature in childhood, specifically in the horror genre. In 1999 she created her first comic from a story she had written several years before. She entered the higher technical degree program in illustration at the Art School of

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

. While attending, she began to publish in local and foreign magazines. At that time she also worked as a drawing teacher and presented her works at various exhibitions and art galleries. At the end of her studies, Ortega worked for the first time as an art director for an advertising agency named Sm2, while continuing with illustration. She devoted all her free time to creating book covers and publishing the comic book anthology ''Shade''. During those years she worked in graphic design, advertising, figurine design, role-playing games, video games, and comics. Always anchored in the world of fantasy and terror, she was also clearly influenced by

. The influence of

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

can also be seen in her illustrations. In 2005, she began working as an illustrator for

Norma Editorial Norma Editorial is a Spanish comics publisher, with its headquarters in Barcelona.Home
Norma Editori ...

, remaining with them for a year and a half. She then published her first series of collections of images associated with stories, including ''Forgotten''. In 2007, the first volume of ''Forgotten'' was published in Spain. It would subsequently be translated into several languages, such as French, English, Italian, and German. ''Forgotten'' consists of four stories that combine Gothic and romantic elements.

Works

Books

* ''Forgotten 1: El Reino sin nombre'', Norma, 2007; containing: "El alma de la araña", "Rosa salvaje", "La caja de música", and "El canto de Lorelei", * ''Forgotten 2: El portal de los destinos'', Norma, 2008; containing: "Melodía espectral", "El grito de la Banshee", "Cartas en la oscuridad", and "La Rosa de los Vientos", * ''Forgotten 3: Las Colinas del Silencio'', Norma, 2010; containing: "El Cortejo de las Ánimas", "Cuando llegue diciembre", "La alianza de coral", and "El manantial de la luna", * ''Nocturna'', Imagica, 2011, * ''Reflejos'', compilation, 2014,

Collaborations

* ''Exotique'', Ballistic Publishing, 2005 * ''In Dark Alleys'', (Brian St. Claire-King), Vajra Entreprises, 2006 * ''Exotique'' 2, Ballistic Publishing, 2006 * ''Shade'', (Lia Fiengo, Cris Ortega, Studio Kawaii, Hokane, Van Duran, Maria Abagnale, Ruui Eyvm), 2005 * ''Spectrum'' 14, Underwood Books, 2007 * ''Solidary King Kong'', Scfiworld, 2008 * ''Exotique''4, Ballistic Publishing, 2008 * ''Ecos de Azurëa'' volume 1, (Manuel F. Bueno), Mundos Épicos, 2009 * ''Exotique'' 5, Ballistic Publishing, 2009 * ''Spectrum'' 16, Underwood Books, 2009 * ''Woman in the shadow'', 2009 * ''Drakaina Masters'', SPQP artbook, 2010 * ''Art Squared digital painters 2'', Rage Publishing, 2010 * ''Vampires The illustrated world of darkness'', Norma, 2010 * ''Spectrum'' 18, Underwood Books, 2011 * ''Exotique'' 7, (Mario Wisibono), Ballistic Publishing, 2011 * ''Donde los árboles cantan'' ( Laura Gallego), SM, 2011 * ''Chopper'' 1, (Martin Chapiro, Juan Ferreyra) Asylum Press, 2011 * ''TBO 4 Japon'', Dibbuks, 2011 * ''D'artiste character design'', Ballistic Publishing, 2011 * ''Allia'' 6, 2011 * ''Crónicas de sombras. Los elegidos'', novel by ; illustrations by Cris Ortega, 2012

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortega, Cris 1980 births 21st-century Spanish women writers 21st-century Spanish writers Painters from Castile and León Living people People from Valladolid Spanish cartoonists Spanish comics writers Spanish women painters Spanish women cartoonists