Corrientes
Corrientes (; Guaraní language, Guaraní: Taragüí, literally: "Currents") is the capital city of the Provinces of Argentina, province of Corrientes Province, Corrientes, Argentina, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, about from ...
) is an
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
illustrator
An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...
known for his work in the American
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
industry.
Biography
Early life and education
Villagran was born in the small northern city of Corrientes in 1938. Drawing being his all-consuming interest since the age of four, it was considered only reasonable that after high school he attend Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
. Villagran began taking freelance art assignments for various advertising companies, printers and comic publishers while still attending college. He even continued to do art assignments during his compulsory service in the Argentine Army.
Commercial illustration
After his discharge from the military, Villagran began working as a commercial artist and illustrator. His list of clients grew to include the majority of the larger advertising agencies and printing houses in Argentina. In 1969, Villagran began doing comic art for Editorial Columba (Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, Caracas, Asunción, Montevideo, Santiago) Codex Ediciones, Guisa (Spain), Eura (Rome), and Fleetway (London).
Villagran was elected the vice president of the Association de Dibujantes in 1970 and co-founded the Association de Illustradores. In 1974 Villagran opened his own art studio in Buenos Aires called Nippur Quatro, along with his two brothers Enrique and Carlos.
American comics
In 1982, Villagran traveled to the United States, to establish contacts in the comics publishing industry to obtain work for his studio. His contacts brought him work from American comic publishers such as
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
,
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
,
Archie Comics
Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Comico Comics,
First Comics
First Comics was an American comic book publisher that was active from 1983 to 1991, known for titles like ''American Flagg!'', ''Grimjack'', ''Nexus'', ''Badger'', ''Dreadstar'', and ''Jon Sable''. Along with competitors like Pacific Comics and ...
, and
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...
. In 1983 he met
Chuck Dixon
Charles Dixon (born April 14, 1954) is an American comic book writer, best known for his work on the Marvel Comics character the Punisher and on the DC Comics characters Batman, Nightwing, and Robin in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Early life
D ...
at a convention, which brought Villagran to eventually ink the ''
Evangeline
''Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie'' is an epic poem by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written in English and published in 1847. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during t ...
'' comic. Villagran also acted as a liaison for other artists from his home country and introduced Dixon and illustrator/comic artist
Judith Hunt
Judith A. Hunt is an American illustrator/painter/cartoonist/designer who has produced a diverse array of artwork for books, magazines, television, comics, videos, and toys. She has worked as an art director and staff illustrator/designer for maga ...
to fellow Argentine Jorge Zaffino. Between 1984–1987 Villagran and his studio worked with Hunt on various comic and commercial art projects; also joining her art studio, Off the Wall Studios, located in
Media, Pennsylvania
Media is a borough in and the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located about west of Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation with 1.6 million residents as 2020. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolita ...
, for a short time. When Hunt discontinued illustrating comics and representing artists to pursue her own career in children's publishing and license character development, Villagran continued to work in American comics with Mike Manley, a former cartoonist employed by Off the Wall Studios.
Exhibitions
Villagran's work can be seen at many conventions in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Diego, and Detroit. Exhibitions of his work have included
Museo del Prado
The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...