SEMIC PRESS

I’d been working for CONDOR VERLAG (Germany) for like two years when I started to work for SEMIC PRESS (Sweden) too.
It was first hour of the evening when the phone woke me up from a delightful “siesta” (a nap, Spanish national sport). My agent, the owner of the studio which I was working for, called me during the Frankfurt Book Faire to tell me an Escandinavian publisher was interested in my work and wanted me to produce for them. My answer was clear: of course! The answer of a young and intrepid, and a bit irresponsible artist because In that moment I was saying yes to produce more than 20 pages per month, script included. For someone with little experience it was a fairly difficult task, but with the will to work and publish you can do anything. What I didn’t know is that in the next years, 20 pages each month was piece of cake. During the 90’s, 30 or 40 pages per month was the usual deal.
I once read my friend J.L.MUNUERA say: “In occasions artists talk about doing one or two pages every day… Yes, that’s doable, but for how long can you endure that rhythm? How many weeks? How many years?” Those three questions talk about how difficult is to remain awake in this business and become a professional. Muses and inspiration, they sound poetic, but in the end they are just fairy tales.
Working is the key to everything. For one’s sake and to earn respect from the others. Industry can’t wait for inspiration to touch the artist. Someone in the publisher company is waiting for the pages we are creating to color them. Some other are waiting to put the texts… There’s a big machine that feeds on the essential matter of comic: the art!
With enough time you realize producing so many pages every month is not the most difficult thing… Keeping a social life while working like that IS! That’s a real challenge!
This is one of the first works I did for SEMIC PRESS, the ones that for many years gave me their trust, most freedom and care. It’s not easy to find people in this business that respect you as a person and a professional. I’m not joking!

Published for the first time by SEMIC PRESS, issue 11, 1998.