Jessie Yokai

Jessie AriasYokai, Jalisco, illustrator, graphic novel author and audio-visual developer, specialized in character design, has worked on channels and children's programming such as The Walt Disney Company, Cartoon Network, Plaza Sésamo, BAN DAI and Discovery Kids among others. Among her most outstanding works as art direction are the cineminute FICG34 | International Film Festival in Guadalajara, six episodes of the web series KleptoCats and her first graphic novel "El Círculo Rojo" for the national scholarship JÓVENES CREADORES from "El Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes", AMERICAN CITIZENS in the area of ​​art, character design and animation production CLEANUP, Chapter "IMMIGRATION" for NETFLIX, short directed by director JORGE R. GUTIERREZ, UNTOLD LOKI from Disney Plus and MARVEL as well as several projects for BAN DAI Mexico Japan. founder of her own publishing house Vamphir.Comicx, her first physical publication “Girls also make noise”.

Sara Miau

An illustrator by vocation and a designer by profession, Sara Arámburo, known in the illustration and fashion world as Sara Miau, works in various facets of creativity, from the world of publishing, fashion, design, beauty and culture.

Sara studied Integral Design in Mexico (2004 to 2009) and Fashion Illustration and Styling in Barcelona (2009-2010) and a fashion design course at Central Saint Martins, London (2018).

Over the last almost 15 years, Sara has collaborated with different brands, publishers and institutions such as La Secretaría de Educación Pública, Nylon Latinoamerica, El Instituto Cabañas, Iteso, CUAAD, Ferragamo, La Mer, Roberto Verino, Adolfo Dominguez, Tous, Fuller, Vans, Mango, Dione, Nike, American Eagle, to name a few.

Currently Sara continues working at Sara Miau and as co-director at Casa Teodora, a cultural house dedicated to the dissemination of art, culture and lolita fashion in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico.

Rupa

With studies at the prestigious School of Fine Arts in Viña del Mar, he has developed a solid career in the production of comics and animation. He has worked on outstanding projects such as the animated series Heidi, collaborating with Editorial P.I.N.S.E.L., and in the production of advertising animation for television at Grafilms Estudios.
In his career, he has contributed to the iconic comic series Condorito, under the direction of René Ríos Boettiger and later as art director for Editorial Televisa Chile. Among his other works, the production of the Don Rodrigo series for Plop magazine stands out, as well as his participation in the creation of internationally renowned comics such as Batman for DC Comics, and Disney comics for the company Ríos & Gana S.A..
He has also participated in international projects, such as the animated series Cabotage for French television and the Comics Project in Colombia, where he also exhibited his work at the Materón theater. Throughout his career, he has received important recognitions, such as the APES award and the prestigious 2024 Golden Eagle world award in the Art category.

Other activities involving the participant:

Opening of the Comic + Graphic Novel Fair. Tribute to Pepo and Condorito

Manel Cráneo

(Spain, 1973)

Multidisciplinary artist with extensive background. As a comic book author, hundreds of pages of his appeared in publications such as BD Banda, Barsowia, De los Veces Breve, Lana Resistencia and dozens of Galician and Spanish magazines. He published graphic novels such as Dámsmitt (Dibbuks, 2006), Los lobos de Moeche (Demo Editorial, 2009), Cosas de muertos (Demo Editorial, 2012), La torre de los moros (Demo Editorial, 2012), Destino Hërgüss (Demo Editorial, 2015) and in 2023  Cinza. He collaborated on collective volumes for publishers such as Astiberri, Ariadna or Ediciones Generales. 

In audiovisual media, he produced and directed a pilot episode for an animation series based on his personal universe Planeta Mincha, and other 2D animation pieces and the historical documentary El reiciño de Galicia. 

As an illustrator he worked for different publishing houses such as Richmond Publishing, Usborne, Santillana, Rodeira (SM), Galaxia, Generales, Porto, Chiado or Everest, among others. His work was exhibited in numerous exhibitions in Spain, Portugal, France and Cuba, both personal and collective. 

Among his awards, the National Comic about the Life and Work of Federico García Lorca (Granada, 1998) stands out. 

He has given more than 350 talks, workshops and conferences on illustration, BD and visual narrative in the last 25 years in countries such as Spain, Portugal, Cuba or Germany. His connection with the audiovisual world and the advertising sector led him to collaborate in countless cinematographic and advertising projects and feature films performing different functions, from story-boarder even a screenwriter or an art director.

He was the founder and president of the AGPI (Galician Association of Illustration Professionals). He was Vice president of the FADIP (Federation of Professional Illustrators Associations, Spain). He is editorial director and owner of the publishing house and cultural production company Demo, creator of the entertainment brand Planeta Mincha, director of lana plataforma de artistas gráficos Coruña, and since 2024 director of the comic festival Vignettes from the Atlantic in A Coruña.

Other activities involving the participant:

Illustrated books across oceans: editing, illustrating, writing from Galicia

Aranzazú Pérez

Aranzazú Pérez, Guadalajara, Jalisco, 1983. Graduated in Psychology from ITESO and Master in Modern and Contemporary Art from Casa Lamm, (CDMX, 2014). Since 2017 she has directed and coordinated "Ricos Jugos" in Guadalajara, which is a juice and self-publishing store, as well as a space for activities around drawing and independent self-publishing.

Ricos Jugos is a space located in Guadalajara that has been distributing independent and self-managed publications and graphic works since 2017. It also has a program of activities related to drawing, photography and other artistic disciplines.

Other activities involving the participant:

Ricos Jugos presents Barush, comic book reading

María Luque

María Luque was born in Rosario and lives in Buenos Aires. Since 2005, she has exhibited her work in museums and galleries in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Mexico, and Spain. She works as an editorial illustrator and coordinates workshops. In 2011, she created the project “Merienda dibujo,” a series of meetings with artists. She is a co-founder of the Festival Furioso de Dibujo. She participated in “Informe, historieta argentina del siglo XXI,” published by Editorial Municipal de Rosario.

She is the author of La mano del pintor, a graphic novel about Cándido López (Sigilo, 2016; L'Agrume Éditions 2017; Lote 42 2019), Casa transparente (Sexto Piso, Premio Novela Gráfica Ciudades Iberoamericanas), Espuma (Galería Editorial, 2018), Noticias de pintores (Sigilo, 2019), and Corazón geométrico (Sigilo, 2022). In 2022, she received a Konex Award, Diploma of Merit in Humor and Comic.

Other activities involving the participant:

Illustrating the Everyday and Other Mediums
#LeemosCómics con Ana Penyas y María Luque

Alex Fito

Mexico City, 1972. Lives in Palma de Mallorca.
Graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona.
Together with the collective La Peñya, he created the comic Mondo Lirondo, winner of a prize at the 1994 Barcelona International Comic Fair, republished by Glénat in 2002, and by ¡Caramba! in 2015.
He collaborates with the magazine NSLM (We are the dead), directed by Max and Pere Joan. Under his label he published the series Raspa Kids Club between 1999 and 2004, winner of the award for best new author at the Barcelona International Comic Fair 2000, published in album form by Glénat editions in 2010.
He published the series Cristóbal Nazareto in the legendary magazine El Víbora, by Ediciones La Cúpula, published in album form by Glénat editions in 2009.
He has collaborated for all kinds of media (press, textbooks, magazines, advertising agencies, etc.) creating caricatures, illustrations, humorous strips, graphic humor and story boards for clients such as Macmillan, Santillana, Oxford, Teide, Anaya, Última Hora, El País, La Vanguardia, etc.
He currently collaborates with the Mallorcan newspaper Última Hora creating the humorous strip Moñigotes.
She is about to release three children's albums with different themes and in different publishing houses, called "El Invasor", "4 regalos", and "Que redimonis?"
She is also preparing a graphic novel about the Aztecs.

Félix Laflamme

Initially, it was comics that inspired Félix Laflamme to doodle. Drawing quickly became a passion, and much later his profession. Self-taught, he worked in the music industry for over 10 years. He created illustrations for Guns & Roses, Mononc'Serge, The Ramones and Michael Jackson, among others. With his love of comics still strong, he decided to return to his roots, creating his own characters and a world of his own. Today, Felix teams up with his partner, Claude Desrosiers, to create stories and bring them to life. At the same time, he loves passing on his passion to young people through school presentations, and reaching his target audience directly in person. With Claude, he created the highly popular series Les mégaventures de Maddox  (Presses Aventure).

Claude Desrosiers

Claude Desrosiers has been reading comics since she was a child. She has always been interested in the arts in general, and has a knack for surrounding herself with talented artists. Rather pragmatic, she opted for studies in administration and earned her living in this field for over a decade. Bored with her job, she wanted to reconnect with her artistic side and take on new challenges. So she quit her job to join forces with her husband, Felix Laflamme, to build a stimulating business. Now, she creates stories, handles colorization, organization, prospecting, contracts and publicity. With Felix, she created the highly popular Les mégaventures de Maddox series (Presses Aventure).

Jaume Copons

Author of a solid literary work aimed at young people. He has written novels, short stories, songs and scripts for television. His experience as a scriptwriter on Sesame Street at the end of the 20th century was decisive in directing his work towards children, and in becoming aware of the fact that he was addressing readers in their formative years.
Copons is a narrator of clever, imaginative and close stories who, with a fresh and direct style, connects naturally with his readers, without avoiding complex themes or intelligent humour. For ten years, he has formed a creative team with Liliana Fortuny, with whom he has created the series Agus y los monstruos and Bitmax&Co.

Other activities involving the participant:

The graphic novel in the classroom

Liliana Fortuny

A leading illustrator and creator in the field of children's and young adult literature, she has developed a unique style that has been enriched by her experiences in other artistic fields (designing album covers, creating music videos, animating series, etc.).
Her work as co-author of the successful series Agus y los monstruos and Bitmax&Co, together with Jaume Copons, has been acclaimed for the expressiveness, dynamism and carefully studied simplicity of her illustrations, which provide content and enhance the imagination, capturing the attention of all audiences.

Other activities involving the participant:

The graphic novel in the classroom

Claudio Aguilera

Claudio Aguilera, researcher and curator specializing in comics and illustration. Head of the Graphic Archive of the National Library. He is part of the board of directors of the Pepo Foundation.

Sebastián Ríos

Sebastián Ríos, Pepo's grandson and executor of the cartoonist's legacy.

Other activities involving the participant:

Opening of the Comic + Graphic Novel Fair. Tribute to Pepo and Condorito

Pedro Maino

Pedro Maino, editor and curator. He has been responsible for various publications and editions on Condorito and Pepo's work. He is part of the board of directors of the Pepo Foundation.

El Dee

Hello. My name is David Espinosa. Some people know me as El Dee. I am an illustrator and comic book author living in Cholula, Mexico, with my wife Diana and a bunch of dogs. My comics include Yo y la muerte, Nido de Serpientes, and El twit ilustrado. You can see my work on book and magazine covers, posters, t-shirts, and magazines around the world. My next graphic novel was published by Editorial Planeta in 2023 and is called Foráneo, and is available everywhere.

Other activities involving the participant:

Presentation of the Comic: The Dog Walker
Yo y la muerte vol. 3

Armando Montes de Santiago

For the past 18 years, she has worked on the organizing committee of the FIL, where she was responsible for international sales for many years. She is currently in charge of the General Coordination of Exhibitors and Professionals, as well as other important projects for the FIL, such as the Comic + Graphic Novel Hall and Books to Taste.

Other activities involving the participant:

Opening Ceremony
Opening Ceremony
Opening Ceremony
Opening Ceremony
Presentation of the Pura Pinche Fortaleza Graphic Novel Award