Biography
Ricardo began his professional career towards the end of the seventies. At that time, he was creating illustrations for several publications, advertising agencies, and comic books.
While still in Miami, Ricardo and writer-childhood friend Nacho published Goomer the comic strip continuously since 1987. First in the Spanish daily "El Pais" and since1990 in "El Mundo".
In 1989, Ricardo returned to Madrid with his American wife to form a part of the founding group of "El Mundo" newspaper in October of 1989, as Assistant Managing Editor of Illustration. He formed and headed the Art Department, managing both illustrations and graphics.
In May of 1990, he began to publish editorial cartoons which he did alongside writer and business partner, Nacho. This was at the same that he was still Art Director, as well as doing the Op/Ed drawing every Sunday. Nacho stopped working on the political cartoon in February of 2002. From then until the present, Ricardo has been writer and artist for his political cartoon. Since then, and while at El Mundo, Ricardo has done illustrations for Coca Cola, Madrid City Hall, Telefonica, UNICEF, Amnesty International, and Renault, among others.
Among celebrities that own Ricardo’s drawings are Kofi Anaan, Juan Carlos I, the King of Spain, Bill Clinton, Juan Antonio Samaranch and Stephen Hawking.
His drawings have appeared in several editions of Society of Illustrator Annuals and his work was exhibited in New York City in their gallery.
Ricardo specialized in the scratchboard technique for his illustrations, mostly for the opinion section of the newspapers where he has worked.
Starting 2008, Ricardo started working with Richard Solomon, Artist Representative. While collaborating with this agency, he has done illustrations for several magazines, books, and advertising agencies around the entire world.
Awards
He has won several awards, among them 8 gold and a "Judge's Special Recognition" from the Society of Newspaper Design, for his illustrations on the Sunday Op/Ed pages that he did for The Miami Herald and El Mundo. He also received several gold recognitions from the Malofiej Awards in Spain. He received the International Press Award from the hands of Kofi Annan, the prestigious Madrid Premio Tono awarded to him by the Mayor of Madrid, three Haxtur awards in Gijón, Spain Comic Festival, the “Gat Perich” given by the editors of newspapers in Barcelona, the Premio Mingote, received by the hand of the King and Queen of Spain. His works have appeared in the Annual collections of The Society of Illustrators in New York, and in several collected works. ("Goomer" and political cartoons)
His comic strip Goomer was syndicated in the U.S. by Creator’s Syndicate in 1991 and enjoyed a stint in papers worldwide. Goomer was made into a film in Spain in 1998 and was awarded the prestigious “Goya” for Best Animated Feature Length film that year. There are eight published collected works of Goomer Just recently, Norma publishing company in Spain released a complete collection of Goomer in a boxed set with over 1,200 strips and detailed extras that fans love.
Exhibitions
Ricardo has participated in a multitude of exhibitions, both individual and collective. Among them are exhibitions in the Barcelona Comics Fair, Getxo, Madrid, Andorra, and other cities in Spain. An exhibit encompassing all of his artwork styles was held in Santa María la Rica in Alcalá de Henares and La Fundación Diario Madrid. His work has also been exhibited in New York City at the Society of Illustrators Gallery.
And Stephen Hawkings. Among museums that own Ricardo’s drawings are the Lausanne Olympic Museum, The National Library of Madrid, the Museo de Dibujo del Castillo de Larrés, and the Bill Clinton Library, among others.
Clients
Aside from the three newspapers where he has worked, The Miami News, The Miami Herald and El Mundo, his illustrations have appeared in magazines like The New Yorker, Foreign Affairs, Time, Science, Harvard Alumni Magazine, O Jogo, Sports Illustrated, Scientific American, Harper’s, Texas Monthly, and many others. Ricardo has designed several Spanish postage stamps. Among his clients are Coca Cola, American Express, 7-Up, Telefonica, Madrid City Hall, UNICEF, The National Bank of Spain, Gillette, Gallo Wines, Harper’s and Rocky Mountain Institute.
Scratchboard drawing steps
Upon the receiving the assignment, after researching all information available on the subject, I proceed to brainstorm on paper, and produce several rough sketches that might lead to an original rendering of the subject matter. Usually this includes several juxtapositions of the idea, and sometimes might lead to a caricature or realistic portrayal depending on what the mood of the story requires. Once I have shown the preliminary roughs to the client, and a decision has been made that is mutually agreeable, I proceed to research in depth all the visual images needed to complete the piece.
Once these preliminary steps are out of the way, I begin to form the actual pencil drawing. This, to me is the most important part of the illustration, by far more important than the technique used later on. It is in this phase of the drawing that the character of what I do is exposed. Once the drawing is finished, I trace the outline of the drawing onto a scraperboard. That silhouette is filled in with black India ink. Once it is completely dry, I start scratching away the ink with a scraper tool to “bring out the volume”, much like a sculpture. If I do add color, I usually do it with Photoshop, and not directly on the original.