Andreu Balcells

Andreu Balcells’ older originals possess the charm of that bygone era of the seventies in the ninth art. Still, in his more recent illustrations, he has shown his ability to modernize his style and even perfectly emulate other well-known styles. He is also an exceptional painter with unrelated to comics, bursting with vibrant colors, strongly influenced by pop art, and exuding unmatched beauty and intensity. In all his comics, one can observe impeccable inking.

Andreu Balcells is an illustrator who worked for Editorial Bruguera, even going as far as uncredited drawings for El Capitán Trueno booklets. He also illustrated the comic Safari in Africa, featuring Felix Rodríguez de la Fuente as the protagonist, serialized in the magazine Gran Pulgarcito in 1970. He also drew the police series Scotland Yard for Editorial Plan. At the Selecciones Ilustradas agency, he illustrated western, romantic, horror, and crime series, such as Inspector Ryan, and even some newspaper strips from the Friday Foster series by Jim Lawrence and Jordi Longarón, especially when the latter was behind schedule. His art isn’t as renowned in Spain as he worked for foreign publishers and through various agencies. His comics appeared in publications from the German publisher Bastei Verlag, in series like Die Kinder des Meeres (The Children of the Sea), Onkel Toms Hütte (Uncle Tom’s Cabin), or David Copperfield. He also created horror stories for the Gespenster Geschichten magazine and even for Marvel Comics in the Vampire Tales magazine. In the Netherlands, he illustrated various youth series like Angie for the Princess Tina magazine.

In Spain, his work sporadically appeared in different publications such as Alucine, Hazañas del Oeste, Escalofrío, Tex Norton, and Cowboy. In the nineties, he ventured into animation, producing storyboards for series like Mortadelo y Filemón from BRB, Las tres mellizas, Las mil y una américas, El retorno de d´Artacan, and the feature film Sandokan, among others. Andra is another signature he uses for some of his works.