The Altell Il·lustrat (Illustrated Mezzanine) opened in April 2016. Since then it has changed its look twice a year, around the time of the Sant Jordi and La Mercè celebrations. Both established professionals and Barcelona illustration newcomers show off their talent there.
Miguel Bustos describes himself as a “qualified graphic designer turned illustrator”. Born in la Sénia in 1984, he currently supplements his work as an illustrator by running engraving and screen printing workshops at the Eina University School in Barcelona.
His interest in self-publishing has led him to illustrate and produce his own publications. He has taken part in various self-publishing fairs and festivals, including the Small Publishers Fair in London and the Gutterfest, the Graf and the Give Print a Chance in Barcelona.
In 2013 he published his first comic, El Senyor Romaní (EDT), with a script by Carme Pons, which deservedly won him a Junceda prize in 2014. Other books followed: Catalunya triomfant (Roca Editors, 2016), Mogollón (Mosquito Books, 2017). He also creates cartoons, which he describes as “really bad”, and which are published under the name ‘Humor se escribe con lápiz’ (Humour is written in pencil).
The narrative capacity of Miguel Bustos combines humour and a strong visual impact. His work demonstrates a coherence which makes it highly recognisable and combines comics, illustration and composition.
Gina Thorstensen is a Norwegian illustrator resident in Barcelona since 2001. She took a university degree course at the Massana School and graduated in 2005. She won first prize in the 2008 Injuve Comic and Illustration Competition. Her works have been awarded prizes ever since and been shown in exhibitions, publications and film festivals around the world.
She has worked in very diverse range of fields and projects in illustration, including children’s and publishing illustration, packaging, animation and the creation of murals for hotels, restaurants and institutions in Copenhagen, Oslo, Berlin and Barcelona.
In the course of the last few years she has directed several experimental videoclips. Her animations combine sketches, three-dimensionality and an interest in materials. In 2016 she officially opened “Brotan”, an individual exhibition at the Galería Cromo in Barcelona, featuring a series of illustrations, sculptures and animations.
Joan Negrescolor, a professional illustrator with strong ties to Barcelona's social movements, studied at the Escola Massana. His work has a very distinctive style, characterised by the strength and forcefulness of its shapes and the dominance of its colours. It is an imaginary world without end, full of people blowing into saxophones, trumpets and clutching huge objects. The intervention offers part of his own portfolio of beasts, ranging from humour to critique and with an element of spoof thrown in, while bringing vibrant colours to his multiple, cosmopolitan vision.
As an illustrator, Joan works in advertising, the press, children's books and text books, and he has even worked on toys. He is an animator too, as well as the author of numerous posters and T-shirt designs. He insists that with each and every project he learns something interesting about the profession. Joan has won the Junceda Prize twice in the last two years, in the publishing category (2015) and in the promotion and science category (2016). His work was also selected for exhibition at the 2016 Bologna Children's Book Fair, and he has received recognition as one of the authors for the 'Libros para Mañana' collection published by Media Vaca (Valencia), winning the prestigious first prize in the non-fiction category at this year's Bologna Ragazzi Awards.
