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Personal History

Nicolás López León[1] was born in Cordoba, Argentina[2][3] in August 13th, 1987.[2] While he had been an avid reader of manga and an amateur sketcher all of his life, he did not intend to follow a career as a comic-book creator;[4][2] in fact, he did not think he could earn a living from that.[2] Instead, he studied a Bachelor's degree in Letras Modernas (Spanish language)[4] at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba[2] while playing the viola in a band covering anime songs[4] (other sources say he played the guitar).[2] At some point of his life, he skateboarded, but he had an accident leading to several months with both hands platered, after which he abandoned the hobby.[3]

As of 2011,[2][3] León hadn't read anything Marvel until he came across Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, which left him impressed.[3] He particularly liked the art of Sara Pichelli and, to a lesser extent, the variety of colors, since manga is usually published in black and white.[4] A week later a critical event took place in her life:[3] While in his four year of studies,[2] his band played in an anime fiesta in Cordoba[4] that was also attended by comic-book artist Rubén Meriggi, who had worked for the American market. López León lent him the band's amplifier for Meriggi's speech, and remained there for the conference - if Meriggi had not needed the amp, López León would have instead spend that time with preparations for his own shown.[3] López León was captivated by Meriggi's words,[3] which gave him a yearning to work as a comic-book artist.[4] The following week, López León attended all of the artists' conferences in another festival, Viñetazo, and that made him resolve his professional goal. He forfeited his studies to become a self-taught comic-book artist.[2][3]

He immediately decided to work digitally, so for starters he sold his assets to obtain a graphic tablet and a good computer,[4][2] eventually settling with two 20-inch monitors and one Wacom Intuos tablet.[4] He also studied hundreds of books on the different aspects of drawing, like anatomy or facial expressions, in English, Portuguese or Spanish, with a lot of a theory.[2] He became particularly methodic and disciplined,[4][2] with a self-imposed deadline of doing at least one page a day,[4][3] including pencil and ink, to be able to meet the deadlines when he dedicated himself to that because he knew that was the deadline of the American market.[3] He found that he devoted more time to set up the scenes and transitions than to the rest of the work, but near the final dates, he made use of every last second to incorporate small details.[4]

At the beginning of his career, he prepared a good portfolio of five or six pages, with the idea that they could point out errors in his work.[3] He had early interviews in Comicópolis, Buenos Aires, with an editor from Dark Horse Comics, with whom he maintained contact but failed to find any work; and with on editor from Marvel, who just a few days later was transferred to the animation department so he had no chance to work with León. However, López León found that experience excellent, and both men charming and very professional. After that, he sent the portfolio to every editor whose contact he could find, but this method did not give any results, so he ended up looking for an artistic agent so that the agent would circulate his work.[4]

Professional History

Nicolás López León is a Spanish-language name, where the first or paternal surname is López, and the second or material family name is León; López is a very common surname in Argentina, so he signs his work as Nico León.[1]

Before working for Marvel, León drew the graphic novel Mastema for the Canadian publisher Arcana, the webcomic Demonarchives, and the promotional comic for a Canadian wrestling film, The Masked Avenger.[2][3] León describes it as a job for a small editorial, a webcomic, and drawing for unemployed writers, but never with an editor until,[3] after three years of work, with some North American commissions, he signed his first contract with Marvel[2] in 2015[2][3] for Guardians 3000 Vol 1.[1]

Shortly after starting to work for Marvel, he gave talks at local events,[2][3] including Comicazo 2015[5] and Ilustrópolis 2015, where his interview was later uploaded to Ivoox.[6]

Since 2022, León has also worked for DC Comics.[7]

Work History

Images

Trivia

  • Nico León is a native Spanish speaker and can read Spanish, Portuguese and English[2] but in his first interviews with the American market, he felt too nervous to explain himself, even though he understood everything they said to him.[3]
  • Nico León protects himself against tendonitis by doing periodic stretches at work, and follows eye exercises recommended by his colleague Max Fiumara.[3]
  • Nico León maintains extraordinary humility in his work, insisting on the importance of learning by listening to what others say about his work. He jokes about it saying that, for Argentinians, humility is not natural at all.[3]

See Also

Links and References

References

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