Artist Spotlight: Jésus Blasco

The Illustration Art Gallery is spotlighting the work of the late Jésus Blasco this month, offering a 20 per cent discount on any orders of his original art, which includes pages of perhaps his best-known strip in the UK, The Steel Claw but also some gorgeous illustrations for Sleeping Beauty, Hansel & Gretel, Princess Grace, Snow White, The Wombles and many more.

Blasco (Jesús Blasco Monterde), considered one of the masters of Spanish comics, made his comics debut in 1935, working on the Spanish version of the Disney Mickey magazine, then creating 'Cuto', one of his best-known characters, for Boliche. Other early credits include work for Chicos, still working on 'Cuto' and several adventure and science-fiction comics.

Cuto for Chicos - early work
More info in Spanish

He began working for Fleetway in the 1950s, initially drawing Buffalo Bill for Comet in 1954, followed by Robin Hood for the Sun comic and various strips for Playhour. This was followed by plenty of work for titles such as Mirabelle and Valentine, before moving on to work such as Blackbow the Cheyenne for Swift, The Steel Claw for Valiant and Danger Man for Lion.

An incredibly versatile artist, he also drew strips such as The Water Babies and Alice in Wonderland for Once Upon a Time in 1970, before returning to action strips such as Dredger for Action and Invasion for 2000AD in the mid-1970s.

For Europe, he drew Los Guerilleros for Spirou from 1968 and at the end of the 1970s and into the 1980s he and his brothers Alejandro and Adriano worked on Une Bible en Bande Dessinée, followed by Tex Willer and Capitan Trueno with writer Victor Mora, with whom he also made the medieval series Tallafero in 1987.

Jésus Blasco's very productive and influential career ended with his death on 21st October 1995.

• The 20 per cent strictly limited exclusive discount expires on 30th November 2011. Gallery Page: www.illustrationartgallery.com/acatalog/Jesus_Blasco_Art.html

• Jesús Blasco Fleetway credit list (by Dave Roach, but in Spanish): http://deskartesmil.blogspot.com/2010/07/jesus-blasco-en-uk-1954-1983.html

• The work of Jesús Blasco: http://www.scholarsresource.com/browse/artist/2142573259?page=1