José Villarrubia

Villarrubia was born in Madrid, moved to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1980. His fine art photography has been exhibited in the U.S., Latin America and Europe, in institutions such as the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Inter-American Development Bank. From 2011 to 2016 he was Chair of the Illustration Department of the Maryland Institute College of Art.[1], where he is a professor. He is currently the coordinator of the Sequential Art Concentration. Before the Maryland Institute College of Art he had taught at Towson University, the Baltimore School for the Arts and the Walters Art Museum. He has lectured extensively about art at Johns Hopkins University, the College Art Association, Dickinson College, the ICA in London, the Williem de Kooning Academy, the Naples Academy of Art, and the MacWorld UK Convention.[2]

In comics, Villarrubia has done digitally manipulated illustrations for Veils, Promethea and The Sentry. As a colorist he is frequent collaborator of Jae Lee (Hellshock, Fantastic Four 1234, Captain America), Bill Sienkiewicz (Sentry/Hulk, X-Men Unlimited), J.H. Williams III (Promethea, Desolation Jones), Paul Pope (Solo, Project Superior, Batman: Year 100, Wednesday Comics[3]), Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, Trillium), Kaare Andrews (Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One, Wolverine, Spider-Man: Reign), Ryan Sook (Spider-Man Unlimited, X-Factor The Return of Bruce Wayne) and Richard Corben (CAGE, Ghost Rider, Conan the Cimmerian, Starr). He has won the Comicdom Award for best colorist for his work on X-Factor,[4] has been nominated twice for the Eisner Award[5][6] for best colorist and has been included in The Society of Illustrators Annual Exhibition.[7] He won the 2011 Harvey Award for best colorist for his work on Cuba: My Revolution.[8]

The longest running project in which Villarrubia has been involved has been the comics series Sweet Tooth, where he colored almost all 40 issues (written and drawn by Jeff Lemire from 2009 to 2013). Hulu is planning to produce a live-action series based in the comic and has ordered a pilot that started filming in the summer of 2019.[9]

From 2012 to 2018, Villarrubia colored the three graphic novels by Anthony Bourdain: Get Jiro![10], Get Jiro: Blood and Sushi and Hungry Ghosts[11] Sony Pictures is currently developing Hungry Ghosts as an animated series.[12]

In 2018 he edited and colored the comic series Infidel, published by Image Comics.[13] Michael Sugar and TriStar optioned the rights to turn it into a film.[14] Hany Abu-Assad signed on to direct the film adaptation. Juliet Snowden and Stiles White are co-writing the script adaptation.[15]

In 2019 Casterman published the first French language graphic novel completely colored by Villarrubia[16]. A new chapter of the series Le Transperceneige (Snowpiercer: Extinctions), the comic was written and illustrated by series co-creator Jean-Marc Rochette. The publishing of this new volume was timed originally to coincide with the release of the new TV series that adapts this comic. The release of the series has been moved to 2020.[17]

With writer Alan Moore, he has produced two illustrated books, both published by Top Shelf Productions: Voice of the Fire and The Mirror of Love. The latter is a love poem and a detailed history of homosexuality, prominently featuring famous figures in art and literature. It originally began as a part of the AARGH! Anthology in 1988. AARGH! [Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia] was a comic book protest against Britain's proposed anti-gay Section 28.[18] It was translated and published in French as Le Miroir de l'amour (November 2006), by Carabas Revolution, in Italian as Lo Specchio dell'Amore (September 2008) by Edizioni BD and in Spanish as El Espejo del amor (November 2008) by Editorial Kraken. In 2015, among other artists, José Villarrubia brought inner illustrations to the core rulebook of a role-playing game, Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of, first published in 2016 by Modiphius Entertainment.

The DVD of the documentary feature film The Mindscape of Alan Moore contains an interview with Villarubia about his collaboration with Alan Moore.

• José Villarrubia at the Grand Comics Database

• José Villarrubia at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• The Gay Men Project, November 21012
• Clyde Fitch Report, September 2012
• GayCities, November 2008
• Newsarama (part 1), August 2008
• Newsarama (part 2), August 2008
• Comic Book Bin, April 2004
• Slush Factory, March 2003
• PopImage, March 2000