Ramón Trigo

Ramón Trigo was born in 1965 in Vigo, Galicia. Already in school he was enthusiastic about drawing, passionately decorating his textbooks. At 18 years of age the self-taught artist published his first pictures in newspapers, and a short time later he made his debut in children’s book illustration. Since then Ramón Trigo works as an illustrator, cartoonist and storybook author, as well as a painter and sculptor. His works, which have been exhibited in Spain and Belgium among others, have a expressionist inspiration that characterizes his atmospheric illustrations.

One of his first successes as an illustrator was the children’s book »O pirata pata de lata« (1998; tr: The Tin Leg Pirate), that deals humorously with the popular figure of the pirate. After a relaxing break the pirate is ready once again to make the seas unsafe. But pirate life has become much more complicated: not a single opponent is to be found anymore, so all that is left is to escape into a dream world, a mysterious atmosphere that is skillfully evoked with collage and watercolor elements. The picture book .»Casa vacía« (2005; tr: The Empty House) draws the viewer into its spell with its intense colors and dynamic forms. A boy enters an empty house in order to escape a heavy rainstorm. He notices at once, however, that in actuality it is filled with different things: the dark, a puddle, his own shadow. What the boy senses is matched by expressive illustrations that are masterfully reduced to only what is essential. In the storybook »Las bombillas que se encienden y se apagan« (2005; tr: Lightbulbs), as author and illustrator Ramón Trigo illuminates the complexity of the creative process. Lusco, who in addition to pots of paint and a brush also has a lightbulb on his head, does not know what to do with it all until one day the lightbulb turns on and his creativity is released. Besides the elaborate use of various painting techniques and textures the book intrigues with a simple and fascinating depiction of the creative process, where reaching the peak requires a slew of failures: »a great number of sketches is an important instrument for creative work, because illustrations don’t appear by magic« emphasizes Ramón Trigo.

The author was awarded the Premio internacional de álbum infantil ilustrado Ciudad de Alicante and the Premio de álbum ilustrado Cabildo de Gran Canaria. He lives in Vigo.

O pirata pata de lata

[Text: Oli]

Kalandraka

Sevilla, 1998

Santos e defuntos

[Text: Gonzalo Navaza]

Xerais

Vigo, 2001

Casa vacía

Anaya

Madrid, 2005

Las bombillas que se encienden y se apagan

Kalandraka

Pontevedra, 2005

O pintor do sombreiro de malvas

[Text: Marcos Calveiro]

Xerais

Vigo, 2010