Guillermo Mordillo

Guillermo Mordillo (4 August 1932 – 29 June 2019), known simply as Mordillo, was an Argentine creator of cartoons and animations and was one of the most widely published cartoonists of the 1970s. He is most famous for his humorous, colorful, surreal and wordless depictions of love, sports (in particular soccer and golf), and long-necked animals.

From 1976 to 1981, Mordillo's cartoons were used by Slovenian artist Miki Muster to create Mordillo, a series of 400 short animations (300 min) that were later presented at Cannes and bought by television studios from 30 countries.

Biography
The son of Spanish parents, Mordillo spent his childhood in Villa Pueyrredón in Buenos Aires, where he had an early interest in drawing. In 1948 he obtained the certificate of Illustrator from the School of Journalism. Two years later, while continuing to study, as part of the animation team Burone Bruch he illustrated children's stories (Tales of Perrault Tales of Schmid, The Musicians of Bremen and The Three Little Pigs) edited by Codex. In 1952 he co-founded Galas Studios, dedicated to the production of animations. Meanwhile, he continued to develop his career as an illustrator and published some strips in local magazines.

On 7 November 1955, he moved to Lima, Peru, where he worked as a freelance designer for the advertising company McCann Erickson. In 1958 Aesop's Fables illustrated and Samaniego for Editorial Iberia Lima.

After having done greeting-card illustrations for the Kansas City-based Hallmark Cards, he left for the United States in 1960. When there he was employed by Paramount Pictures Studios in New York. Part of the performance of the film in two globally significant characters: Popeye and Little Lulu and creates two characters for the short film Trick for tree.

Three years later, on 20 August his life changed direction again. This time he travelled to Europe, arriving in Paris on 19 September. There, he worked at first humorous letters to Mic-Max Edition. In July 1966 he began to collaborate with the magazine Le Pelerin and shortly after doing the same in Paris Match. Two years later, his work started being printed in publications from other parts of the world, most notably Germany's Stern. In Paris he met his wife Amparo Camarasa, marrying in 1969. They have two children: Sebastian Jerome (1970) and Cecile Isabelle (1972).

In 1980 he moved to Mallorca, Spain, and was named President of the International Association of Authors of Comics and Cartoons (CFIA) based in Geneva, Switzerland. After 18 years in Spain, he returned to France in 1998. The following year he participated in the Creative Workshop Zermatt, Switzerland.

In 2007 he experimented with new materials: acrylics, pastels and crayons. The following year he performed with Art Petrus a series of reproductions of pictures in high definition. Also that year he sold a numbered and autographed internet publication, Mordillo Collection.

He resided in Monaco.

Awards

 * 1969 Silver Medal at the V International Biennale of humorous designs at Tolentino
 * 1971 Loisirs Jeunes Award, Paris
 * 1971 Critici En Herba Award, Bologna, for the children's book Pirate ship
 * 1972 Silver Medal of the first International Festival of Humorous Designs in Sarajevo
 * 1973 Phénix de l'Humour, Paris
 * 1974 Association of Argentine Designers Award
 * 1976 El Gaucho Award, Köln
 * 1976 Nakamori Award, Tokyo, for the children's book Crazy Cowboy
 * 1977 Best Cartoonist of the year at the Salon International de l'Humour in Montreal
 * 1977 Palme d'Or at the 31st International Festival of the Humor of Bordighera
 * 1983 Palme d'Or at the 36th International Festival of the Humor of Bordighera
 * 1985 Andersen Award at Sestri Levante
 * 1992 Konex Award, Argentina
 * 1995 Gold Medal at the 18th International Tolentino Fair of Humour