Alberto VARANDA

Alberto Varanda à Angoulême 2013 © Le Monde de la BD

Alberto VARANDA is a French cartoonist, born in Portugal.
Having arrived in France at the age of three and having settled with his family in Picardy, he soon turned to drawing and studied graphic design and illustration in Paris. It was during his studies that he met Xavier Fauche and Jean Léturgie, then writers of Lucky Luke. He then made sketches for Rantanplan Presse, which led him to meet André Franquin for the project Les Tifous. This meeting will be decisive in Varanda’s approach to his art, his demands on himself. Subsequently, he worked for Tintin Reporter and then for Spirou magazine.
Through one of his students (he gives drawing and illustration classes in Ville d'Avray, near Paris), he connects to the world of role-playing. For about ten years he will illustrate playing cards and other accessories, notably for In Nomine Satanis - Magma Veritas or Bitume. At the same time, at Vent d'Ouest, he published the series Reflet d'écume.
He made covers for novels at Fleuve Noir and published La Geste des Chevaliers-Dragons which imposed him in a Heroïc Fantaisy style, which is not unrelated to role-playing.
Under the influence of the birth of his son, he created Petit Pierrot, for Editions Soleil, which also gave birth to a whole collection para-BD. He then began the series Paradis Perdu (he only took part in Tome 1) and still at Soleil, he met Christopher Arleston (Lanfeust de Troy) with whom he began Elixir, a series fully Heroïc Fantaisy. With Olivier Vatine, he signed a one-shot : La Mort Vivante.