We caught up with the brilliant and insightful César Verdúguez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

César, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

Since I was a child, art and culture strongly attracted my attention. I always dreamed of being able to dedicate myself to drawing or creating comics, but I didn’t know how, or what path to follow to achieve that dream.

As the years passed and I did not find that dream path, I had to work to be able to have an economic support and that took me away from my dream. When I turned 17, I started working in a vehicle paint and repair shop. Here and for the next 8 years, I worked among broken down cars and chemicals, although my great dream was still latent.

At 25 years old, I decided it was time to leave the car shop behind and focus on the art of drawing. Study and take a more direct path towards my goal. I started my illustration studies at the fabulous art school, ESDIP. There I learned many things about that profession and met great people who helped me achieve my dream.

After years of creating my own artistic portfolio, I had to move to Malaga, as I found work in the video game sector, specifically as a conceptual artist. After a year of hard work, I received a call from Radio Televisión Española, the state’s large public television corporation, to work as an illustrator in their graphic design department. I accepted the challenge.

When I started this new challenge, in 2018, I decided to write and draw my own graphic novel, “Somos Probetus”, which I published recently, in April 2023. A long and difficult project, but one that I managed to finish and sign a contract with a important publisher: Cartem Cómics.

I had many doubts along my path, but I never stopped trying and I never stopped dreaming. And I am proud of it.

César, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is César Verdúguez and I am a digital illustrator and graphic novel author.

I currently work in the design department of Rtve and have my own illustration and comic creation studio.

My job consists of offering a varied list of solutions and applications in the drawing and digital illustration sector.

-Character design or concept art, to design their appearance, clothing and objects.
-Creation of Storyboards for filming films, series or advertising spots.
-Creation of the script and drawings for the creation of comics.
-Enterprise image desing.
-Portraits and digital painting for orders.

Although I love everything I do, my absolute passion is creating comics.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

One day, the loss of a loved one, my father, made me think a lot, rethink my future and where I wanted to direct my profession. It was a real turning point.

I was young, 21 years old and had my whole life ahead of me. I opened a space of illusion again inside me and inspiration empowered me. I started drawing again and lost interest in vehicle repair. I felt strongly inspired and something inside me guided me towards art.
At 25 years old, I decided it was time to leave the car repair shop behind and focused on drawing. I went to live in Madrid and began illustration studies at the fabulous and prestigious art school, ESDIP (School of Professional Drawing). There I learned many things about this profession and met great people who helped me achieve my dream.

Truly, the loss of my father was a strong turn of events for me and made me rethink my professional path.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

When I started writing Somos Probetus (my graphic novel published by the Spanish publisher Cartem comics), I saw a tremendously difficult and competitive path. I had to convince a publisher to publish my work so it could be published and sold in stores. So I got to work with some ideas in my head.

On the one hand, it had to be a transcendental story that would attract the public’s attention. And also, a work that had strong human values, that would conquer a large part of the population and the specialized media.

What makes the comic different is undoubtedly its endearing protagonist, Sirbino Probetus, a scientist with Down syndrome, who manages to build a time machine. A youth adventure, but also for an adult audience, that excites you and that transmits very important values, such as inclusion and respect for people. The motto that I repeated to myself all the time was ‘WE CAN ALL ACHIEVE WHAT WE SET FORTH AND ABOVE ALL, TRY FOR IT’

Sirbino Probetus manages to become one of the best scientists in the world in quantum physics. His great involvement in science and his constant effort, in addition to having his own father as a reference, known as another great scientist, helps Sirbino reach a high position at Naxum Space, the largest space agency in the world. A milestone that makes it an example of improvement, not only for the reader, but also for the rest of the characters. This fact and the way in which he decided to use Down syndrome (this fact is only mentioned at the beginning), manage to emphasize the message of normality and inclusion.

Furthermore, it is a very rich comic in terms of themes, as it touches on several genres within its 216 pages. Adventure is its main ingredient, but it touches on other genres, such as science fiction and time travel, humor and drama, and caresses others such as western, historical and survival in primitive worlds.

For all these reasons, when I decided to present it to Spanish publishers, there were several offers and in less than a year, I had already managed to sign with Cartem Cómics. Therefore, one of the mottos that I repeat the most and that, for me, means the key to success is ‘it doesn’t matter what you tell, but the way you tell it’.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cesarverduguez.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cesar_verduguez/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CesarVerduguezTuri/?locale=es_ES
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/c%C3%A9sar-verd%C3%BAguez/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/verduguez_cesar?t=AiAwwFmkzjnKWBkfwJt4fA&s=09