There’s no one better than Trini herself to tell us her story.
Some 20 years ago, in 1983, a summary of her biography, which she wrote, was
published in the issue 25 of the Spanish magazine “Bruguelandia”.
20 years later, in 2003,
Trini continued – or, better, updated – her autobiographical sketch for an
interview made by the journalist Màrius Siurana.
Here we offer you both texts – that of 1983 and that of 2003. (The pictures
have been added by TriniTinture.com)
Autobiographical sketch,
1983
I was born in
Lleida in the middle of the civil war and, although I don’t recall it
anymore, I am sure that right after leaning out I thought “si lo sé no
vengo” [if I’d known, I wouldn’t have come]. In case I carried a
pencil in my hand, as it is said that artists use to be born, mine must
have got lost in the midst of such mess, because my mother does not
remember seeing me holding it until I was 3 or 4 – when I already began
filling with scratches the back of the electricity bill, calendar leaves,
rationing card, etc.
My
father was a carpenter, and his artisan work fascinated me. My mother was
a housewife in a rather big house with 6 family members and some relatives
passing through. When I thought about starting to offer my help, as far as
possible, to the common cause, I decided to give a hand to my father.
Every day after school I went to the small workshop, and there I remained
while he left to do some works in building sites and private residences;
so I took whichever orders were placed during his absence, and I whiled
away my time drawing with his carpenter’s pencil on the spare chunks of
wood.
My family
considered my fondness for drawing to be as useless as beautiful. My
mother particularly liked it; she sometimes found a break between her
multiple domestic tasks in order to sit down and draw with me. I remember
her very delicate and personal style, which she still keeps. She would
probably have achieved great perfection if it had not been swallowed by
the pots and other household goods. That began to make me feel uneasy. I
realised that, due to my condition as a woman, I really would have to
watch out if I didn’t want them to change my pencil for a broom.
Quite naturally,
there was in Lleida not much to choose from if I wanted to find my way. Only
the train. The story of what it took me to convince my family that they
allowed me to undertake the adventure of leaving home would deserve several
independent volumes.
Fortunately I had a great-aunt in Barcelona and thanks to her intervention I
was permitted to attempt my “launching”. To me – who did not even know the
landscape of the other side of the railway station – that was similar to
what must have been felt by the first astronauts.
I cannot claim
that my beginnings were too difficult. Through ways that I found myself, I
got to know some wonderful people who initiated me into comic. It was a time
(around the 60ies) where the fairy comics were very fashionable and there
was quite some work. With the samples I did I already obtained a job in a
small publishing house and that was the first little stone to achieve my
dream of staying in Barcelona and devoting myself to drawing.
Later on, and
only for the sake of trying, I did some advertising. Not that it went badly,
but I realised that neither did I understand the art of advertising nor did
it understand me.
I liked
comic and I thus stuck to it. I collaborated in several children’s and
teenagers’ collections (I do no longer remember all the names; some of them
were “Piluchi”, “Mercedes”, “Mª Luz”, “17 años”, etc.) until I entered the
Bruguera publishing house, drawing some “Celia” and several “Sissi” in all
its derivations.
But soon the
first jobs for England and Scotland arrived, and they continued
uninterruptedly during almost 20 years. It’s a huge number of characters and
titles, but especially in the already disappeared magazine “Jurtz” I made
many, many serials. One that left me fond memories was “Oh, Tinker!”, whose
main character was a little fairy.
Despite having drawn
so much about romance and schoolgirls, the children’s style is the one I
most feel and, I believe, the one I’m best at.
It is
precisely on a children’s subject that I have been doing for 20 years, and I
continue doing, a weekly page for the Scottish magazine “Twinkle”, whose
characters are a girl and her little lamb “Curly”. At least in this serial I
have a great fan secured, who waits for me to finish the page so that I
explain it to her. It’s my 5-year-old daughter, my toughest or most
flattering critic, but honest, of course.
My latest character
is “Emma”, for “Lily”. It occurred to me that she should be a modern witch
in order to give the subject some distinctiveness. The scriptwriters
undertook to develop the idea and we hope and wish that it continues being
well accepted amongst the Spanish readers.
In
a short summary, this is
my path till now.
With
its sorrows and joys as in all professions (I assume), but what is most
important for me is that I feel very happy for being so lucky as to be able
to start every morning – apart from lovingly preparing the sandwiches for my
family – with the great thrill of sitting down at my table to work at what I
like most.
Autobiographical sketch,
2003
It
is time to take up again the thread of my mini autobiography which around
1983 the Bruguera Publishing House asked me to write in order to publish it
in the magazine “Bruguelandia”.
This was in
the last century, the one that is still around the corner. But since then 20
years have passed, the same number of years which, at that moment, had
elapsed since I had started drawing as a profession and seriously, provided
there is anything serious in drawing comic. And, as it happens, I do think
there is.
We were,
thus, in the year where I had begun the serial “Emma es encantadora” [Emma
is enchanting] directly for Spain. I was more “enchanted” than Emma herself,
drawing on the basis of my own idea and for the girls of my country.
But
approximately two years later the Bruguera Publishing House had to close its
doors and I saw myself suddenly absorbed by a very important German
publishing house which offered me to create a serial for the girls’ magazine
which would moreover bear the name of my character: Biggi.
I worked over five years
on this job. I made all the covers in colour and each story had 18 pages.
Since, in addition, “Biggi” appeared on a weekly basis, it became necessary
that a team of artists relied on the stories I was making in order to copy
the characters, so that every week the required pages could appear. It was
very stressful.
In Holland they saw
the publication of my drawings, and they bought the “republication” for
their magazine TINA. One day they contacted me through an agent and friend
and offered me to collaborate weekly in their magazine with the character
“Micky”. And I am still there. I now do not make serials for personal
reasons; the short stories, not having a fix submission date, allow me to
draw calmly.
I have further
been collaborating for a long time in the magazine “Penny”, which is Dutch
as well, drawing illustrations and many a funny story about ponies and
horses. I have also done many other works, but in general terms I have
described you the most relevant.
I am still greatly
enjoying myself in front of the drawing-board, and I hope to be able to
continue 20 more years, after which I will again give you an account of the
realised work, even if I have to do so by dictation… At least I will greet
you and tell you that I have been very fortunate in many things and I am
very grateful to life. But my work has acted as a strong prop in some
difficult moments of those we all must go through. And it has resisted well.
