José Villarrubia

José Antonio Villarrubia Jiménez-Momediano (born 17 November 1961) is a Spanish-American artist and educator who has done considerable work in the American comic book industry, particularly as a colorist. His fine art photography has been exhibited in the U.S., Latin America and Europe, in institutions such as the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Biography

Villarrubia was born in Madrid, and moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 1980. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Towson University. He taught at Towson, the Baltimore School for the Arts, and the Walters Art Museum. From 2011 to 2016 he was chair of the Illustration Department of the Maryland Institute College of Art, and is coordinator of its Sequential Art minor. He has lectured extensively about art, including Johns Hopkins University, the College Art Association, Dickinson College, the ICA in London, the Willem de Kooning Academy, the Naples Academy of Art, and the MacWorld UK Convention.

In comics, Villarrubia has created digitally manipulated illustrations for titles such as ''Veils'', ''Promethea'', and '' The Sentry''. As a colorist, he has frequently collaborated with artists including Jae Lee (''Hellshock'', ''Fantastic Four 1234'', ''Captain America''), Bill Sienkiewicz (''Sentry/Hulk'', ''X-Men Unlimited''), J.H. Williams III (''Promethea'', '' Desolation Jones''), Paul Pope (''Solo'', ''Project Superior'', '' Batman: Year 100'', ''Wednesday Comics''), Jeff Lemire ('' Sweet Tooth, Trillium''), Kaare Andrews (''Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One'', ''Wolverine'', '' Spider-Man: Reign''), Ryan Sook (''Spider-Man Unlimited'', ''X-Factor'' '' The Return of Bruce Wayne'') and Richard Corben (''CAGE'', ''Ghost Rider'', '' Conan the Cimmerian'', '' Starr''). He has won the 2006 Comicdom Award for best colorist for his work on ''X-Factor'', has been nominated twice for the Eisner Award for best colorist and has been included in The Society of Illustrators Annual Exhibition.

With writer Alan Moore he has produced two illustrated books, both published by Top Shelf Productions: '' Voice of the Fire'' and '' The Mirror of Love''. The latter is a love poem and a detailed history of homosexuality, highlights historical figures in art and literature. It originally began as a part of the '' AARGH!'' Anthology in 1988. ''AARGH!'' rtists Against Rampant Government Homophobiawas a comic book protest against Britain's proposed anti-gay Section 28. It was translated and published in French as ''Le Miroir de l'amour'' (November 2006), by Carabas Revolution, in Italian as ''Lo Specchio dell'Amore'' (September 2008) by Edizioni BD and in Spanish as ''El Espejo del amor'' (November 2008) by Editorial Kraken. In 2020 Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editori published a new edition with a new Italian translation by Marco Rosary.

Villarrubia worked on the comic series Sweet Tooth, coloring nearly all of its 40 issues. (written and drawn by Jeff Lemire from 2009 to 2013). In 2020 Lemire and Villarrubia returned to the character in a new series published under DC Comics' Black Label Imprint. The series was titled ''Sweet Tooth: The Return''.

From 2012 to 2018, Villarrubia colored the three graphic novels by Anthony Bourdain: ''Get Jiro!'', ''Get Jiro: Blood and Sushi'' and ''Hungry Ghosts'' Sony Pictures Animation later announced development of Hungry Ghosts as an animated series.

In 2019 Casterman published the first French language graphic novel completely colored by Villarrubia. A new chapter of the series ''Le Transperceneige'' (''Snowpiercer: Extinctions''), the comic was written and illustrated by series co-creator Jean-Marc Rochette. The release of this volume was originally scheduled to coincide with the premiere of the Snowpiercer television adaptation. ''Snowpiercer'' TV series that adapts this comic. The series was produced by TNT and premiered in May 2020.

DC Comics' prestige imprint Black Label published two series colored by Villarrubia launched in November 2020, ''Sweet Tooth: The Return'', where he reunited with collaborator Jeff Lemire and the long delayed ''The Other History of the DC Universe'', written by John Ridley.

In 2022 he restored the original colors of the classic series ''Swamp Thing'' by Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson, and Nestor Redondo