Diego Otero was born and raised in Cali, Colombia. When not in school, as a child, he remembers watching TV shows for many hours, and sitting in front of a notebook trying to re-create the stories that captivated his attention. Later in Middle-school he discovered the series of books, The Adventures of Tintin, and found the magic in stories told through comics. Diego spent all his recess time in the school library devouring these books. This led to many stories of all genres that sparkled in his mind and were drawn in comic book form, mostly for his friends in school. He would come every Monday with a page or two, hoping to entertain his friends. Argentinian comic strip, “Boogie el Aceitoso,” with its dark humor and satirical violence was a main influence later in his teen years.
He chose to study architecture based on his parents' advice because in Colombia in the early 90s it was not very realistic to think you could make a living by drawing comic books. Diego graduated from architecture school in 1998. After some years of architectural design practice, Diego had the opportunity to move with his wife Carolina to New York City, where he continued working as an architectural designer and the city became a canvas to draw people's lifestyles, like people on the subway, museum exhibitions, and brick buildings in Soho. The abundant art schools in the city lured him into taking art classes. The very active artistic community in the city started to show him that making a living as an artist was a real possibility, so he took classes with world-renowned independent animator Bill Plympton at his Chelsea studio and also a summer program at Le Gobelin School of Animation in Paris.
His interest in storytelling moved him into the field of architectural illustration while he searched for an art program to continue his studies. In the summer of 2013, Diego was accepted into the masters program of illustration at University of Hartford where he conitnued to be inspired by talents such as C.F. Payne, Robert Hunt, Betsy Lewin and Gary Kelley. While attending art school, he met with his friend Carlos from elementary school and discussed the possibility of working together on a strip about a cat studying to be a Buddhist monk: “Chuck the Monk”. Diego always loved cats, and loved the possibilities of humor, sarcasm, and wit that could result from working on this project, so without hesitation, he accepted his friend's proposition.
Besides “Chuck The Monk”, Diego works on illustrations for print and web, storyboards, children's books, research science centers, UNICEF, real estate, and personal projects that blend humor and history in the form of comic books and films. His illustrations for a nonfiction middle-grade book will be published by Charlesbridge Publishing, and his art for a nonfiction graphic novel about science and health will be published by 23rd Street, an imprint of MacMillan.
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Books by Diego Otero
