David Álvarez (artist)

David Álvarez (born c.1972 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is the creator of the comic strip Yenny and illustrator and storyboard artist for DC Comics Looney Tunes series, Disney and other companies.

Early years

As a child Alvarez enjoyed drawing. When he was five years old, he would spend hours on end watching Disney videos. He tried to draw the characters that he saw with unusual expressions on their faces. Alvarez received his primary and secondary education in his hometown.

Yenny

Alvarez enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico after graduating from high school and continued to study art. In 1988, while still a student, he began to draw his first comic strip, Zacha and Anyelin, which was published in the local newspaper. He paid for his college expenses with the money earned. The comic strip eventually became known as "Yenny". Yenny is a beautiful girl with a pet iguana who wants to become a model; the only problem is that she has enormous feet. With the success of Yenny, Alvarez decided to self-publish a comic book called Changuy with David Martínez, about a Batman-like crow.

Warner Bros.

Alvarez read in an animation magazine that Warner Bros. was making new projects, among them Space Jam. He sent samples of his work and after a year of waiting was finally contacted and began working for them as a freelance artist. The first story that he drew was an Animaniacs story and the second story was a Sylvester story called "Frankentweety".

Alvarez developed the idea of including cameos of obscure Looney Tunes characters within the storyboard panels. Among the people he has worked with and whom he considers his inspiration are Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. He also illustrated a short Chuck Jones tribute story written by Dan Slott.

Later years

David Alvarez plans on introducing and publishing his characters in the United States market. He also does freelance work for Disney and other companies. He currently lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico with his wife and child.