Manuel Patiño, who signed with Conejo, was born in Morelia (Michoacán). In 1929 he was recruited by Salvador Pruneda to work for El Nacional, a collaboration that lasted 20 years. He worked as a painter, comic artist and commercial artist for several North-American agencies. He is best known for his popular comic character 'Simplón Colilla', that appeared on the back pages of the Mexican children's magazine Paquín in the 1930s.