Born in the small northern city of Correntes, Argentina in 1938, Ricardo is the oldest of the three Villegrán brothers. After finishing high school, he entered the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aries. While still in school, Ricardo started accepting freelance work for various advertising companies, printers and comic publishers. He continued to take freelance assignments during his compulsory service in the Argentine Army.
In 1969, Ricardo returned to the field of comics. He worked for Editorial Columba (Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, Caracas, Asuncion, Montevideo, Santiago) Codex Ediciones, Guisa (Spain), Eura (Rome), Fleetway (London). He illustrated numerous covers and stories covering every subject from barbarians, romance, westerns to science fiction.
Together with his brothers Enrique and Carlos and scriptwriter Robin Wood, he founded the Nippur IV studios in 1974. At one time the studio employed 20 artists and assistants, producing work for comic publishers in Argentina and Europe. The studios produced stories for serials like 'Mark', 'Nippur de Lagash', 'Or Grund', 'Ronstad', 'Los Aventureros', 'Brigada Madeleine', 'Ronstad y Argón', and for the American titles 'Atari Force' and 'Star Trek'.
In 1982, Ricardo came to the United States, where he started working for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Archie Comics, Dark Horse Comics and many others. Nowadays, he spends most of his time painting.
|
