Pepito (from Cucciolo)
Luciano Bottaro is best known as one of the classic Italian artists of Disney comics, together with Romano Scarpa and Giovan Battista Carpi. Born in Rapallo, he began his career illustrating for the magazine Lo Scolaro in 1949. He created such characters as 'Gio Polpetta' and the mushroom 'Pon Pon' for the magazine. During this period, he also made satirical drawings for La Domenica del Corriere and La Domenica Quiz.
Paperino
Bottaro began working for the Italian Disney production in 1951. Until the mid-1980s, he illustrated a great many stories with 'Paperino' ('Donald Duck') and other Disney characters for Topolino, often with scripts by Guido Martina or Carlo Chendi, but also by Bottaro himself. In addition, he was one of the main artists of the publishing house Alpe. There, he created 'Pepito' (in Gaie Fantaisie), as well as other successful series, such as 'Whisky e Gogo', 'Maramao' and 'Baldo'.
Whisky e Gogo
'Pepito' got its own magazine in 1954, for which Bottaro also created the series 'Saturnino', 'Pop e Fuzzy' and 'I Postorici'. He also worked for Bianconi, creating series like 'Pik e Pok', 'Pappy Papero' and 'Zampino e Nerone'. In 1968, Bottaro founded the Bierreci studios together with Giorgio Rebuffi and Carlo Chendi. The studios employed artists like Maria Luisa Uggetti and Tiberio Colantuoni, and published the magazine Re di Picche. The magazine lasted for only a couple of issues, but the studios continued to work on licensed comics properties.
Coriolano - La polizia scompare (Gaie Fantasie #2, 1953)
Besides Disney comics, they produced stories for the German Kauka publications and comics with Warner Bros characters. From 1968, Bottaro published in Il Giornalino, where he restarted the 'Pon Pon' series, and where he made a comic adaptation of 'Pinocchio' in 1981. The Bierecci studios closed down in 1985, after which Bottaro continued to work on his own.
Pon Pon (Il Giornalino, 1986)