A celebrated cartoonist and book illustrator, Francisco Valença started publishing his work in the magazine O Chinelo, which he founded in 1900 with André Brun and Carlos Simões (1878-1939). Later, he also founded O Salão Cómico (1902), Varões Assinalados (1909), and O Moscardo (1913).
Before the republican regime was declared in Portugal, in 1910, he contributed to A Comédia Portuguesa (1902), O Gafanhoto (1903-1904; 1910), a magazine founded by Gustavo Bordalo Pinheiro, A Crónica (1903-1904), A Tribuna (1904), Ilustração Portuguesa (1906), Novidades (1907), O Raio (1909), and A Alma (1909), among several other publications.
Some of his comics appeared in O Chinelo, Suplemento Humorístico de O Século (1904-1908), Diário de Notícias Ilustrado (1912), O Comércio do Porto Ilustrado (1919) and Sempre Fixe (1926). For O Comércio do Porto Ilustrado he created the character Tobias Mataborrão (escrevente de tabelião).
His cartoons were also reproduced abroad, namely in Brazil, France (Rire, Paris) and Spain (Boletin Fermé, Barcelona). Together with text author Carlos Simões, Valença created the Catálogo Cómico da Exposição de Belas-Artes, a yearly publication featuring illustrated satires of the works exhibited at the Academy of Fine Arts, Lisbon. These catalogs came out in 1914-1919, 1923 and 1924.
