Iginio Straffi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Iginio Straffi
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Iginio Straffi at the 2009 Lucca Comics and Games convention
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| Born | May 30, 1965 Gualdo, Macerata, Italy
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| Occupation | Founder and CEO of Rainbow S.p.A. |
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| Spouse(s) | Joanne Lee |
Iginio Straffi (born May 30, 1965) is a famous Italian animator and a former comic book artist. He is best known for creating the popular animated series Winx Club.
Iginio Straffi is the founder and head of Rainbow SpA, a big animation studio. For a while, he shared ownership of Rainbow with the American company Paramount Global. However, in 2023, Straffi bought back all the shares, making him the full owner again. Besides Winx Club, he also created Huntik: Secrets & Seekers and helped create the comic book series Maya Fox.
Straffi started his career drawing comics while he was still at university. He published his first comic story in 1985. He continued drawing comics throughout the 1990s. In 1995, he decided to start his own animation studio, Rainbow. He began with a small amount of money, mostly used to buy computers and software. At first, Rainbow helped other companies with their creative projects. Later, they got enough money to make their own shows.
In 2004, Winx Club first aired in Italy. It quickly became a huge hit around the world. This success caught the eye of Viacom, an American media company that owns Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures. In 2011, Viacom became a partner in Rainbow. This partnership helped Rainbow's shows, like Winx Club, reach audiences all over the world. It also led to new shows being made together. In 2023, Iginio Straffi bought back Viacom's share, taking full control of Rainbow.
Recently, Straffi has started focusing more on live action shows instead of just animation. Some of his live-action projects include Nickelodeon's Club 57 and Fate: The Winx Saga, which is a live-action version of Winx Club.
Contents
About Iginio Straffi
His Early Life
Iginio Straffi was born in a town called Gualdo in Italy. From a very young age, he loved drawing comic books. When he was just seven years old, he started creating his own comic stories.
At eight, Straffi moved to the nearby city of Macerata. In high school, he often drew comics in his friends' notebooks. He also joined art contests, showing off his drawing skills. While he kept drawing, Straffi also studied Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Macerata.
During his university days, he met a girl named Antonella. She was adopted and wanted to find her birth parents. This story inspired Straffi to create a character with a similar background: Bloom from Winx Club. Bloom's personality was also inspired by Straffi's wife, Joanne Lee. Straffi met Joanne in 1997 in Singapore, her home country. They got married a few years later and have a daughter named Isotta.
Starting His Career
Iginio Straffi began his professional comic book journey in 1985. He drew a story for a magazine called Tilt. He also worked on comics for other magazines like Lanciostory and Skorpio.
In 1989, a famous comic creator named Claudio Nizzi discovered Straffi's talent. Nizzi invited him to work for Sergio Bonelli Editore, a big comic book publisher. Straffi drew an issue of the Nick Raider series in 1990. Even though he enjoyed drawing comics, Straffi's biggest dream was to turn his drawings into cartoons. However, he couldn't find an animation job in Italy at that time.
Moving to Animation
In 1992, Straffi left the comic book world and moved to France. He got a job as a storyboard artist at an animation studio called Telcima. He was surprised to get the job, but he saw it as a big chance. Straffi worked on designs for a show called Valérian and a movie based on Roman de Renart.
After learning a lot about how cartoons are made, Straffi returned to Italy. With some help from friends, he started Rainbow SpA in 1995. He used about 10,000 euros (around $11,000 USD at the time) to buy computers and software for digital design.
At first, Rainbow helped bigger companies with their animation. They worked on a few minutes of animation for the film How the Toys Saved Christmas. They also helped with a cartoon pilot called Belphégor. Eventually, Rainbow earned enough money to create its first original project, the Tommy & Oscar|Tommy and Oscar series.
The Success of Winx Club
In 2004, Iginio Straffi's show Winx Club first aired on Italy's Rai 2 channel. It quickly became one of the most-watched shows on the network. Straffi originally planned for Winx Club to have only 78 episodes (three seasons). But because the show became so popular, he decided to make more seasons in 2008.
The worldwide success of Winx Club caught the attention of Viacom, a large American media company. In 2011, Viacom bought 30% of Rainbow, becoming a partner. This deal was very important for Straffi. It meant that Rainbow's shows would be shown all over the world through Viacom's channels, like Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon studios also worked with Rainbow to create new projects, including more seasons of Winx Club and Club 57.
New Projects and Live Action
In 2011, when asked if he was tired of Winx Club, Straffi said he had moved on to other projects. He created the horror comic book series Maya Fox (starting in 2008) and the animated TV series Huntik: Secrets & Seekers (which began in 2009).
In 2012, Straffi's first original animated movie, Gladiators of Rome, was released in Italy. It was one of the most expensive Italian films made at the time. However, the movie did not earn much money at the box office. Straffi thought this was because Rainbow was new to making movies. He also produced The Dark Side of the Sun, an animated documentary.
In 2019, Straffi announced that he wanted to focus more on live action projects. He felt that working on live-action shows would complete his professional experience. He also said that Winx Club would be made into a live-action series called Fate: The Winx Saga for older fans. The animated Winx Club would also be redesigned for younger kids. As of 2019, Straffi is a producer for Fate and Club 57. He mentioned that Rainbow's skills and Nickelodeon's skills work very well together.
In January 2023, Straffi bought back the remaining shares of Rainbow SpA from Paramount Global. This meant he now had full control of his studio's new projects. However, Paramount still owns the rights to the Winx Club seasons they helped produce with Nickelodeon.
See also
In Spanish: Iginio Straffi para niños
