WIN Gallery: Illustrator, cartoonist, and one of the youngest comic book creators! Looking back, how would you describe the early stages of your career?
Valentin Tănase: I started out as a cartoonist; I really loved to draw. I attended the National Institute of Fine Arts Nicolae Grigorescu in Bucharest, in the graphics department. This was primarily focused on drawing, but I was also interested in other fields — sculpture and painting. I constantly visited my colleagues in these two departments and hoped that, in the not-too-distant future, I would be able to achieve something in these fields as well. And, as soon as I finished college, I had the opportunity to find work in publishing, specifically in book illustration, a passion I had had since childhood. I started by making book covers for the publishers at Casa Presei — there were several gathered there, under the same roof — so it was easier to go from one to another. Basically, my first successes in illustrating covers led other publishers to request my services. At the same time, I made comics – stories in pictures. Again, it was a childhood passion. I had just finished college when I had a great opportunity (I was 17!) to publish my first comic in the children's magazine Cutezătorii. I can confidently say that was the moment I launched my career. I had done illustrations occasionally, but it was only after I finished college that I officially launched myself into the field of book illustration and comics.
WIN Gallery: One of the pleasures of our childhood was to leaf through the volumes of Povestiri Istorice (Historical Stories) and choose our favorite character from those illustrated by Valentin Tănase. How did your collaboration with Dumitru Almaș, the creator of Povestiri, begin?
Valentin Tănase: Those were some very busy, very intense years, and it was precisely during those years — when I was already recognized as a name in the field of graphics and illustration — that I was contacted by Editura Didactică și Pedagogică, for whom I created those Povestiri Istorice (Historical Stories) alongside the renowned historian Dumitru Almaș. He was like a grandfather to me, so I did it with the enthusiasm of a child who wanted to make that beautifully illustrated book. And, since history has always been my second immense passion, I wanted and tried to represent our great princes as I felt they should be represented, as I wanted them to be, as I imagined them. Of course, I relied heavily on the historical documents I had at my disposal — period engravings, old paintings, representative images — and I tried, through my illustrations, to integrate every element of the era, from costumes to armor, weapons, and mannerisms. And the great Dumitru Almaș advised me, helped me, we consulted on every illustration I made. Many times, I proposed more dynamic illustrations to complement the story, to offer more dynamism and movement to the characters. It was a privileged era, and I had the satisfaction that not many artists have today, of seeing my work, my images, spread throughout the country.
And even today, when I meet people in their 40s and 50s, they remember these books, recognize them, and tell me that they made their childhood happy.
