Versión en Español

The Birth of Severino el Mate

All my life I drew, at least since I have memories and I can say that I have always been close to mate.

I went through several stages with the drawing, but for 15 years I definitely turned to humor and comics. It was in 2002 that Severino was born, although at that time it was called Mateo, but I only drew it for a short time and for almost 15 years it stayed in a drawer until a year ago when I rescued it and gave it the form and its current name.

The Birth of the Creator (me)

I was born in Montevideo, and when I was 4 years old my family moved to Buenos Aires. So nowadays, I consider myself Rioplatense and Severino, too. My father, as a good Uruguayan, rigorously prepares the mate with all the rules and traditions. However I, instead, only keep some parts of the preparation while skipping a few.

The comic strip of Severino has a simple style; I try to maintain a synthesis between graphics and texts and I enjoy drawing it. I like the fact that Severino transcends the world of consumers of comic strips and also reaches the world of mate drinkers, which is very broad and diverse. I thought that among so many millions of drinkers of mate, I could not miss a story that represents the beloved mate and where the material can be seen reflected in all the circumstances, customs, and their moments with mate. I was always captivated by the strips where the author could create an entire universe with his characters, like Quino with Mafalada, Peanuts from Shulz and Mutts from Patrick McDonnell, among others, and it is what I try to achieve with my comics; creating a world where people enjoy themselves and want to visit again.

The Style Behind the Comics

Throughout the strips, I was adding new characters that could add new stories and conflicts to the environment of matecito. For example Nina, who arrives as the new mascot of the house (it is a Jerboa), which, among other things, adds elements for cinephiles and and self-proclaimed geeks to the strips, as well as their mischief and especially their weakness for using the cell phone of the homeowners. Even a Twitter account was created.

The relationship of people with their mate is very personal, in which moment of the day they take it, how they take it or prepare it, with whom it is shared, etc…

There is a phrase that says, “Every house is a world” and I think we could also say “each mate is a world.”

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