Mauricio de Sousa

Master Comic Book Artist

From the drawing board of Brazilian cartoonist/animator/filmmaker Mauricio de Sousa, over 200 cartoon characters for kids have come to life.

Mauricio de Sousa, founder and CEO of Mauricio de Sousa Productions, leads a giant comics enterprise that turns out a steady stream of creative artwork for publishing, animation, licensing, theme parks, live character shows, a Web site, www.monica.com.br, promotions and institutional campaigns.

And it all began 40 years ago when Mauricio de Sousa, a reporter at that time, decided to switch from journalism to cartoons and started to create children's comics.

That was the beginning of Mauricio de Sousa Productions. Today MSP has a team of over 100 artists. Starting with syndication and comic books, Mauricio has created families of lovable characters: Chuck Billy 'n Folks Bug-a-Boo, Horacio's World, Tina and Pals, Lionel's Kingdom, the Amazonics and recently Ronaldinho Gaucho.

But always in the lead are the Monica's Gang characters, a bunch of six-and seven-year-olds, each with a unique personality, who have fun doing what kids everywhere like to do.

At the heart of the plots is the eternal rivalry between boys and girls to be the leader. With Monica and Jimmy Five, the result is all kinds of funny, lively, action-filled stories.