A conversation with
Delfin Barral
by Ariel Wulff

I caught up with Delfin Barral (pronounced “Buh’-raahl”) at his office on Sesame Street. Okay, well, it’s not exactly on Sesame Street, it’s more like in downtown Manhattan...where he works at the Children’s Television Workshop, the offices where Sesame Street is produced. Del’s office has a lot of eclectic flavor. It’s decorated with action figures, Hot Wheels, a Batman sculpture, and a Lupin the III wall scroll. His Macintosh G3 computer sports a Sesame Street mouse pad and a Japanese anime character called GiantRobo as a desktop pattern. Pin ups and sketches of muppets and characters from the new PBS show, Dragontales, cover his drawing table.

Del is a friendly guy. He’s in his early 30’s and has a ready smile and good sense of humor. He also thinks and talks at lightning fast speeds approaching...well...warp.
The environment in the Interactive Technologies Dept. of CTW is charged with creativity, and good, friendly people, according to Del. He’s been at the Children's Television Workshop since leaving Warp in 1997. Currently, he's busy working on a project that involves animating muppet characters for educational CD-ROM games. The games are interactive versions of Sesame Street, where a child can follow a muppet on various educational adventures. Additionally, Del is lead artist for the CD-ROM game version of the Dragontales television show. He leads a team of animators in bringing the characters to life and converting backgrounds into digital images.
Delfin is also one of the artists working on developing a new show called One Tree Hill. He designed the characters, backgrounds and environment for the proposed show, which is about 2 children, their babysitter and their big shaggy dog who adventure in the Lost Land (a place where everything you lose can be found). Del doesn’t know if the show will be used; for now it is a work in progress.

Delfin was born June 2, 1967 in New York City, the only child of Spanish immigrants. His mother was a dress sample maker — creating a master garment as model for commercial production — and his father was a superintendent of a commercial office building in the city. Del exhibited artistic talent by the age of three and found it was a good way to win friends in school — especially when one was the smallest kid in class, the runt, and very introverted. His dad encouraged him in his art, but his mother was afraid that if Del became an artist it would mean a Bohemian lifestyle and poverty. She wanted Del to be a business magnate. Regardless, he attended the New York High School of Art & Design, then later the School of Visual Arts. Delfin has lived in New York his whole life, except for one year (1977) which he spent in Spain. His first “art” job was painting a friend's hockey helmet in high school.

“Remember the Care Bears?” he asks.

“No. You *didn’t* paint Care Bears on your friend’s hockey helmet,” I counter.

“Yeah, but they were ‘Swear Bears,’” he replies with a laugh.

While at the NY High School of Art & Design, Del interned at Marvel, doing background inks for their biography series. He worked on the biography comics for Mother Theresa, and Pope John Paul...and one of the Dr. Who comics. Delfin cites two artists at Marvel that were a big influence on him: Danny Crespi and Morris Kurmoto, whose generosity and kindness were exemplary.

Fresh out of school, Delfin was working at the ad agency Foote, Cone & Belding. He was doing storyboards for their Spanish advertising division, Siboney, but trying to find work as a cartoonist. He had always liked comics and had followed several Marvel and DC titles over the years. His first taste of Elfquest was the Donning Graphic Novel #2 — he was hooked. The quest to find one’s roots appealed to Del. He prepared and sent a package to Warp which gained the attention of Barry Blair, then the submissions editor, and the two arranged a meeting. They talked about a new title that Warp was going to be producing called The Rebels, and Barry invited Del to Poughkeepsie to meet the gang and see the operation.

Delfin accepted the job at Warp in 1993, and although Richard and Barry asked him to relocate, Del chose to stay in New York City. He says that his favorite thing about the time at Warp was the opportunity to redesign old characters into new characters. Wendy had knocked out some Rebels characters back in the 60’s, and it was up to Del to revise them for the new title. Rebels was a work in progress, the writers Bern Harkins and John Ostrander fleshing out the future of the Elfquest universe as they went. Sitting down with the writers and listening to them brainstorm was fun. Delfin also did some of the Blood of Ten Chiefs comics for Warp and says that Mantricker is his favorite Elfquest character.

An avid reader, Del’s favorite authors are Heinlein, Kenneth Robeson, Jules Verne, and HG Wells. He follows the Elseworld series by DC, especially Alex Ross’s Kingdom Come, and looks for any manga that have been translated. He cites Barry Blair, JohnByre, Alex Ross, Jack Kirby Steve Ditko, the Hernandez Bros. and a whole slew of Japanese artists as his favorites.

Although he works full time at CTW, Del still draws comics. Look for his work in ARGHHH!; Bloodthirst, the Nightfall Conspiracy; and The Bankstreet Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection.

He’s also doing some storyboarding for flash animation at the Visionary Media www.whirlgirl.com site, and sees the internet as a new canvas for comics.

Sendings Issue #10, Spring 2000

Sendings | Elfquest.com | Subscribe | Submit | Back Issues | Archives | Links