Mayke Luis García Díaz (Maikel)

born in Havana, Cuba, 30th of September 1977.

Cuban autodidact cartoonist and comic artist. His artistic career began in 1995 working with various newspapers and publications such as Tribuna de la Habana, Palante, Bohemia, Mi Barrio y La calle, Somos Jóvenes, Alma Máter, Cuba Foreign Trade, the humoristic suplement DDT, the magazines Arsenal y Clandestinos (Colombian magazines) Chocarreros (Mexican magazine) among others.

In 1997 he was working in the animation studio ICAIC. From 1999 to 2006 he worked for the magazine Pionero where he developed his most popular character: Tito. In 2009 and 2010 he worked for the children's magazine Zunzún where he published his fantasy character: Clio and the magic backpack.

He has won several international awards. His work has been present in various international exhibitions in Japan, Spain, Germany and France. He was part of the jury of various competitions and has given lectures and workshops. He designed murals and graffiti along with other plastic and graphic artists. Currently he is a member of the editorial board of the hip-hop Journal Movimiento.

In 2004 he published his first comic book "Memorias de un descamisado". This book won the prize La rosa blanca by the UNEAC (the Cuban artist organization). In 2007 his second book appears "Yo soy Tito" (I am Tito) a collection of several stories of his character.

Since 2007 he collaborates with the Goethe Institut. In 2008 he publishes in the German magazine Moga Mobo and his third comic book appears about the figure of Manuela Sáenz written by Victor Joaquin Ortege. This book has broken sales records in Cuba.

Maikel has worked as an art teacher in Cuban an French schools. In 2011 he published the graphic novel "Las puertas del conocimiento" about the life of the famous German scientist Alexander von Humboldt. This work is also part of a permanent exhibition in the Meininger Hotel in Berlin, located in the house where the famous researcher has lived an died.

In 2010 Maikel García settled in Germany.