Bicoté Studio

Bicoté is a multidisciplinary studio working on its own and joint projects of animation, illustration, and graphic design, as well as being engaged in thoroughgoing research into narrative possibilities and their potential for communication. Born of a friendship and shared interests, and founded by Maialen Arana and Júlia Francino in 2012, the studio’s name conceals two coasts, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. From these mixed waters it sails from the more commercial domains (with Rakuten TV and Netflix as its most recent clients) to more independent realms, for example as art director of the books published by Ca l’Isidret and of the literary magazine CARN DE CAP.

Maialen Arana studied Digital Arts and has a degree in Graphic Design from the ESDi School of Design. Her early work was as art director at the advertising agency GREY, after which she met Júlia Francino when she was working as an animator for the series Arròs covat (Juanjo Sáez, 2009-2012), and they both founded the Estudi Bicoté.

Júlia Francino studied as an art director at ESCAC (Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia), after which she turned to the field of animation and graphic design. After working as head of animation for the series Arròs covat (Juanjo Saéz, 2009-2012), she received a grant to study in Canada. On her return to Barcelona, she created the Department of Visual Effects and Animation at ESCAC and, together with Maialen Arana, founded the Estudi Bicoté. In 2020, she published her first collection of poems Els excedents (Spares, Edicions de 1984), which was awarded the Ventura Ametller Prize for Poetry.