Mar del Plata

Joaquín Salvador Lavado, better known by his pen name Quino ( born 17 July 1932), is a Argentine Spanishcartoonist. His comic strip Mafalda (which ran from 1964 to 1973) is very popular in Latin America and many parts of Europe.Joaquín Salvador Lavado was born in Argentina province of Mendoza, 17 July 1932. He was called "Quino" since childhood, to distinguish him from his uncle, the illustrator Joaquín, who helped to awaken his vocation of cartooning at an early age. In 1945, after the death of his mother, he enrolled and started his studies at Escuela de Bellas Artes de Mendoza.Shortly after, his father died when Quino was 16 years old; a year later he abandoned his studies, with the intent to become a cartoonist. Soon he would sell his first illustration, an advertisement for a fabric store. He tried unsuccessfully to get a job with the editorial houses in Buenos Aires.