I lived in Bulgaria until I was 29, which afforded me a very intense, classical art education in the European tradition.  Drawing, drawing, drawing, and eventually a degree from the National Academy of Art in Sofia.  I paid my expenses by doing caricatures of the local characters in the bars, which was both fun and scary as Bulgaria moved from the Communist regime to freedom.

My wife and I celebrated the millennium by moving to California and we now feel completely at home here.  Professionally I've worked on a wide variety of projects, from pre-school 'edutainment' to violent console games, but I've always loved graphic novels.

This love of comic books is what I'm pursuing now.  It allows me to indulge my attention to detail in a cinematic style. 

It has been an interesting journey: from Bulgaria to California and from CD-ROMs to video games.  It started with me cutting school to draw comic books and it's coming full circle as I leave a career with F9e to draw (and write) graphic novels.

Well, I don't work on paper any more - it's been almost 10 years now. I use a 9x12 Wacom tablet and various art programs.

Email me at viktor@kalvachev.com.I am currently based in Northern California.

I've had many influences throughout the years, but my first one was Herluf Bidstrup.
Later on (I was probably 8 years old) my Father subscribed to the French comic book magazine "Pif Gadget ", which was really hard to get back then in Communist Bulgaria.  Pif was the best. There also was the Bulgarian comic book magazine "Daga" (meaning "Rainbow") where I was inspired by the incredible artist Evgeni Yordanov.  Later Evgeni became a friend who taught me a great deal.

I grew up with European comics mainly - French and Italian."Dilan Dog" was my favorite Italian one.  In my early twenties I was crazy about graphic design.  One of my favorite designers was Neville Brody - simple is a lot!

Later on I was blown away by the art of Stephan Martiniere. An amazing artist - his talent is all over the place.  Other French artists I truly admire are Regis Loisel, Didier Cromwell, Herve Barulea and recently Pierre Alary.
When I moved to California I discovered more artists that inspired me.  Here are some of the main ones – Travis Charest, Dave McKean and Dan Brereton. The one artist I can't get enough of, however, is Mike Mignola.  His style is simplicity and harmony and his storytelling is one of the best ones I have ever seen. Amazing.

After I did my first comic book story - a ten pager called "Pherone" that was published in "Backbone Presents'05"- a friend recommended that I check the "100 Bullets" series from Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso with covers by Dave Johnson. I've become a big fan of them since. Those guys are gold! Thanks Brian H. :)

In the last two years I’ve been discovering new artists almost daily and if I have to write their names down, the list will probably go for pages. I am learning so much just from looking at their work online, but sometimes I get the chance to meet some of them in person only to find out that behind those beautiful drawings is a person of a great character. That was the case with my new friend Rodolphe Guenoden – a very funny man, whose talent is unstoppable.