Iginio Straffi

Iginio Straffi (born 30 May 1965) is an Italian animator and former comic book author. He is the founder and president of Rainbow SpA, which he co-owned alongside the American media company Paramount Global from 2011 until 2023. Straffi is the creator of the studio's animated series Winx Club and Huntik: Secrets & Seekers, as well as the co-creator of its comic book series Maya Fox.

While at university, Straffi published his first comic story in a 1985 issue of Tilt. He continued to work as a comic book illustrator through the 1990s, eventually drawing an issue of Sergio Bonelli Editore's Nick Raider series. In 1995, Straffi founded Rainbow with the assistance of Lamberto Pigini and Giuseppe Casali. The studio began with a capital of 10,000 euros, which was mostly used to purchase computers and software for digital design. Rainbow initially provided creative services for other companies until securing funds for original projects. as it led to the worldwide distribution of Rainbow's shows by Paramount and Nickelodeon, as well as various co-productions. As of 2019, Straffi continues to work in creative roles at Rainbow, but he has shifted his focus from animation to live action. Among his first live-action works are Nickelodeon's Club 57 and Fate: The Winx Saga, an adaptation of Winx Club. He had an interest in illustrating comic books from a young age, and by age seven, he started drawing his own comic stories. In high school, he often drew comic stories in his classmates' notebooks Bloom's personality was based on that of Straffi's wife, Joanne Lee. Straffi met Lee in 1997, during a trip to Lee's native Singapore, and they married several years later.

Career Straffi entered the professional comic book industry with a story in the 1985 issue of Tilt. creator of the Nick Raider comic book series. Nizzi brought him to work for the comic book's publishing house, Sergio Bonelli Editore.

In 1992, Straffi left Sergio Bonelli Editore and moved to France for a storyboarding Straffi originally wrote the Winx Club plot to last no more than 78 episodes (three seasons). He decided to extend the series for an additional season in 2008, citing the show's increasing popularity. Viacom provides Straffi access to financial and studio resources costing around $80 million (70 million euros) including marketing costs. The film performed poorly at the box office, earning about $10 million worldwide, which Straffi assumed was a result of Rainbow's lack of experience with cinema. Straffi also produced The Dark Side of the Sun, an animated documentary that premiered at the Rome International Film Festival in December 2011.

In 2019, Straffi stated that he intended to shift his focus to live action over animation; he felt "the move into live action completes [his] experience professionally."