Meet
Tell us a bit about yourself, Juancho. How did you first get involved in the industry?
I started working professionally around 2012, during the mobile games boom, a moment that opened doors for a lot of people like me. People who'd always loved games, but never imagined they could actually work in games, let alone get paid for it.
To be completely honest, I was in my early 20s, a bit lost after finishing my studies and moving around Europe trying my luck. Nobody in my family worked in a creative field, so there was no map for me to follow, but I was open to trying any path as long as I could stay creatively productive. So I did a bunch of random jobs to keep going.
Some time later, an old friend called to say he'd just started working at a small game studio and they were looking for artists. I didn't know it at the time but a small studio meant doing a bit of everything: concepts, character design, backgrounds, UI, compositing, animation, pitching, working in engine, marketing... things I'd never formally studied, but I was ready to learn.
Like a lot of kids from the internet, I was mostly self-taught in digital art. After sending them my "professional portfolio" (which was mostly university work), they asked to see my sketchbook instead… and the rest you can imagine.
Game art wasn't really taught back then, so the few veterans on that team had arrived from completely different backgrounds, which was actually a relief. It wasn't quite what I expected, but I was curious, very hungry to learn and surrounded by people who were genuinely generous with their knowledge.
What I remember most clearly was that "learning by doing" mentality. We were all figuring things out together; nobody had it all figured out, we just kept showing up and got a little better each time. Without realizing it, that became my mantra, and to this day, I believe it's my strongest skill, maybe even more useful than any natural talent I might or might not have… But that's a story for another time.
Why is the Indie Movement relevant today and what do you hope people walk away thinking after the event?
I believe making things independently was, is, and will always be at the heart of creativity. It's where ideas come from. And right now, it feels especially important, as industries become more risk-averse, independent work has shifted from being an alternative to something closer to a necessity, in my opinion.
For me, indie isn't about rejecting business realities. It's about having the freedom to decide which compromises you're willing to make, and which ones you're not. It's the space where creators can pursue an idea because they genuinely believe in it, experiment with new ways of working, and sometimes take creative risks that larger systems simply can't afford to.
It often starts from something very simple: "I want to see that, so I'll make it."
But from what I've seen, inspiration is only half the story. There are countless hidden doors out there: support schemes, funding opportunities, business and practical knowledge, distribution strategies, communities, and networks that can completely change what's possible for a project. The challenge is that a lot of this knowledge is difficult to find without experience and often depends on where you live or who you know.
Creators rarely go to business school, but we're all dealing with the same system, whether we like it or not. And understanding how that system works doesn't make you less creative. If anything, it gives you more freedom to decide how you want to navigate it.
That's one of the reasons this event feels relevant to me. I hope that people leave seeing some of those paths a little more clearly, thanks to the generosity of speakers who are willing to share what they've learned, and what works for them, both the successes and the mistakes. Like passing the torch, so that new and veteran voices alike find the confidence and resilience to pursue their ideas.
At the end of the day, what we're really protecting is the feeling that made us want to make something in the first place, that very specific thing only you can see. So I just hope people leave with a clearer sense of what the road ahead might look like.
Looking ahead to 2026–2030, where do you see things heading?
Honestly? I have no idea what even next month is going to look like… Everything is constantly changing, myself included. But after spending some time across different corners of games, animation and creative communities, I do have a few hopes.
Creative people have always found ways to thrive, with or without industry support, because ultimately, we are the industry too. We make the work, share the knowledge, build the communities and create the opportunities that others will later walk through.
We'll keep making things because we like doing them, even when we lose our path. And we need new stories, new voices, and new perspectives that reflect the times we're actually living in, to help us connect, understand one another, and build empathy.
What's already undeniable is the quality of what independent creators are producing. The gap between small and big-budget work is closing faster than ever, thanks to open-source tools, crowdfunding, people building communities and audiences online, and both new and established studios becoming more willing to take risks on people they trust.
The conditions are shifting, and yes, the economy is brutal right now. But creative people have always made things despite that, and sometimes because of it.
So what I'm rooting for is more opportunities for people to make the things they care about, more spaces to share knowledge, and more ways to support new voices finding their path. Because that's where I'm heading.
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