José Manuel Saraiva was born in Porto in 1974, where he graduated in Communication Design at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto. Eng.º Antônio de Almeida for graduating with the highest course average at the faculty in the 1997/98 academic year. He has been teaching at ESAD, Escola Superior de Artes e Design in Matosinhos since the 1998/1999 academic year.

His work has been distinguished in Portugal and abroad, notably being selected for the Illustrators Exhibition at the International Children's and Youth Book Fair in Bologna (2002); the annual exhibition of the Society of Illustrators; Communication Arts Illustration Annual, Graphis New Talent Design, A showcase of Contemporary Ibero-American Illustration at the National Library of Madrid; International Biennial of Illustration for Children, ILUSTRARTE, (Special Mention, 2003); Bratislava Illustration Biennial (2005), Mostra Internazionale d´illustrazione per l´infanzia, Le Immagini della Fantasia (2004), 3x3 Children’s Show (2012), Special Mention of the 16th edition of the National Illustration Prize (2012) or the Portuguese Illustration exhibitions, at the Bedeteca in Lisbon. He was invited by the French publisher Editions Sarbacane to illustrate the Juste àgrave albums. ce moment-là, (Lauréat Printemps 2004 da AMAZON.FR) and Rouge Cerise (2005). In 2014 he was awarded the Best of the Best at the Hii Illustration 2014 International Competition.