Tag: Edgar P. Jacobs

Categories
Graphic novels and comics

The Valley of the Immortals, step 2.

Painting of Blake and Mortimer : la vallée des immortels.
Painting of Blake and Mortimer : la vallée des immortels.

This is step 2 of the enlargement work I started from the Blake and Mortimer comic book: The Valley of the Immortals. The original album is at the bottom of the image above to give an idea of the original scale.

I want to use the entire 24 × 36 canvas space starting from a standard size comic book. I must modify the scale by adding an extra 10% to the height. However, when comes the time to draw the perfect circle located at the top left of the album, a standard 1:1 scale must be used so as not to transform the faces of the two heroes who are looking at us from the front. A painting made with two different scales does not produce a true copy, but it is still acceptable and realistic.

Trying to match an album’s original colour often requires mixing four different colours or more. Experience has shown that any newly created colour should be allowed to dry for several minutes on another canvas to ensure that it does not deviate too much from the desired colour, because it darkens when it dries. Mistakes are inevitable, however…

It looks as I will complete the canvas within the next few months, providing I work a few hours each day.

A third and final article will be published when the painting is completed.

Click on the link for more articles about graphic novels and comics on my blog.

Categories
Graphic novels and comics

Eight Hours in Berlin

Blake and Mortimer: Huit heures à Berlin (Eight Hours in Berlin).
Blake and Mortimer: Huit heures à Berlin (Eight Hours in Berlin).

This new album of Blake and Mortimer adventures has received excellent comments from the faithful readers. It is the first time that José-Louis Bocquet, Jean-Luc Fromental and Antoine Aubin work together and they make a great team.

For several years, the combinations of authors and artists have followed one another to ensure a constant rhythm of publication, that is to say, one comic book of Blake and Mortimer per year.

For Dargaud-Lombard, this is a significant source of revenue, as the series has had a worldwide following for several decades.

“Eight Hours in Berlin” plunges us into the Cold War, at the time the Berlin Wall was just built. Older readers will be familiar with the events surrounding the construction of the wall, but for younger readers it will generally be a first but accessible approach to this period.

Everything is well thought through in this album: there are notions of history and politics, period reconstructions of the exterior architecture, beautifully designed furniture, superb vehicles and the colors are judiciously chosen by Laurence Croix.

The scenario brings us between Germany and the former communist bloc countries. As we progress in the story, we walk through a tunnel created at the time by the West to listen to the conversations taking place in East Berlin, we enter an old asylum supposedly abandoned long ago, etc. Moreover, as always in this comic book, the mixture between reality and science fiction adds to the interest.

The authors try to rejuvenate the old Mortimer a little without losing the fans along the way. The women get a positive or a negative role but they are no longer handbags holding potiches. It’s hard to imagine that we would have ever seen a nude on a garage calendar in an album of this series. What a scandal! It wouldn’t have been accepted at the time Edgar P. Jacobs wrote his first album, after having worked with Hergé for the Tintin albums…

In short, this twenty-ninth album of the series is a great success. It is obvious that this trio of creators will be entrusted with other albums.

Click on the link for other graphic novels and comic books on my blog.

Title: The adventures of Blake and Mortimer: Eight hours in Berlin

Authors: José-Louis Bocquet, Jean-Luc Fromental and Antoine Aubin

Edition : Éditions Blake et Mortimer/Studio Jacobs (Dargaud-Lombard s.a.)

© 2022

ISBN : 9781800440852

Categories
Graphic novels and comics

Tintin and the black island (2 of 2)

Acrylic painting in progression of Tintin and the Black Island.
Acrylic painting in progression of Tintin and the Black Island.

Welcome to the second and last part of Tintin and the Black Island. The photo above shows the clouds almost completed. The yellow sky was a problem, because once on the canvas, the color became too dark as it dried. I had to find a recipe for a lighter yellow than the one on the original cover so that as it dried the color would get darker and match the color of the album.

Details of the castle of Tintin and the black island.
Details of the castle of Tintin and the black island.

The photo above shows the progression of the castle and the island, but this time with the birds as a bonus. Hergé drew a lot of black birds around the castle, which adds to the sinister look of the place. But he also thought of drawing two larger birds in the foreground, of which one seems to be heading towards Tintin.

Painting in progress of Tintin and the Black Island.
Painting in progress of Tintin and the Black Island.

The painting is progressing rapidly. I have already worked on it for about a hundred hours to get to this point. The sea has received all its touches of black paint to form the appearance of waves.

Scale copy of Tintin and the Black Island.
Scale copy of Tintin and the Black Island.

The picture above gives an idea of the size of the painting. The painting must often be placed on a table to paint the elements that require great precision.

In the background of the photo, a journalist from the Canadian news channel RDI is seen on television. He is commenting on the street blockage situation in Ottawa by truckers during the Covid-19 pandemic. The protesters fight for their rights, but do not respect the rights of the citizens of Ottawa who, for weeks, are trapped in their neighborhoods. The Canadian government finally put an end to the situation by invoking the Emergency Measures Act with the added bonus of a $306 million lawsuit brought by residents against the protesters.

24x36 picture of Tintin and the Black Island completed.
24×36 picture of Tintin and the Black Island completed.

Above is the completed painting. You will notice that the white tones of the boat differ on the back and side. There is white combined with black and a touch of yellow for the side of the boat, rather than the pure white required for the back. It took some experimenting with colors to finally realize the need for yellow.

The waves flattened by the boat are now just rounded bubbles behind the boat. However, on the sides, the appearance differs because the movement of the boat breaks the waves: Hergé therefore ensures a different treatment of the foam. He thought of everything, as usual!

It is now time to move on to another project. I am not sure yet, but I am thinking of “Blake and Mortimer” these heroes of Edgar P. Jacobs, a great master of the clear line style who initially worked with Hergé.

Glénat just published a book titled “Edgar P. Jacobs le rêveur d’apocalypses”, if you want to learn more on the subject…

Click on the link for more graphic novels and comics on my blog.