when you consider the scale at which Franquin works it’s a little boggling to think he could draw so many strokes with such finesse in panels that aren’t much bigger than a cue card
I feel like this a lot, even with a mechanical pencil (which I commonly use)! Now, if I could ink like this… :)
When Fabrice Tarrin was a young teenager he sent his comics to Dupuis for critique and he received a reply from the legendary André Franquin!
Translations:
“Your drawings aren’t bad at all. A little too “Belgian school,” maybe. You’ll find your style little by little…
“Ah! Your caricatures have a good likeness, especially Gainsbourg and his daughter.”
“Do you do any life drawing? It helps with with developing, you’ll gain a memory of forms. Plus it’s fun.”
“Girls are hard to draw. Sketch girls!”
“A good BD (comic) artist is some who draws a lot, passionately, to the point of madness!”
“Actualize your characters a little. Observe the clothes of your era. Draw them. Look at catalogues.”
“That goes for everything in your era… and BDs of your era.”
“Franquin (what a chatterbox!)”
Franquin changes Spirou’s iconic uniform for the first time in Panade à Champignac! I like the motorcycle gloves… From then on Spirou tends to wear the uniform less and less as the series gets more modern.
Also this is when Fantasio officially passes the baton to Prunelle as Gaston’s straight man in the future albums.
