herge – FTN-blog

Posted on 04.05.202018.01.2020 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Edmond Baudoin (1942)

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For me personally, Bauoin is one of my comic heroes. Of course there are Herge and Franquin and many others from the golden age of European Comics that deserve your admiration, but from the later generations there are only a few artists that will be historically important. Jean Giraud, Druillet and Tardi have all proven to be important, but for me there is another artist, a comic hero, who belongs in this row of great names. One that is lesser known but somebody who moves on the crossroads of comic and graphic novel.

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Edmond Baudoin is that artist. Left school at the age of 16 and has been drawing and writing comics since. The style….realistic…the stories poetic and taken from his personal life.

www.ftn-books has the LE PORTRAIT book by Baudoin now available.

baudoin portrait

Posted on 07.10.201612.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Horta and the Belgium Museum for Comics

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In the Zandstraat 20/ The Belgium Museum for Comics, ( centre of Brussels ) in an art nouveau building there is the Brasserie Horta, named after the famous Belgian Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta. If you walk Brussels there are many Art Nouveau buildings to be found , but the one that is the most important is probably the one which houses the Victor Horta museum in Saint Gilles. If you want to visit it, please note that the opening hours are very limited and only small groups may enter the building. Once there ,you will find one of the most authentic and beautiful Art Nouveau buildings to be found in Brussels. The Tourist Office has some nice walks on which the most typical Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings are indicated and when you take this walk , beside the buildings , there are many wall drawings to be seen ( practically all related to Belgian comic art ). Stop at the mentioned Brasserie Horta at the Museum for Comics, have a coffee and visit its collection, containing many authentic TinTin/Herge items. https://www.stripmuseum.be/nl/home

and continue your walk to end at the Horta museum in Saint Gilles.

prepare your visit with the nice little book which i have available at www.ftn-books.com

horta

Posted on 12.07.201612.02.2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Joost Swarte….RRRRRRR

Joost Swarte is one of those rare multi talented artists which have become now world famous and have a very loyal following. Swarte started in the very early seventies with a magazine named # TANTE LENY ” and was almost immediately recognized as one of the true talents in this comic magazine. During these first few years he was very much influenced by Herge, but within this style ( Klare lijn) he developed his very own signature.

What makes Swarte drawings and projects so special?…… From a mile distance you can see that it is a Swarte drawing,….. subject, style, design, Swarte signature, use of perspective and detail are very much Swarte’s own and are combined into one original work of art. Because he masters so many disciplines his projects are not only limited to books and posters, but during the last decades he even progressed to design and architecture.

One of the first projects in which he has everything in hand was the RRRRRRR 1 & 2 projects in which he depicted a population of “human” cats in different settings.

Joost Swarte has drawn the specially executed prints, designed the special container, supervised the printing and ….. perfection…..put a little feather within the container of the bird which was eaten by the cats. A superb publication resulted and is nowadays sought and collected by many.