Pablo Velarde

Original art by Pablo Velarde, pencil and watercolor.


Fishes and Bicycles. Pablo and I have been corresponding for...what is it, a couple of years now? Man, time flies. I've been very bad at my end of corresponding and even worse at mailing. Mr. Velarde had sent me a package that included a whole treasure trove of his amazing books, comics and original art. What a treat. My meager offerings are a pittance by comparison (maybe that's why I've procrastinated, though not intentional).

His work has the very assured style of one who's perfected his craft. The lines are exquisitely sliced onto depicting the figures and seemingly effortless. The page below is a scan of a page he sent me, see for yourself. Ink and Watercolor. No Photoshop or Painter. Actual media, man!


Click on the image to get to a larger image.

Pablo is contemporaries with Jose Luis Agreda, "I make up 50% of all the illustrators in my town. The other 50% would be Agreda." That town being Sevilla, Spain, where he was born. Today he rides bicycles (mostly flat, lucky guy) and plays adoring dad to his daughter Olivia. I googled his name once and came up with a picture of a Pablo Velarde doing the tango. I quipped that this was the only image I found but surely this can't be you right off? As it turns out, that was him! Apparently he's quite the dancer, to add to his many accomplished talents. He's been a good correspondence friend, as well as a very patient one. I'm getting to that package, Pablo. I promise!


Mongolia Comix

Friday Doodle

Photoshop CS2 on a 21" Cintiq. Okay, a Pyramid Beer. And a Pale Ale.

Gotta Draw. Draw for myself, that is. Have a good weekend, folks. There's been many things mulled over, meetings and alternate paths, choices and re-choosings. All the while I wonder. When do I get to draw for myself? I may not get to. Seeing the way the months past have afforded me very little time, I elect to draw whatever furshlugginer drawing comes to mind. No thinking, or trying (that Yoda line comes to mind, "Do or do not." But I will spare you).

Be well.

And another one.

Miss Pas Touche by Kerascoët

An artist's name is sometimes all you have to go on. In these google days one is just several clicks away from finding people. Well in this case, "people" is right. Turns out that Kerascoët is not the name of an artist but TWO artists. Namely, Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset. The choice became necessary when their collaboration was faced with signing both their names (a CD, Anita O' Day) and possibly taking up much of the cover. So, they decided on naming themselves after Marie's parent's village in Brittany.



How did I come to be digging up the goods on these two? Well, I came across this book online, "Miss Pas Touche" and was enchanted by the cover. I found the above mentioned mysterious name and came around to the their website. Man, oh, man, what a treat that was. Now, I really gotta get my hands on that book. I raved about it with Bill Presing and he was similarly struck. He wasn't as lazy as I and found that Amazon Canada had a listing for it. The book arrived and it is every bit as gorgeous as the cover and website portended it to be.



Above panels cropped from the twelve (count 'em) panel layout of your regular bande dessinée album. And there's rather racy panels that give away story. See, I'm watching out for you.

So, I'm obsessed (thought of stealing Bill's copy but he may not like that) and so I ordered it. Can't wait to have my very own copy. Still can't read french, but what the heck, eh?

Kerascoët website.

France Wikipedia entry on Kerascoet.

Les Kerascoët on auracan.com.


Oh, by the way, there's a connection between Joan Sfar of the post below and this dynamic duo. Guess? Okay, check this out. NOTE: Although it's a music video, drawn and quite charming, it is not for kids. Be judicious.

Joann Sfar Japan Sketchbook

Ever notice my fixation with all things Japanese? No? Well, try to pay attention. This post combines a few of my favorite things. First, awesome artist sketchbooks. And to be even more particular, French travel sketchbooks--namely, BD superstar Joann Sfar's sketchbook. Second: He went to Japan. And he drew everything he saw it seems during his stay (he has scanned 45 pages of it for online viewing). This guy's got a reputation for being prolific and this should give you a clue why. He just does not stop drawing.



Third: Amazing, on-the-fly ink sketches. During our correspondence last year Joann reveals that he draws his books in the same way he draws his cafe' sketches--in, well...cafe's (He was very generous with insights into his stance on "album" making [over a hundred]. He's a huge talent AND a nice guy, too? Whoda thunk?). One can imagine how he'd be relaxed, espresso on hand and casually completes page after page of his many books. Man, I gotta get to that kind of spontaneity and looseness someday. As our late great Alex Toth once said: Think more, draw less. I do the thinking more part but haven't gotten to the drawing less. Working on it still.



Link to Joan Sfar's Japan Sketchbook.
Link to Joan Sfar's website.

Tirade post on The Rabbi's Cat

Link to Amazon.com page on Joann Sfar books.