May 06, 2010

233: JeoJeo: Boy Graphic Designer

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I never experienced the glory of a comic-book phase at any point of my childhood (or adulthood, for that matter). I was left awkwardly in the lurch in high school art class when my friends held competitions to see who could draw the best Wolverine. My only comparable obsession came from reading The Adventures of Tintin books, which were stocked as a beat-up, dog-eared collection in my elementary school library, usually alongside a few copies of Asterix.

Now that I'm all grown up – complete with disposable income – I'm slowly piecing together my own collection of the Tintin series. One here, one there – usually procured at Toad Hall Toys whenever I'm searching for presents for my niece or nephew (or for Kerry). I'm finally coming into my own as a full-blown Tintin geek.

This primarily stems from my absolute love of HergĂ©'s artwork (that, and the fact that any scan of Captain Haddock's furious mug usually makes me laugh). But HergĂ©'s graphic, flat-colour, stay-within-the-lines approach has always had an appeal for me as a sensible, structured and detail-oriented graphic designer. I've long wished to make an attempt at placing a character of myself into Tintin's world, seeing how we share similar dimensions, taste in clothes – often, even the same wisp of hair. And this week, I finally pulled it off.

Click here, for a closer look.

6 comments:

Anthony Woodward said...

A right of passage for all cartoonists. I have heard countless interviews where they are asked what got them into comics, "well there were these books called tintin at the library..."
The style by the way is referred to as the clear line style or ligne clair
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligne_claire
You may be interested to look at other comic artist who see themselves as successors of Herge in the Ligne Clair style

devon spec said...

ok, i have no idea who tin tin is.... but i'll def. look that one up! jeope, once again, you rock.

and btw, ben franklin called and he wants his shoes back. ;)

all joking aside, im glad that you can "do for you." none o' that corporate schmorporate schtuff.

to even feel remotely inspired to do something like this after a long day is inspiring to me!

Adrian J.K. Shum, CGD said...

Awesome! Now do the entire GDC MB Board! ;)

Jeope said...

Thanks you guys. Anthony, somehow I knew you'd chime in with some knowledge!

Anonymous said...

I worked at Toad Hall for four years when I was 14-18 (after shopping there with my parents since I was a baby) and that store is where I was introduced to the wonderful world of Tintin. So many great hours of my childhood were spent with Tintin, Snowy and the Cap. I love this illustration Jeope! So well done. I also agree with Adrian that we need to do a Tintin edition of the entire GDC board. Maybe our next AGM presentation could be done in cartoon cell-style? Haha.

Anonymous said...

really cool,jeope. You should do jacob a Captain Haddock.
Deenie