Showing posts with label Corto Maltese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corto Maltese. Show all posts

Two popular characters

This is my tribute to artist Hugo Pratt: an interpretation of his most enduring character, Corto Maltese, a somewhat mysterious and laconic sailor with a penchant for helping the underdog. I saw this portrait somewhere on-line and felt compelled to draw this version of it.

For more on Corto Maltese, see this Wikipedia article or read my earlier post on February 9th.

And here is my version of another famous comic book character, Archie Andrews. From his first appearance in 1941, Archie has enjoyed remarkable longevity, demonstrating an enduring appeal that has attracted many generations of teenagers and pre-teens. Credit goes to a group of very talented artists and managers at Archie Comics. Together, they've found a way to keep the characters and the settings in the cartoon series looking modern and hip without diminishing the original uniqueness of the Archie gang and the story lines that link them together. You can get to know all of the characters at the Archie Comics site here.

When I drew this, I suddenly realized that he reminds me of my son and his friends. Archie is perpetually 17. As a reader in childhood, I always imagined him older. Now, as a father, I see the artists have pretty much got the image right. My son and his friends are 18 and the similarities are strong.



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Hugo Pratt's graphic novels are still cool

I'm a big fan of Italian graphic novelist Hugo Pratt. The creator of the complex and popular Corto Maltese character died in 1995, but his work lives on.

In tribute to Pratt, I shamelessly practiced by free-hand copying these figures with a felt pen after re-reading his "Scorpions of the Desert" story, which is set in Italian-occupied Africa before and during the Second World War.

Pratt spent a lot of time travelling the world and was quite attentive to historic and geographic details.

Above is an Italian officer, in one of the many uniforms of the Fascist forces.

Here's a youthful recruit....



and a dangerous lady...


I had a lot of fun doing these.

Notes:

1. A short biography of Hugo Pratt can be found here, and also in a Wikipedia entry here.
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