Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

>Rhaticus : what's this rubbish about Hugo Pratt being american?
He was born in Italy (Rimini) from italian parents, and never moved to live in the US.

guys, technique never defines art. gipi's style is appropriate for the content of his stories, which is the reason why he is so awesome. that's why i think marvel comics are so superficial. their comics have to show spectacular panels with great perspectives, amazing lighting,etc. but an image can never stand for itself, it must have a purpose. that's what gipi understands.

Sorry, but you need to know Italian to understand this incredible artist n toto.
He's not just a fantastic, gentle, fresh watercolorist, but, as I see, a great writer of course. (I am Italian, by the way ^__^)
Yes, I agree with those who said he's got a touch of Hugo Pratt -he was Italian from head to toes, and not American, he just was a traveller- and the influence of the French Belgian School is strong.

Good storyteller, I like his works. If anyone of you need some translation (even if my English is not much), ask me, I'll be happy to help you.
ciao!!

"Average at best?" The entire Marvel Group muscle-bound crowd is -- and has always been -- average at best, and appropriate for nine-year-old readers.

This is a Super style that I don't always see.. I don't draw any of these kinds of things BUT I know something good and original when I see it.

I'm backing Jed. please provide a crit!

Ok. If this is so mediocre, go ahead and tell us why. I'm not trying to be confrontational---I'd really like to know your opinion. "average" doesn't tell us much.

the guy's average at best. why do drawn people worship at the alter of mediocrity?

Amen to what Dom Bugatto says. Thanks, John, for the well-deserved recognition.

Love love love this stuff.

Stunning work that stands on its own. Everyone has 'influences'. A breath of fresh air considering the crap that gets regurgitated here ( Marvel/DC ) on continuous basis.

Stunning work that stands on its own. Everyone has 'influences'. A breath of fresh air considering the crap that gets regurgitated here ( Marvel/DC ) on continuous basis.

Stunning work that stands on its own. Everyone has 'influences'. A breath of fresh air considering the crap that gets regurgitated here ( Marvel/DC ) on continuous basis.

Beautiful work. A great casual feel to his line quality. I love it.

I was being facetious and take back the plagiarism hyperbole if too damning... The following comment not applying exclusively to Gipi, or to Gipi in particular, I am a bit turned off by the tendency for uniformity of form in comics, with the avent of fairly standardized "looks"; the underground look, the independent publishing look, the comic book d'auteur look... Though it only makes sense to see previously successful narrative and representation approaches being regurgitated, I'm more drawn to work with an unexpected sum of influences, possibly from other disciplines.

Kudos, Rhaticus for spotting Pratt's hand.

My point was that hollering, 'plagiarism!' is a bit strong. However, for me, saying that someone's style or approach is derivative (or, more precisely, shows the strong influence of others) is not a slight.

Check out Gipi's Eisner-nominated, Innocents, from the Ignatz line of comics over at Fantagraphics:

http://www.fantagraphics.com/ignatz/ignatz.html

We can also thank Kim Thompson for translating Gipi's _They Found The Car_, which I picked up last week. The most inspiring comic I've read in ages.

Richard, I believe you can at least give me credit for spotting such obscure and unhoped-for influences as the pioneering work of originators of Gipi's own art form of choice.

Gipi is not going for Loustal or Tardi. If something, there might be some of their good influence in his work but that's it. His storytelling is similar to Baru's but done at Gipi's pace.

For those wanting to know a bit more about Gipi, there's a biog on lambiek.net (a brilliant BD/ comics resource)

As for Hugo Pratt: there might be an influence there, but I don't see this work as imitative in any way, and the influence doesn't seem at all overt, if there in fact, is one. I actually see a lot of Milton Caniff in Pratt's work, though Pratt definitely has his own voice. I wasn't aware that Pratt was from the US though---Corto Maltese was originally in Itallian and is more popular abroad than here from the little I know.

As for Tardi and Loustal: lets not confuse derivation for influence. Derivation suggests appropriation or imitation, and I'd rather see these artists work as influences rather than work that this work has been derived from. Gipi's stuff seems much more direct than any of these artists--it's almost sketchbook or diary-like, and it really has it's own personality and feel.

Plagiarism is a pretty serious charge. Gipi's work is derivative (I see Tardi and Loustal in there too) but that's not necessarily a bad thing: we all have to find our individual voice through a certain amount of imitation. It's very easy to be condescendingly dismissive by spotting someone's influences.

Angoulême, sorry.
http://www.bdangouleme.com/index.ideal?langue=gb

Fantagraphics published The Innocents in english. It's a great book but leaves you hungry for more Gipi. Last year he won the first price at Angolême so I hope we get to see more of his work translated.

You need to know Hugo Pratt (american... of italian descent) to know that this artwork is derivative. Nice plagiarism though.

I love the gorgeous immediacy of these drawings, and Gipi has a fantastic sense of storytelling! I can follow a lot of what's going on without knowing Itallian.

And even though I don't know what's going on in the second tier of panels here:

http://www.bacidallaprovincia.com/uploaded_imag...

I like the way he's using words as images.

Everything looks so direct. I wonder if he draws directly in pen first? Some really great comics feel like writing, and he has this great picture language with just the right ammount of illustrative ellements, without being TOO illustrative. He describes objects accurately without rendering hell out of them. And he has a great color sense.