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Comic book artists "duel" on TV

mct16
Member
#1 · Posted: 7 Jun 2011 17:14
This is a video from a French TV programme of the 1970s called "Tac au tac" - which in English would mean something like "tit for tat" or "give as good as you get".

The idea was that various artists met in order to draw a picture together. In this example we have four of the leading comic books artists of the day: Morris (creator of "Lucky Luke"), Franquin ("Gaston Lagaffe"), Peyo ("The Smurfs") and Roba ("Boule et Bill", translated by Cinebook as "Billy and Buddy").

One of them would draw a picture and others would add to this picture, twisting it in a certain way.

In this case, for example, Morris starts with drawing a horseshoe, which Roba turns into a cow-boy. Franquin has the cow-boy jumping out of a window onto his horse (which is facing the wrong direction). But Peyo puts the horse on a cart which is being towed away which means the cow-boy will hit the ground, unless Morris finds a counter-measure...

Watch it in full. It's quite fun the way the artists counter each to the point that it gets increasingly absurd.

Sadly, I have not found any record of Herge or Jacobs taking part in such a program.

Note to moderators: this is legit. The INA (Institut national de l'audiovisuel (National Audiovisual Institute)) is an organisation set up to preserve French radio and television audiovisual archives.
Balthazar
Moderator
#2 · Posted: 15 Jun 2011 18:18
Belated thanks for posting this, mct. It's very interesting.

All the cartoonists taking part in this one have quite sketchy, cartoony drawing styles which maybe lend themselves particularly well to this sort of haphazard speed-drawing game. Maybe Hergé and Jacobs' rather slower, more measured styles of drawing, and their more considered sense of composition and design, would have worked less well for this sort of game. Or maybe (more likely) Hergé was to busy relaxing during the 1970s to be bothered to take part!
jock123
Moderator
#3 · Posted: 15 Jun 2011 23:37
Thanks for pointing out the link, mct16; it was worth a look.

It reminded me of the ITV series Quick on the Draw. which was a panel game for cartoonists, and usually featured Bill Tidy. I’m sure they had at least a round in which this “game of consequences”-style of adding to another artist’s work was featured.

I’m really taken by the fact that in this show they appear to approach it with the gravity of a bunch of engineers appearing on the Open University to explain the Laws of Thermodynamics! Not a laugh amongst them!
De Insula Nigra
Member
#4 · Posted: 16 Jun 2011 01:28
That was really interesting, mct16! Some of the ways they twisted the picture made me laugh out loud.

I agree, Jock! It is funny how serious they are. I like how they are all wearing ties, and some are wearing jackets. It seems that in most professions now, men don't dress up so much, and I wouldn't have thought that comic book artists would dress like that!

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