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Haddock: Unfamiliar image in newspaper article (Pastiche identification) [Closed]

Amilah
Member
#1 · Posted: 23 Mar 2009 16:43
I'm a bit annoyed, as I don't know how to ask.

In some Greek newspaper, I've read an article about Tintin, that had a few illustrations - one of which is very unfamiliar, and, strangely, makes me think of a fake.
It's a front image of Haddock, looking very angry, eyes closed, losing his pipe and waving his fist, while his cap hops out of irritation.

The drawing style is very very close to Hergé (or de Moor, or Jacobs), but strikes me as odd, for some subtle reasons: a bit too detailed and too realistic.

In fact, it reminds me much more of Jacques Martin than Hergé.

In particular, you can see a bit of skin right under the mouth, where Herge tends to draw it pitch black and completely covered by the beard.

The cheek is also a bit fatter or more visible than usual, due to a wrinkle starting from the nose and descending to the mouth.

Maybe I'm wrong, but if I'm not and the image is a pastiche, I'd love to know where it comes from.

However, the forum rules probably prevent me to scan/host/link to that image without Rascar Capac unleashing the fires of heaven, so I'm not sure how to investigate the matter.

Maybe the description is sufficient for someone who'd be familiar with that "realistic" Haddock ?
mct16
Member
#2 · Posted: 23 Mar 2009 23:37
If it was published in a regular newspaper then I should think they received permission for it. Contact the forum itself and ask them if they will allow it. You never know.

I believe that Tintin magazine itself often published pastiches of Tintin, which would have been with Herge's approval so if, as you suggest, it was a drawing by one of his colleagues then there should not, in theory, be a problem.
Amilah
Member
#3 · Posted: 24 Mar 2009 02:43
Well, I know that greek people can easily get a bit "informal" about certain procedures (for the better or the worse), so I wouldn't be so certain about their permission. Also, as there is no specific mention related to that image, I suspect the journalist himself assumed it was a Hergé drawing. There is no other possible reason to have put a pastiche instead of a regular Haddock there.

My curiosity isn't about whether they had the rights to or not (this is even independent from my right to reproduce the image here), but about which pastiche and artist this image could be from. Now, if the local mods think I should display the image, I will gladly. But I was hoping some tintinologist, expert in "pirate tintins", would just go "oh, your description matches the style of that guy, who made a couple fake panels there and there". Maybe it was a Journal de Tintin drawing indeed. This would make the author's identification less likely, I fear.

But I just happen to be sorting old papers, and I feel I won't be able to stash this newspaper cut away before having solved the nagging mystery. :-(
tybaltstone
Member
#4 · Posted: 31 Mar 2009 22:23
Amilah - reading your description of that drawing of Captain Haddock sounds very familiar. In fact I think it sounds like a recent drawing I did. Now, how can I link you to it, without breaking any rules?

Well, I guess you could email the image through my website:

http://www.rainboworchid.co.uk/readerscorner/contact.php

I have no qualms about being identified as the artist if it is my drawing (it may not be). It is merely a blog sketch.

Best - Garen

Edit: does he have a bottle from the Unicorn in his pocket?
Amilah
Member
#5 · Posted: 1 Apr 2009 17:50
No visible bottle in his pocket, but the image is half-cut by the border of the article : we only see one arm and leg. (Just to add details, his fist and forearm are raised vertically at 90° with his arm and shoulders, his pipe is dropping "below" his arm, and his leg is also bent at an angle, a bit symetrically to the arm/forearm.) I've just dropped an eye on your website, and I'm not sure if it could match your style : the lines are "thinner" than yours, making it look more Jacobs/Martin than your vaguely more Floc'h/Riviere style. But I might still scan it and send it to you. If it is yours, that's one mystery solved. If it isn't, maybe you'll recognize it from somewhere else.

I can't believe I STILL have this newspaper cut on my desk !
tybaltstone
Member
#6 · Posted: 1 Apr 2009 17:53
Yes do email to me, Amilah - I'm dying to know! If not, I may have another suggestion.

Cheers - G

P.S - I do love Floc'h :-)

P.P.S - I like your use of the term 'half-cut' - it relates to Haddock very nicely.

P.P.P.S - does the pipe look anything like this?
https://www.garenewing.co.uk/imagebox/haddock_pipe.jpg -- Ceci n'est pas une pipe
jock123
Moderator
#7 · Posted: 1 Apr 2009 22:43
I was just about to make a joke based on your pipe image, and then I rolled my cursor over the picture, and you'd got there first...!

mct16:
If it was published in a regular newspaper then I should think they received permission for it.

They should, but it's often not the case, especially when they use images from the internet that don't come from official sources - they bank on the little person not wanting, or being able, to make a fuss, as it might get them into bother too. In cases where they have swiped someone's original photos, I also know of papers trying to use a spurious "If it's on the net, it's in the public domain!" defence (which is nonsense, and they know it).

mct16:
Tintin magazine itself often published pastiches of Tintin, which would have been with Hergé's approval

I've heard stories of the Tintin magazine doing this, and believed it too, but have never in fact come across any issue with fan-art in, so "often" is definitely too much, and it may in fact be "almost never/ never".
Whether or not it would have been with Hergé's approval would also be open to investigation: Raymond Leblanc's rights to use and promote Tintin for the benefit of his company were probably built into the agreement he signed with Hergé, and he was undoubtedly in the upper position in that arrangement, as Hergé's continued well-being and livelihood were at stake, and he pretty much will have had to agree to what Leblanc wanted.
Amilah
Member
#8 · Posted: 1 Apr 2009 23:31
tybaltstone:
does the pipe look anything like this?

Haha. Yes, that's the (not the) pipe, down to the four little dots on it. Except it's the other way round, but this doesnt mean anything : journalists often use mirrored images (when not mirrored photos!) when it fits better on the page, that's why I gave no specific left/right indications in my descriptions.

I had been too busy to scan the image (even too busy to log out - I've left that window opened all afternoon), but looks like I won't even require to. Was the pipe your own drawing, or was it from the "other suggestion" ? Maybe I'll still scan and send the article, just as a proof of your international glory, if the drawing is yours.
tybaltstone
Member
#9 · Posted: 2 Apr 2009 00:11
jock123:
I rolled my cursor over the picture, and you'd got there first...!

Haha - it was too obvious wasn't it?

tybaltstone:
does the pipe look anything like this?

Please do email the full pic/page. Yes that's 'my' pipe. I'd be most grateful and will send you a little something in return.

Thank you!

This topic is closed.