Frank Pé
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Frank Pé, often signing solely as Frank (July 15, 1956) is a Belgian comic book artist, best known for Broussaille and Zoo.
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[edit] Biography
Frank Pé was born in Ixelles in 1956. [1] After studying sculpture for three years at the Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels with costudents like Bernard Hislaire, he starts creating comics and illustrations for Spirou, where he specializes in articles about animals. The fictional presenter of these stories, an adolescent named Broussaille, later gets his own series, which will put Frank in the limelight.
In the meantime, he has also created L'élan, a moose whose aim in life is to have his own comic and his own albums. The one shot Comme un animal en cage (Like an animal in a cage), written by Thierry Martens, then editor-in-chief at Spirou, is his first graphic novel. Since 1994, he works on his two main series, the planned trilogy Zoo and Broussaille. Zoo is a romantic and nostalgic series, while Broussaille is a contemporary series where Frank Pé intertwines his own life, with adventures in Brussels and in countries he has visited, like Japan.[1]
Frank is a slow worker, having only published 10 comics in 22 years. In the meantime, he has also collaborated to the Warner Bros. Animation movie Quest for Camelot, but not much of his work was kept in the final movie. He also makes sculptures in bronze, and has made many illustrations for Scouting calendars. For Kodansha, he developed the series Matur in 1993.
As his main influences, he cites comics artists like André Franquin, Dany and Wasterlain, but also different artists like the sculptor Auguste Rodin, the painter Egon Schiele, and the cineast Andrei Tarkovsky.[2] Apart from art and comics, his main interest are animals. He has raised 50 reptiles, including 16 crocodiles.
[edit] Bibliography
| Series | Years | Volumes | Scenarist | Editor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mémoires de l'élan | 1984-1992 | 2 | Frank Pé | Dupuis and BD Club (Genève) |
| Comme un animal en cage | 1985 | 1 | Terence (Thierry Martens) | Dupuis |
| Broussaille | 1987- | 5 | Bom (last album by Frank Pé alone) | Dupuis |
| Zoo | 1994-1999 | 2 | Bonifay | Dupuis |
He also contributed illustrations to Entre Chats, a 1989 book with other drawings by André Franquin, René Hausman, André Juillard and Max Cabanès, published by Delcourt.[3]
[edit] Awards
- 1985: Alpages in Sierre, Switzerland[3]
- 1989: Grand Prix de Grenoble, Switzerland[3]
- 1990: Christian Comic Award and Audience Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, France[3]
- 1996: Best imported comic at the Max & Moritz Prizes, Germany
In 1991, a mural painting of Broussaille is unveiled in Brussels. It is the first in a long series of now over 30 mural paintings celebrating comic heroes in the city.[4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Frank". In België gestript, pp. 112-113. Tielt: Lannoo.
- ^ Interview in the Dutch magazine ZozoLala
- ^ a b c d Dupuis biography
- ^ Brussels mural paintings site (French)
[edit] Source
- Béra, Michel; Denni, Michel; and Mellot, Philippe (2002): "Trésors de la Bande Dessinée 2003-2004". Paris, Les éditions de l'amateur. ISBN 2-85917-357-9
[edit] External links
- Homepage of the author (French)
- Biography at Dupuis
- Interviews (French)
- Biography at Comiclopedia
