In Story off War

has story off war is an album of Cartoon.

Scenario, drawings: Al Severin
Editor: Sharp-edged Michel
Year edition: 1985
Format: A5
Colors: black and white

Cover

Context

“Story War has off” is the first important album carried out in 1982 by Alec Severin (published in 1985 per Michel Deligne). These 150 pages, drawn in 9 days, contributed to the legend of this famous author. Many its faithful readers discovered his work thanks to this work.

Opinion

This small album (with a5 format), published in black and white, reports us venture of a Soldier engaged under the spangled banner. At the conclusion one period of drive, he will discover the horrors of the war and will refuse to carry a weapon to the Face. This account which could have been reduced to the simple history of a soldier in time of war is accompanied by a splendid history of love and one anthem to the acceptance of the differences. Alec Severin decorates it of a feature of a remarkable precision in spite of the speed without precedent with which it carried out this work. Its cutting is alive and he dares the shapes of nonconventional boxes. Side drawings, it plays on the pallets of gray and black in order to restore with best various environments of the account. Each chapter is characterized by a use appropriate of the “colors” to its provision. “Story off war has” poses the stakes of its future publications while inserting there, not without its usual humor, of false publicities between the various chapters. As of 19 years, it marks its entry among the complete authors of band-drawn. This album is accompanied by two mini accounts quite as enthralling as the principal history. They are hard but with the image of the stories of war.

Genesis of the creation of the account told by Alec Severin

Within the framework of the site on his work, I on the occasion to question him on the genesis of this album. With this particularly poignant discussion where Alec Severin details the realization step by step, which he wanted to show of his lifestyle compared to the characters and the various stages which allowed the publication, I realized at which point this album was founder in his work. Initially, I had stopped with the exploit of the graphic realization, but the way in which it created and cut out mentally the history is with my direction also impressive. But I prefer to let to you read the way in which it presents the thing in this extract:

“Mentally, cutting is already also carried out, plane by plan and almost box by box… Consequently, the next morning, I started on the 1st image (which is not the first in the album, but the first image which occurs on the island)… I knew that there would be many pages to come, but not exactly how much, because I did not know the exact number of boxes… I did not have courage to count them mentally one by one (but I will have been able)… In short, I did not make a “page layout”, I very quickly drew the boxes (and their contents) with the pencil the ones after the others in a quasi-final way… I drew thus during all the first day and the following night (I was young…). I slept a few hours… and so on… With the result that at the end of 3 days, the history was finished with the pencil. (It did not make 150 pages, but was complete in about 90 or 100 pages). I went to make photocopy all these crayonnés… then I slept a few hours… after which, I have ink these pages into 1 or 2 days… (with butt end of night)… That will appear a little curious to you, but while I would enclose, I thought of the 2 other little stories which could frame this account and I was played them mentally, with the result that, the finished inking, I put myself immediately on the drawing of “the star” and of the third history (which I had already cut out mentally with the box near)… not badly of the boxes which constitute them were directly drawn with ink, without crayonné, because the 5 days heating previous and the “style” used (which was not very rigorous), allowed it to me… The 2 historiettes were entirely finished at the end of the 6th day (with a margin of a few hours). As the last was sophisticated a little, I said myself, before deadening me, that I was to remake photocopies of the great account and to pass them to the washing… I thought of a prolog… (in the form of match of drive of Rugby…). And the following day, I harnessed myself to put ink diluted on the boxes (of the photocopies). Try finished the evening of the 7th workday. I was tired a little but I put myself at the work on the prolog which, technically, is an assembly of drawings that I griffonnés, inks and stuck on boxes (a little with the manner of a puzzle). The following day, I and I during about 10 hours… Around what time of after midday of the 8th day did I slept crumbled read again the whole…? But then, the long story seemed me to miss a little thickness and I am say that some great images would allow small breaths of fresh air… Alors, I made except texts in a few hours (I remember that it was an incredible pleasure to draw them, the feature slipped all alone, I cut out mechanical screen (grayed) and I would enclose around, I still a little lengthened a rather hard sequence without washing… voluntarily, to make the side rough the scene). I fell asleep and, the 9th day, I very read again… I decided to make some false delirious advertizings with the 2nd degree… What, I hoped for it, would slacken a little the atmosphere… I was to sleep… the work was finished at the end of the 9th day. The 10th day, my boards under the arm, I travelled by the train to return to me to the convention of the data base to Paris. I carried out the final covers only when Michel Deligne proposed to me to publish the album, well later. ”

External bonds

http://oeuvreseverin.free.fr

Random links: