Book Review: Blacksad, l'histoire des aquarelles

[vinhnyu]

Blacksad, l'histoire des aquarelles is an artbook gathering colour studies, specifically "aquarelle" (watercolour).

First, what is Blacksad?
It's a "bande dessinée" (60p~ full color hardcover french/belgium comic) serie drawn by Guardino and written by Diaz Canales.
It's about a detective named John Blacksad who's hired to do the dirty jobs in an anthropomorphic New York 1950s.
It's a really good black polar from our good old detective movies with serious themes like racism, atomic bombs and drugs.
There're currently four released volumes and to me, it's a must buy for anyone who's interested in great art or comic books. [amazon.com]

The comic was numerously nominated and won many prizes from Angoulême Festival for example.

What I like the most from Guardino is his characters' motion which gives them so much life.
I love their expression and since they have animal faces, it greatly enhances the emotion.
Well, no wonder since he worked on Walt Disney's animations before being a comic artist.
His colour sense is also incredible and it became pretty rare in this digital era to see someone painting "manually".
I can't recommend you enough his great detective serie, please check his works!

The french edition is pretty cheap if you're interested in. (20€ in [amazon.fr])













My other book reviews:
- Shigeki Maeshima's SERENDIPITY
- Yuusuke Murata's FIELD of COLORS
- Yasuomi Umetsu's BORDERLESS
- Katsumi Enami Illustrations Baccano!
- Sacred Blaze visual collection

[parka]

Very beautiful watercolor works. Brings a different feel to the published comic.