Today we publish Vincent, a graphic biography of Van Gogh by Dutch creator Barbara Stok. The second book in SelfMadeHero’s Art Masters series, Vincent documents the brief and intense period of creativity Van Gogh spent in Arles, Provence. Away from Paris, the painter falls in love with the landscape and light of the South of France, and dreams of setting up an artists’ studio in Arles. But attacks of mental illness leave him disorientated and confused. Vincent breathes new life into this fascinating story of art, friendship and brotherly love.
We caught up with Barbara Stok to see what she had to say about the project.
Why did you choose to focus on this part of Van Gogh’s life?
I chose the last couple of years of his life, the period he lived in the south of France, because it’s an extremely interesting time. There was a lot going on: he made his most beautiful paintings, he dreamed about setting up an artists’ house, there was the tragic incident with his ear and, finally, he went to a mental institution. He had hopes and dreams and big disappointments, but in the end he found resignation and consolation in his work and in nature.
I started by reading all of his letters. That was like reading a diary. From his letters I selected scenes and thoughts that I found interesting. I also went to Arles and Saint-Rémy to see where he lived. And I gathered all the necessary facts, for instance: What kind of furniture did they have in the late 19th century? Did they have electricity or gas light? What did their underwear look like? In order to make a drawing, you have to know every little detail.
What was your process and how long did it take?
First I wrote a broad outline of the story. After that I wrote the dialogues and started drawing page-by-page. My husband Rick coloured the book on the computer. We used the colours of Van Gogh’s own paintings: we selected one painting for each scene. All together, from the moment I started reading the letters until the book was finished, it took three years.
The most difficult part of the book to make was when Vincent’s colleague Gaugin visits him in Arles. On the one hand, they get along; on the other, their characters clash. It was a real challenge to find the right balance.
What did you most enjoy about the project?
I most enjoyed making the part set in Saint-Rémy. This is where Vincent finds peace and resignation and where all the themes in the book come together. I could draw full pages of beautiful landscapes and bring forward his ideas about life and consolation: “When I am painting in the countryside, I feel the bonds that unite us all.”
Vincent is available now from all good book shops, brick-and-mortar and online.
Josh Frank, co-author of The Good Inn (with Pixies frontman Black Francis), has written and directed the video for Pixies’ latest release, Greens and Blues. Plus, the titles have been done by the book’s artist, Guardian cartoonist Steven Appleby. Take a look:
The Good Inn will be release in May this year. Here’s the blurb:
“A book based on a soundtrack score that has not yet been composed for a feature film that does not yet exist.” Pixies frontman Black Francis has approached writing his first book as he would do a song: with inventiveness and originality. The Good Inn tells the story of an eighteen-year-old known only as Soldier Boy who, after escaping a devastating explosion at the French port of Toulon, sets out on a bizarre journey across France. Navigating his way past homicidal gypsies, combative soldiers and porn-peddling peasants, he takes refuge at The Good Inn – and promptly finds himself centre stage in the making of the world’s first narrative pornographic movie. Unique and vividly imagined, The Good Inn is a touchingly comic story that brings turn-of-the-century France to life.
We’re hosting a party at Gosh! Comics on Friday 7th March – and everyone’s invited! Quite aside from the free booze, there’ll be signings from three of our finest creators: Reinhard Kleist (The Boxer), ILYA (Room For Love) and Mark Stafford (The Man Who Laughs).
Mark Stafford will be signing copies of The Man Who Laughs, his British Comic Award-nominated collaboration with David Hine. An adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic, it was lauded as “absolutely stunning and grotesque” by Cory Doctorow. ILYA will be signing his brilliant original graphic novel Room For Love, which made the Independent‘s list of 2013’s best comics and was heaped with praise elsewhere. Fresh from his talk at the Goethe-Institut the night before, Reinhard Kleist will be signing copies of his brand new book, The Boxer, a multi-award-winning graphic biography of Holocaust survivor and champion boxer Harry Haft. Kleist is well known for his previous biographies, which include the Eisner-nominated Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness.
The event takes place at Gosh! Comics, 1 Berwick Street, Soho, London, W1F 0DR, 7-9PM.
It’s happening as part of Gosh!’s British Comics Month – a celebration of British comics artists, writers and publishers. You can join the event on Facebook here.
To launch his brand new graphic novel, The Boxer, Reinhard Kleist will be in conversation with Paul Gravett at the Goethe-Institut in London on Thursday 6th March (from 7pm). Hosted jointly by SelfMadeHero and Comica, this event is your only chance to hear Kleist speak about his award-winning biography of the Holocaust survivor and champion boxer Harry Haft. The event is completely free, but guests are asked to RSVP to [email protected].
The Boxer tells the true story of Hertzko Haft, a Polish Jew who was plunged into the horror of the concentration camps at sixteen and found himself forced into life-or-death boxing matches by his SS captors. His battles took him to the end of the Second World War and – against all the odds – liberation. After the war, having emigrated to America, Haft (now “Harry”) established a career as a heavyweight prizefighter, which began with ten straight wins and ended with a defeat to the great Rocky Marciano in 1949.
Reinhard Kleist is a multi-award-winning graphic novelist. His books include Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness, Castro and Havana: A Cuban Journey. In January 2013, he became the first comic book artist to be awarded the B. Z. Kulturpreis for his contribution to Berlin’s cultural scene. Kleist will be in conversation with Paul Gravett, Director of Comica, author of Comics Art, and curator of the upcoming British Library exhibition Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK.
The event takes place from 7pm at the Goethe-Institut, 50 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2PH. Admission is free but RSVP to [email protected].
It’s Australia Day – and, fittingly, we’re celebrating the publication of our first title of 2014, Terra Australis. Written by LF Bollée and illustrated by Philippe Nicloux, this brilliant, ambitious graphic novel charts the epic voyage of the First Fleet from London to Port Jackson, Australia.
The book is being published to coincide with the bicentenary of its central character, Admiral Arthur Phillip, Captain of the First Fleet and founder of the settlement that would later become Sydney. Terra Australis follows Phillip’s journey, but it also charts the lives of the men and women, mostly convicts, who were crammed aboard 11 ships and transported 24,000km to the other side of the world. Having endure mutiny, disease and extreme weather, the Fleet reached Australia early in 1788, raising the Union Jack in Sydney Cove on 26th January, Australia Day.
Terra Australis is a meticulously researched dramatisation of a fascinating period of history. Drawing on the lives of real historical figures, from the thief John Hudson to the diarist Ralph Clark, the book takes in the festering squalor of Newgate Prison, the claustrophobic confines of the ships, and the outstanding natural beauty of Australia’s east coast.
LF Bollée is a journalist and the author of over 40 graphic novels. Fascinated by Australia, he began working on Terra Australis in December 2007. He is also the author of XIII Mystery, a spin off from the world-renowned VIII saga. He lives in Versailles, France.
Philippe Nicloux is from Nice, France. He has illustrated three graphic novels for the French publishing house Les Enfants Rouges.
