Jean Giraud, Moebius, passed away today. He was, arguably, one of the most influential artist of our time and a personal inspiration of mine.
The first time I encountered his work was, unfortunately, in the movie, Heavy Metal. I say unfortunate not because I didn't like the movie – I love it – I was a young teenager, it was a simi-adult, kick-ass animated movie with nudity! Of course, I love it. But it was an unfortunate introduction to Moebius because it did not, could not, do his work justice. Shortly after that, Epic Comics began to release a series of collections, translating Moebius's comic work. I bought the first book because it reminded me the Heavy Metal movie – I didn't know who Moebius was then. The book blew me away. The art was like nothing I'd seen before. Every story seemed to have its own flavor and style but none of the styles were derivative of work I'd seen before. Every approach was something completely new. Now, of course, Jean Giraud had his inspirations the same as any artist and I have since come across works that I believe were influences for Moebius but, even with that understanding, he made his work entirely his own. More so than any artist I know, Moebius was willing to reinvent himself and do something completely different. Most of us find what style works for us and are too scared to change – what if people don't like it, what if they don't hire me! But Jean didn't care…well, I don't know if he cared or not, but he did let the fear stop him. I truly admire that...(READ MORE AT
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Sta.sh
