this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2025
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European Graphic Novels+

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“BD” refers to Franco-Belgian comics, but let's open things up to include ALL Euro comics and GN's. Euro-style work from around the world is also welcome!

* BD = "Bandes dessinées"
* BDT = Bedetheque
* GN = graphic novel
* LBK = Lambiek
* LC = "Ligne claire"

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Video of Ana Miralles Creating the Gorgeous Art for her Series Djinn Written by Jean Defaux (www.youtube.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by wolfinthewoods@lemmy.ml to c/eurographicnovels@lemm.ee
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Djinn tells the story of a young woman looking into her long lost grandmother's past as a concubine in a harem in the 19th century. The series is beautifully illustrated by Ana Miralles and written by Jean Defaux. This video shows her working her magic, creating the beautiful watercolor art for the comic in her studio. Enjoy ;)

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[–] JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That was great! Thank you for sharing. <3

Watching that creation-process was like a meditation of sorts. A meditation set to... Chopin, or Mussorgsky, was it? (daggit, I'm good at enjoying classical piano, but not much good with the proper names)

Haha, it also kind of highlights to me how much I enjoy, yet despise watercolor. I mean, I absolutely *adore* the look of it and the creation process, but actually DOING THE WORK can be such an utter, pain-in-the-arse, and we even get a sense of that in the video.

Annnnnywaaaaaay, Djinn happens to be one of my very favorite works, by one of my very favorite writers, Jean Defaux. I'm really not sure why he's not talked about more across the BD-sphere, as the bloke is just a straight-up genius IMO.

I have like a *thousand* more thoughts upon this, but on top of grieving Cal's loss, I need to get some critical paperwork done.

I am so, SO, very thankful to you @wolfinthewoods@lemmy.ml for stepping up like this.

[–] wolfinthewoods@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Absolutely. I love watercolor. Keep meaning to get into it myself. I'm currently blissfully unaware of it's difficulty lol.

I found Djinn a few months ago. I've read the first four volumes digitally, but have held off reading more because I want to get the other volumes in trade since it's such a gorgeously drawn series. I've really enjoyed it so far though. I'll have to look for more by Dufaux when I'm through, same for Miralles.

No problem, I enjoy being able to contribute to such a small, intimate little community. I hope you're treating yourself well. Stay strong, friend <3

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Well, unless you're an absolute genius, which I am personally NOT, I'd say say that "watercolor" is kinda like wrestling with reality... i.e., it's so EASY to get in to, yet... ... ... like chasing an ever-elusive goal, is that right?

[–] wolfinthewoods@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

For sure. I feel lile that about drawing. It's another skill I'd love to aquire, but the level of detail that is desirous to obtain is daunting. Sometimes I yearn for a return to a child's simplicity of being able to make something without getting hung up on it looking "good". I feel that way about most things, writing, learning about new things, etc. It's what I aspire to attain most, the act of doing something irregardless of the percieved level of competence.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Ah yes, that's exactly something I chased for years, particularly in the arts. Trying to always retain the child's sense of wonder, and so forth.

[–] wolfinthewoods@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Definitely. My motto these days is "the perfect is the enemy of the good". Although I don't always adhere to it completely. The past few months my writing has fallen off since I fell into the "it wont be good enough" mindset. I'm trying to shake myself out of it, but it's a difficult habit to break.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

In Japan, I understand there to be a saying "wabi-sabi" that in some interpretations means something like "nothing is finished, nothing is perfect, and nothing lasts."

Since their national perfectionism can get out of hand at times (my interpretation), I think one can see how useful such a balancing phrase can be.

[–] wolfinthewoods@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Definitely. I try to remember that. I just get stuck in my head the ideal of what I want, and if that ideal doesn't match what I think I am able to accomplish I just don't try in the first place. It's a terrible habit I need to break, especially if I'm going to ever get any decent amount of writing done :|

I think their perfectionism is pretty well known, or at least their intense work ethic. I was just watching something recently (can't remember, a docu I believe) that had a segment on Japanese work culture and how the Japanese government had to even force workers to take a vacation because it was eating into their economic activity. The Japanese were working so much that they weren't spending enough to stimulate their economy creating a downturn. One employer locked the doors and shut the power off at the office, and the workers broke into their own office building and did their work by flashlight and their own wifi hotspots. Crazy.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Wow, I hadn't heard about that before, but somehow it fits.

Unfortunately, along with their 'high work ethic,' I understand Japanese corporations and office workers have some traditions going on that are in turn killing the economy, and even the quality of their own lives. A big one of course is the idea that it's the height of gauche to leave work before your superior does, leading the average salaryman to stay at the office many more hours than he needs to, spending much of that time shuffling papers, napping, and mainly just wasting their time in order to save face. This leads to the person in question being able to spend much less time with their family. That's just a classic, super-well known problem, tho. The difficulties run much deeper, I'm afraid, part of why I'm somewhat morbidly curious reading r/japan and r/japanlife on the regular.

[–] wolfinthewoods@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, the work culture in Japan is pretty crazy. Although, same could be said about US work culture in a lot of ways. Working three or more jobs. Crazy hours with little or no overtime in some places etc.

Another sad consequence of their brutal work culture, is the fact that suicide resulting from overwork is so prevalent that they actually have a specific term for it over there. I can't remember what it is called, but it's a big enough issue that it has it's own term and social consciousness.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Agreed.

Late-stage capitalism in all its unglory is pretty plainly brutal, as I observe it. Except for Finland, haha.

[–] wolfinthewoods@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

For sure. I'd argue what makes it even more brutal is the friendly, artificial face it puts on the system. You can especially see it on commercials and mainstream tv. It makes it even more repulsive when the conditions of capitalism are given some utopia, Fisher Price look.

Apparently people are pretty happy in Finland, at least that's what that happiness index article said recently. Otherwise I no fuck-all about Finland lol.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

For sure. I’d argue what makes it even more brutal is the friendly, artificial face it puts on the system. You can especially see it on commercials and mainstream tv. It makes it even more repulsive when the conditions of capitalism are given some utopia, Fisher Price look.

Yeah, exactly. Well said.

The only kind of means I can countenance when it comes to such media, games, etc are those in which the art of the medium heavily mocks all that nonsense and false-cheeriness about modern capitalism.

Kinda inconvenient sometimes, in that I love phone and webgames for when I'm stuck in bed; unfortunately a lot of them totally buy in to the 'capitalism = happiness' model, rendering otherwise good games pretty much... "shite" in my book, lol. :/

[–] wolfinthewoods@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 days ago

Absolutely.

I try to avoid commercial games, or at least big studio produced ones, as much as I can. I play mostly indie games from itch.io or from GOG (not a fan of the Steam monopoly). I also play (via roms through emulators) a lot of retro games from the late 80s/early 90s. I find that older games eschew the more predatory and exploitive practices that many modern games use (microtransactions, DLC, loot-boxes, always online etc). Basically I try to stay as anti-capitalist as I can in my choice of games. And if that means I miss out on some games, so be it, there is always something to play. Hell, there's more good games out there that I could play in several lifetimes, no point in supporting the games that feed the capitalistic beast.