BAR2

BAR2 JOE BAR TEAM Volume 5, Vents d'Ouest, 2003 Original plate no. 2. Signed. India ink and white gouache on paper 34.5 × 46.8 cm (13.58 × 18.43 in.) Observing this plate, keen observers will have noticed that, apart from the machines that appear in front of the café, the vehicles that appear in the first panel date not from the 1970s, but from the late 1980s and early 1990s. "When Stéphane Deteindre, the new owner of Joe Bar Team, took over the series, he wanted to change the era and set the action in the 1990s. So, in 2001, when I decided to tackle Volume 5, I felt obliged, in order not to confuse readers, and out of respect for Stéphane's work, to start my album in the 90s. This gave me the opportunity to draw, in the very first panels, the characters that Fane had created. And I had a lot of fun doing it. But now that I've seen it again, what really stands out for me is the evolution of my drawing. It's true that ten years had passed between my two albums! And it seems that, in the meantime, my eye as a draughtsman had become more acute. The scenery is very detailed, and the attitude and expression of all the characters are really well seen, I think. But I seem to remember that I had a hard time drawing the movement of the fingers that detach the chinstraps from the helmets. At the pencil stage, my eraser must have had a field day!