Het is tijd voor het laatste event van het jaar… en wat voor eentje!
Komende dinsdag 13 december ben ik te gast bij de Hogeschool van Amsterdam tijdens de Boekenclub Special, om te praten over Dagen van Zand. We gaan het boek en de thema’s die erin voorkomen analyseren samen met docenten, studenten en het publiek. De diepte in, dus! Entree is gratis en iedereen is welkom. Ik neem ook mijn pennen mee om boeken te signeren. Er zijn nog plekken, dus meld je gauw aan als je wilt komen! Tot dan?
I’m thrilled to let you know that DAYS OF SAND is nominated for an Eisner Award in the category Best Digital Comic. The Eisners are what The Oscars are to the movie industry. The nomination is for the digital edition, which was released by Europe Comics in 2021 and translated to English by Christopher Bradley. This digital edition is still available here: https://www.europecomics.com/album/days-of-sand-part-1/
Votes are now open for everybody who works in the comic book industry as a retailer, creator, journalist, educator, nominee, etc. In order to vote, one needs to complete the registration form first. Here’s the form: https://form.jotform.com/221146151922144
Hi everyone! A little update from me. It’s quite hard to believe, but it’s only 4 more days till my new book comes out: “Soixante Printemps En Hiver”
Before the storm breaks loose, I’d like to introduce this special project to you myself
I made this one with the incredible Ingrid Chabbert for Éditions Dupuis. It was quite a change from the dusty Dust Bowl from “Jours de Sable” to the wintery landscapes of France. But I loved drawing it, perhaps because of that very contrast. The main character, Josy, is far from happy in her life. She’s in a relationship that’s far past its due date, in a house that is suffocating her. But an old VW bus gives her the freedom she is looking for, and perhaps even a new love…
As a young girl growing up, I always took comics from the local library in my hometown. My favorites were the comics from the AIRE LIBRE collection of Dupuis. This collection had “comics for grown ups” and I loved looking at the detailed drawings and engaging subjects. I vividly remember Sarajevo Tango (by Hermann) and The Photographer (by Guibert / Lefèvre / Lemercier). These books shaped my view of what comics could be. You can obviously see the influence of both in my recent work, I think.
And so, I feel incredibly honored that this book is included in this acclaimed collection. It was one of the things on my bucketlist, you could say. It is just incredible.
The book will come out in French this Friday (20/05) and in Dutch a month later, on 22/06. Below are some preview images – more will follow. An English translation is on the way.
I’m excited to announce that this month, some long awaited editions of my graphic novels will hit book stores worldwide. Let’s start with the great news that on April 14th, Jours de Sable will come out in English in the US, UK, and Canada! The English edition (by Selfmadehero) can be viewed here: https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/days-of-sand_9781914224041
To celebrate these new editions, here’s the updated book trailer!
“Jours de Sable” has won an incredible amount of awards in the last few months, in France, Japan and the United States. It’s really been a crazy rollercoaster and I can still hardly believe it. Thank you to all the judges and committees for sharing the love and for selecting Jours de Sable as your winner.
Here’s the list!
Best Of Show Award MoCCA Comic Arts Festival NYC (US) Cutting Edge Award Best Comic one shot (BE / NL) 15th Japan International Manga Award, Gold (JP) Prix Ouest-France Quai des Bulles 2021 (FR) Prix des Libraires Canal BD 2022 (FR) Étoiles du Parisien 2021, BD (FR) Prix BDstagram 2021 (FR) Prix Libr’À Nous 2022 (FR)
Moreover, the Brazilian edition of TAXI has come out at Conrad Editora. This is the first time a book of mine has been released in Brazil, and I’m super excited. I recorded a little message for the Brazilian readers who will be able to discover my work for the first time!
And for all Brazilian readers, there’s more: L’obsolescence programmée de nos sentiments will come out from Pipoca&Nanquim in the same country in the coming months. Here’s a first sneak peak!
Photo: Martin Roche Instagram: @martin_ehcor Twitter: @Rochemartin1
First female author to win the Prix Ouest- France / Quai des Bulles
During the weekend of 30 / 31 October 2021, I was surprised by the news that Jours de Sable (Days of Sand) won the prestigious Prix Ouest-France during the festival of Quai des Bulles, in Saint-Malo, France. Furthermore, it was the first time that a female author won the award. It was a huge honor, and I feel so proud. I enjoyed winning the award during the amazing festival of Quai des Bulles, which finally took place again. During the weekend I did many autograph sessions for Jours de Sable and Taxi, which was released in France last September at La Boite A Bulles.
Overall it was a fantastic weekend and I want to thank the lovely jury, my publishers, the festival team, and my friends from the Netherlands who joined me on my trip.
Photo: Martin Roche Instagram: @martin_ehcor Twitter: @Rochemartin1
It’s been a while, and the world sure has changed in the meantime. But despite all that, I have some pretty good news to share. I’ve finally finished my graphic novel “Jours de Sable”. In a few months, May 2021, it will be released in the Netherlands, Belgium and France.
It’s been 2,5 years since I put the first lines on paper, and I am very proud of the result. With 288 full colour pages, it is definitely my biggest work to date. The book’s subject of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression has become a big part of my life through the years. I’ve watched many documentaries and read all kinds of documentation – and of course I had the pleasure of visiting the Dust Bowl region in 2019 (see earlier blogpost for a travel log!). It’s a bit hard to let it go, to be honest with you! But I’ve enjoyed working on it immensely. And I am very happy to share the cover art with you:
So, here are some images and details to get you up to date about this book.
SUMMARY 1937, Oklahoma, the United States. John is a young photographer, who is sent to the Dust Bowl: a region where devastating dust storms blow. His mission is to capture the people living there on film. But as time goes by, John discovers that he needs to face something bigger than blazing storms of sand, if he wants to complete his assignment.
Currently I’m working on three short animations for the webdoc Shadow Game. This documentary, following a young Syrian refugee in the Netherlands, is part of a larger multimedia project by Prospektor. The movie will show the young refugee’s daily life, and the animations will show his past and (imagined) future.
Here’s a screenshot. The movie will be released in Fall 2020. Stay tuned!
I had the huge honour and pleasure to storyboard the trailer of a brand new game, Birthplace. In this game, you can save the rainforests – literally. While you play, you support reforesting projects in the real world.
The storyboards that I made were used for the trailer, which has been launched now. We wanted to make the trailer a cinematic experience, and I think we succeeded. There’s always a kind of magic happening when storyboards turn into film, whether it’s live action footage or animation. I’m very impressed with the work of all the animators involved, because the end results looks fantastic.
To give you all an idea of the process, here are some examples of the storyboard and the final outcome in the trailer. Enjoy!
Storyboards vs. Final shots
Watch the full trailer here:
To download and play the game now, go to Google Play or the Apple App Store and search for Birthplace. The game is already available for the Netherlands and the Philippines, and will be launched worldwide in October 2020.
Best Of Show Award MoCCA Comic Arts Festival NYC (US) 
Aimee's Blog 