Pretentious High Schooler Talks About Art : Jean Giraud/Moebius

Artist Spotlight: Jean Giraud/Moebius

Personal: Jean Giraud was born on May 8th 1938 and died on March 10th 2012. When Jean was 3 years old his parents divorced and he was mostly raised by his Grandparents. The rupture between his mother and father has affected him over the years. At age 16 he attended an art school where he began producing Western Comics. He eventually lived in mexico when he married his wife who lived there. He loved being in the desert. he loved its endless blue sky and its flat planes. It left a major impression on him and it can easily be seen throughout his art. When he returned to France he started working as a full time artist. He also served in the military for a year in Algeria where he contributed to an army magazine.
Career: Jean was 18 when he got to draw his own comic strip called King of the Buffalo and later A Giant with the Hurons. Eventualy Jean would develop a grittier art style inspired by Spaghetti Westerns by Sergio Leone alongside the dark realism of Sam Peckinpah. He first used the Moebius Pseudonym with his science fiction fantasy work in a magezine called hara-kiri. in 1975 the name was revived when he, Philippe Druillet, Jean Pierre Dionnet and Bernard Farkus joined together to form the art group Les Humanoides Associes. With this group they published the magezine Metal Hurland, known in the English world as Heavy Metal. There he worked on other grandious series like The Long Tomarrow, L'incal and more. He also published Arzach, an entirely wordless comic created when American Superheroes dominated the comic industry. It was praised for its non-linear plot in which readers could have their own interpretation of the story.
Significance: Jean Giraud has worked and been the inspiration for many famous works. Hes contributed story boards and designs to many movies such as Alien, Tron, The Fifth Element, and was cited as one of the inspirations for Star Wars. He created the first modern anti-hero in comics with the title Blueberry. He is also friends with many famous creators such as Fedrico Fellini, Stan Lee, and Hayao Miyazaki. He was also the key visual influence for the movie Blade Runner. His art was also the inspiration for the japanese direct to video animation Dragon's Heaven.
Moebius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson the dirrector of The Fifth Element claiming that the movie stole plot and story elements from The Incal. A case which they lost. The funniest thing about it is that Moebis actually worked on the production of the movie as Jean Giraud. Jodorowsky considered it to be an honor that someone stole his ideas. In truth neither Moebius or Jorodowsky sued Besson but the editor of the comic. It was claimed that they lost the case because Jean "betrayed them" and contributed to work on the movie with Besson.