Tintin Forums

Many years ago, as a boy brought up in the Military, I was able to travel quite often through Europe with my folks. That's around the time I discovered Tintin and became a "hardcore" fan.

My parents finally granted my wish and we went on a trip to Bruxelles so that I could see Tintin's home town. I had a blast! We went to the (immoderately priced) Tintin store, where my mom reluctantly bought me a Tintin doll which was, I believe about $60, and we visited a comic museum which was brimming with Herge's works...

But I digress...

A day before leaving, we went to a street market. One of the booths was run by a kindly old fellow who was selling various art prints. In one open case he had an entire series of prints (a tad bit larger than your average post-card) which portrayed Tintin in various military outfits. One had him as a World War I "doughboy". Another had him dressed up in a US uniform, circa the second world war...one had him donned as an English Spitfire pilot. There were, as far as I can remember, about 18 of them. Each print included Snowy, along with an accurately rendered military vehicle that fit in with whatever Tintin was dressed as... Pilot, tank commander, etc... To my dismay, we left without buying any.

I was wondering if anyone knows of these prints, and if they were really done by Herge. I've seen some versions of Tintin done by different artists, and for the most part you can tell that they weren't done by Herge, but these looked like they were truly drawn by the artist himself. Even the color quality matched that of the books. I dare say, they looked official.

If they weren't, whoever did produce them did a fantastic job rendering Tintin exactly the way Herge did. If anyone could clear this up for me, I'd be grateful.

Many thanks,
Mark

Hi Mark,

It sounds like these drawings are taken from a series originally published in "Tintin" magazine c.1947 called "Look and Learn". It covered some aspects of military history, though mostly to do with transport. I believe there was an official (or at least semi-official) publication of them many years ago, but it hasn't been seen since then. And yes, Hergé did draw them!

Ed

Is this the sort of thing you mean? This site is interesting!

http://www.fumetti.org/tintin/aerei/imagepages/image1.htm

Enjoy!

Do you want some more ?
http://users.skynet.be/tintinpassion/VOIRSAVOIR/Chromos.html

Hergé had some help from his studio to do this and certainly from E.P. Jacobs (Blake and Mortimer) and Jacques Martin (Alix, Lefranc).

Some of these drawings were published in Tintin magazine but not all. Kids had to collect "Tintin stamps" they could find on various products and exchange them against "postcards". They could also buy books and stick postcards in it

This has been well answered already, but this is from 'Hergé & Tintin Reporters' by Philippe Goddin:

"Benefiting, from the beginning of 1944, from the collaboration of Edgar P. Jacobs on the scenery and colouring of the Tintin adventures, Hergé undertook a little later the realisation with his friend of documentary pages tracing the history of the Navy, Aviation, Airships and the Railway for the popular 'Look & Learn' encyclpaedia. Jacobs did realistic drawings of boats, aeroplanes, balloons and trains. These compositions were then animated by the presence of Tintin, drawn by Hergé in suitable poses and dress. In 1946 he began to illustrate a 'History of Costume' but of this series, which was broken off, only a dozen unfinished pages remain, including this one of a Spanish arquebusier." [2 pics].

- Garen.

Let me add some information.
In the site mentioned before you will find all the drawings from the following books:
L'aérostation des origines à 1940
L'aviation des origines à 1914
L'aviation- guerre 1939-1945
L'automobile des origines à 1900
La marine des origines à 1700
La marine de 1700 à 1850
You will also find the six pictures from de Railway serie (never published in a book) and three pictures non signed by Hergé from another book published by Shell in Italy with Italian planes. Other pictures from this book "Storia dell'aviazone dalle origini al 1914" were taken from the French book.
Bob De Moor (Hergé "right hand" from 1950 to 1983) and Roger Leloup ("Yoko Tsuno")gave also Hergé some help for the realistic drawings.
Hergé had also some other projects with animals and trees (see "L'oeuvre intégrale d'Hergé, Editions Rombaldi).