- François Craenhals
François Craenhals (
November 15 ,1926 -August 2 ,2004 ) was a Belgiancomics artist best known for the comic series "Chevalier Ardent" and "Les 4 As".Biography
François Craenhals was born in
Evere in 1926.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "François Craenhals". In België gestript, pp. 96-97. Tielt: Lannoo.] He was a fan of American comics byAlex Raymond andHal Foster , and created his first comic "Karan" in the vein of "Tarzan " at the end of the 1940s. For the weekly magazine "Le Soir Illustré", he made at the same time a medieval comic about a knight.When he presented these comics to "Tintin magazine", he was accepted as art director and gradually started making short comics for the magazine. His first main series debuted in 1953: "Pom et Teddy" was a series about a boy and a girl and their pet donkey, and the first stories were gentle stories about a circus.
Craenhals soon became one of the main producers of comics for magazines and newspapers, and a number of collaborators joined his studio. He worked for the Averbode magazine "
Petits Belges ", and published for many years "Primus et Musette" in "La Libre Belgique ". He was one of the first comics artists to joinHergé at the editorCasterman , where his two main series were published: the juvenile "Les 4 As" about a band of four youngsters (three boys and a girl) and their over-the-top adventures; and the more adult, "Prince Valiant "-inspired "Chevalier Ardent" ("The Brave Knight"), about a young knight at the time ofKing Arthur . Both series were reasonable good selling series, and the latter was a critical success as well.In the 1990s, Craenhals moved to
Rivières-de-Theyrargues in the south ofFrance , where he continued drawing his two series until his death in 2004 inMontpellier . [ [http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/resources/longbox/2164/ Obituary in "The Comics Reporter"] (Last retrievedOctober 25 ,2006 )]Bibliography
His comics have been translated in many languages, including Dutch, German and Swedish.
Awards
* 1976: Best Story at the
Prix Saint-Michel ,Belgium Notes
ource
* Béra, Michel; Denni, Michel; and Mellot, Philippe (1998): "Trésors de la Bande Dessinée 1999-2000".
Paris , Les éditions de l'amateur. ISBN 2-85917-258-0External links
* [http://lambiek.net/artists/c/craenhals.htm Biography at Comiclopedia] (Last retrieved
October 25 ,2006 )
* [http://bd.casterman.com/bio/CraenhalsFr/?r=castbdj Bio- and bibliography at Casterman] fr icon (Last retrievedOctober 25 ,2006 )
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