I like Sean Azzopardi’s comics, I do. And some of his recent comics have certainly had elements of sketchbook in the, Have a look at the reviews of 100 Days Of Winter, Nine Months Of Beige, and Eight Tablet Dream for examples of what I’m talking about. But these were definitely comics, with narratives, storytelling, and sequential art amongst the sketchbook pieces. Looking back, the last time I looked at one of his sketchbooks proper was here in 2010, and then it was merely a mention at the end of a review for Wallace Sendak.
But this is very much a pure sketchbook. Sure, there’s some text here and there, and occasional comics work, but mostly this exists to catch Azzopardi’s ideas. It’s also part of a wish to push on and change, a move away from A5 black and white mini comics sees this sketchbook grow and burst into vivid colour.
In his comics I’ve often commented on how much I like Azzopardi’s artwork, his range of styles is getting wider and wider, but I have a particular delight in the pages where he’s really loosened up, opening up the page, dropping panels for pages at a time, giving his sketchy, line based work such life.
So seeing this much bigger, full colour work is a real change. But not something I’m going to review. I mean really, what’s the point…. but I will tell you it’s lovely looking through and seeing the range of styles on show, and some gorgeous works….
( From Richard Bruton, FP blog. )
