Only a week after the passing of concept artist Ralph McQuarrie comes the news that the legendary comic book and film concept artist Jean Giraud, better known by the name Moebius, has died at the age of 73, following a long battle with cancer.
The French artist, who also worked under the name Gir, is perhaps most famous for his epic Western comic book series Blueberry, which he created with Belgian scriptwriter Jean-Michel Charlier. It ran from 1963 until the present day, and was made into a film in 2004, directed by Jan Kounen and starring Vincent Cassel in the lead role.
His pseudonym Moebius came with his science-fiction and fantasy work, particularly for his work in the seminal magazine Métal Hurlant, better known to the English-speaking world as Heavy Metal.His other comic book work included Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Incal, and various work for other companies such as Stan Lee’s The Silver Surfer: Parable for Marvel, which won an Eisner Award in 1989.
The film world will know his direct influence on the designs of Ridley Scott’s Alien world, Disney’s Tron and Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element. His concept art was used in The Abyss, Willow and Masters of the Universe, and it is easy to see George Lucas’ inspiration for the Imperial Probe Droid in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and the later design of Coruscant.
In the best way we know how, here is a small tribute to Giraud via his art, which has directly influenced the likes of Hayao Miyazaki (see: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind), Geof Darrow and the late Seth Fisher.
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