In the world of comic, where bubble and box partition stories, author Sophie Guerrive exploits codes and formats with Tulip. For almost a decade, this designer has diminished in the stories intended alternately for babies, children and adults the existential adventures of the Tulipan bear and her friends to the snake and the violets of the bird.
Except Small SpirouThat was fashionable in the recreation courses of the 1990s, this approach remains unique in the BD of what comes French. And it is a box, with 50,000 copies sold. A beautiful score on the independent comic scale. Proof of this success, The Friends ClubInfant version of TulipIt is in the ranking of the 100 best BD of the 21st century of the OST published last January.
With The Friends ClubSophie Guerrive even participates in the renewal of children’s comics with the Dragon-Thé trilogy by K. O’Neill (500,000 copies sold worldwide) and Bogue Pico By Dominique Roques and Alexis Dormal, French equivalent of Calvin and Hobbes (1 million copies). Your last novelty, Where is Tulipe?A GAME BOOK Where is Charlie? Confirm this state.
Sophie Guerrive does not completely measure the scope of the success of Tulip. “I don’t know what it represents. But it’s super reassuring and encouraging. I can keep doing this. I’m happy,” he explains to BFMTV.com. However, she is careful not to disperse. “We are thinking of a game of the 7 families, but I don’t want it to become a kind of fair. I try to remain relevant.”
Origin
The author had not planned such a fugitive. Because Tulipe was born by chance during his studies. “At first, it wasn’t even a bear, but a rat! I had a rat, that I had fun drawing. I don’t know why I called him Tulipe. Maybe because it seemed like Philippe’s first name!” He laughs. The comics were very different in what has become, between philosophical fables and praise of laziness.
“Originally, there were little salary stories!” Remember the designer. “I made some strips and then fell. Years later, a friend discovered these drawings and pushed me back to social networks.” Since then, the character has evolved greatly. Its characteristics have been rounded with The Friends Club. “I find it very difficult to iron the adult version.”
Presented in the form of legendary strips of four boxes at the Tumblr site, then on Twitter and Facebook, the adventures of Tulip Over the years, they have evolved on contemplative comic albums, including the slow narrative rhythm, near meditation, is against current production. “I want it to be as simple and readable as possible,” the designer slips.
Hybrid books
Now he has the ambition “to fully develop this universe and all its possibilities.” His model: “The stories of the knights of the round table, who have won a crazy magnitude over the centuries, with characters that have developed and found in several stories.” “It would be fun to use this model to offer more unexpected things with Tulipe,” he adds.
“The more we use the same characters, the more they earn in depth,” he still analyzes. “It creates a fairly pleasant familiarity with readers. It is more interesting than reinventing new characters every time, even if I want to save time and create correspondence between books, which can be quite fun.”
Its editors, in 2042 editions, entered the game. When Sophie Guerrive begins to write a story with Tulipe, she ignores for which audience she is destined. “I write something and then say for what age it is,” she says. Books for children with crocus (Crocus likes noise, Crocus and monsters, Crocus and Cacoetc.) Originally they were destined for … adults.
“Crocus, it wasn’t from all babies books. I had fun doing this just for Instagram,” he reveals. “It was rather in the direction of the parents, laughing. They were jokes inspired by my children and the fatigue of the parents. Then, in 2042, they saw the drawings and they called me to tell me that they were going to make babies books! And that is that, that makes hybrid books.”
Comfort
The albums are designed without restriction, it still emphasizes. “I don’t have a deadline, I pass through wishes. I start working without knowing where I am going, without knowing how many pages I will make, what format I will follow. It is very free. TulipIt is a series of pages. There are no full stories. When I think I have enough pages, we stop with 2042 “.
Draw the adventures of Tulip It allows him to “take refuge in a small family cocoon”, which offers “a bit of comfort” in the face of the evolution of the world. “At one time, I did a little hypnosis. We are always asked to imagine in a place that we like to make it work. I tried many places but never worked. When I tried to think about Tulipe and worked well.”
Tulipe’s character also helps him overcome the difficult moments of life. “I realized that every complicated period, naturally, I unconsciously recovered to draw tulip.” On the public side, the same bell sound. She has been able to build a privileged link with her fans over the years. She will publish in October The heart officeCompilation of your responses to the letters of your fans.
Soon in animation?
Sophie Guerrive plans to change her record and attack science fiction with Tulip. “Everything is possible in this universe, why deprive yourself of it?” While it plans to count in a very large format book the origin of the purple bird, it will launch a new Friends Club, Monster daypresented as an initiation to Halloween legends.
It only remains to invest the animation. Tulip I could take advantage of the freedoms of this medium. “It almost happened several times. The studies contacted me. But it was necessary to find funds and it was not at the end. The animation is also very complicated,” he says. “You have to follow the creative process a lot so that it is not rotten.” A production rhythm also distant from the tulip zenity.
Source: BFM TV
