HARD LINE: 1984

In 1984 I was about to reach 30 and move to the countryside, although not far from Lisbon, and Sangue Violeta was perhaps my last all-suburban tale. It didn’t go far, because it got mixed up with another character, Karlos Starkiller, who went up living his own life in the newspaper (Se7e) I was working for. Bellow you can see the first pages of Sangue Violeta. Inspired at first by newspapers and magazines like Flexipop, i-D and fashion and pop youth magazines, it was quickly taken over by the night scene of Lisbon, Bairro Alto and suburban dramas. Then Karlos Starkiller took the lead and took inspiration from Libération and Actuel. It was the same type of drawing, but a different world.

SKETCHBOOKS. Everybody used these sketchbooks at the time. I tried to be serious about my sketching and note taking and decided to always carry one of them, instead of the usual pieces of paper and cheap notepads. Since then I keep on trying and even moved to moleskines since I returned to Portugal. The result is that all of them are savagely amputated. I’m trying it now with a smartphone, but how can I amputate a smartphone? Bellow, images taken from magazine pictures, Violeta in a final sketch, and easily identifiable figures from Lisbon nights at the time (not all of them still alive, Tenro, sixth picture, was murdered some years after, one night, in a central and well lit square, and the killers were never caught.)

ON THE OTHER SIDE.

My room, seen from the bed (I guess.)

Café at Bordeaux train station, on the way to Angoulême comics festival.

Angoulême, café Le Commerce. I was really trying to be serious about my sketching this time, but it didn’t last long.

Angoulême, café La Paix. I remember vaguely one of these cafés being full of Belgians defending the excellence of Belgian sense of humor.

A quiet corner in a suburban café, back in Portugal.

Two of my sister’s friends.

Katia.

Café Gelo, Lisbon.

Jorge Colombo warming up to sketch something, shaking his Rotring pen. He had a lot of hair, at the time.

Fernando Relvas and Dina, by Jorge Colombo. You can see Colombo thought I was being very noisy. I can’t remember who Dina was, but I remember she was a sweet girl and was complaining that he left most of her out of the picture.

PHOTOS. Since we are in 1984 look at the two pictures bellow. In the first one, as in Colombo’s sketch, I am being very noisy, while everybody is trying to look their best. This is on my birthday, having some beers at Cervejaria Trindade, Lisbon.