Patrice Pellerin - Port de bateaux (Épervier)

About the print

High quality giclée art print from Patrice Pellerin's series Épervier, the picturesque harbour with ships at anchor and goods transported, the ancient fortress walls below a threatening sky.   

About the artist

Patrice Pellerin is a French illustrator and comic artist, known for the highly detailed and well-documented artwork of his historical comic L'Épervier (1994). He was also one of the artists of Jean-Michel Charlier's classic pirate comic Barbe-Rouge.

Pellerin, the son of a French governor, was born in 1955 in Brest, in Brittany. Because of his father's work, young Patrice spent his childhood in over twenty different towns. He eventually settled in the Britton commune Landivisiau, a town that gave him the setting for his future comics. After studying Classical Languages, he graduated in comics and animation from the School of Applied Arts in Reims in 1974. He began his career under the guidance of Pierre Joubert, and even spent several years in this well-known French illustrator's house in Meudon.

Pellerin initially made illustrations for educational and historical books. These included a series of books about French regions for Ouest-France, novels in the collection 'Signe de Piste' and historical books for Hachette and Ouest-France. It was Jean Giraud (Moebius) who introduced him to veteran comic writer Jean-Michel Charlier, which launched his career as a comic artist. Charlier asked him to take over the pirate comic Barbe-Rouge, that he had created with Victor Hubinon in the late 1950s. Pellerin gave the comic a more modern and realistic look. He worked with Charlier on a cycle about a slave rebellion, while Charlier picked Christian Gaty to continue the more classically oriented storyline he had started with Jijé, who had passed away in 1980.

With  the historical saga L'Épervier, his masterpiece, Pellerin established himself as a skillful author of historical and naval comics. His wide knowledge of naval history and highly detailed drawings result in historically correct reconstructions of the Britton region of the 18^th century. For the representation of ships, he mainly uses the writings of naval historian Jean Boudriot as documentation. Besides Pierre Joubert and Jean Giraud, Pellerin ranks among his influences American artists like Frank Frazetta, Alex Raymond and Hal Foster, and storytellers like Charlier and French novelist Michel Zévaco. In addition to his comics work, Pellerin does illustrations for museums, historians and archaeologists.

Learn more about artist Patrice Pellerin and his art!