Francisco Ibáñez was interviewed hundreds of times. Because he was very popular and because he never had no for an answer, even if the request came from a fanzine that printed 200 photocopied copies – believe me, I know what I’m talking about. However, despite so many interviews, he never gave great explanations about the way he works. He preferred to imagine new gags and draw them rather than stop to reflect on what he had done. Therefore, to understand Ibáñez well you have to look at his work. And that is also why his latest album, Paris 2024, contains the best explanation that Ibáñez has given about how he worked.
Paris 2024 is a unique opportunity to get closer to the intimacy of Ibáñez’s creative process. To the right of the album are the pencil pages, before the line is gone over in ink. The pencil is the first stage of drawing. There are some soft strokes that serve as a sketch and other stronger ones on top that outline the drawing. The level of finish is amazing for someone who is 87 years old. Not a single detail is missing. Everything we like about Ibáñez’s drawing is here: his dynamism, his comedy. And on the pages on the left, the dialogues that he himself typed on an Olivetti that he never wanted to replace with a computer.
Paris 2024 is an essential album to understand Ibáñez. It’s fun and it’s a real feast for our eyes. It is proof that Ibáñez continued drawing until the end because, as his daughter remembers, “her work and his hobby coincided.”
