{{Short description|Belgian comics artist for "Largo Winch"}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox comics creator | image = Philippe Francq - nov 2014.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Philippe Francq, 2014 | birth_name = {{birth date and age|df=y|1961|12|13}} | birth_place = Etterbeek, Belgium | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = Belgian | cartoonist = | write = | art = y | pencil = | ink = | edit = | publish = | letter = | color = | alias = | signature = <!-- very optional --> | notable works = ''Largo Winch'' | awards = "Best Drawing" Haxtur Awards (1994)<br />"Best Long Comic Strip" Haxtur Awards (1996) | website = }} thumb|right|upright=1.25|{{center|Largo Winch mural in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium).}} '''Philippe Francq''' ({{IPA|fr|fʁɑ̃k|lang}}; born 13 December 1961) is a Belgian comics artist, best known for the series ''Largo Winch''.
==Biography== Philippe Francq was born in Etterbeek in 1961.<ref name=Weyer>De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Philippe Francq". In België gestript, pp. 111. Tielt: Lannoo.</ref> He was since his youth an ardent comic reader, who grew up with the comics from ''Tintin'' magazine from the 1950s. His early favourites were ''Blake and Mortimer'', ''Spike and Suzy'', ''Alix'' and ''The Adventures of Tintin''. He finished studying comic drawing at the Saint Luc Academy in Brussels when he was 23.<ref name=Weyer/>
After some minor success with ''Des villes et des femmes'' and ''Léo Tomasini'' (both at Dargaud), he met author Jean Van Hamme, then already one of the most successful European comic authors with ''Thorgal'' and ''XIII'', in 1988.<ref name=Weyer/> Van Hamme offered Francq a comic based on some novels he had written ten years earlier, and this was in 1990 the basis for the series ''Largo Winch''. Since then, this as well has become an extremely successful series, with initial sales of over 600,000 copies per album in French alone,<ref>[http://www.acbd.fr/bilan/page/bilan-2005.html ACBD page: sales figures for 2005] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070502140206/http://www.acbd.fr/bilan/page/bilan-2005.html |date=2 May 2007 }} {{in lang|fr}}</ref> and is now the only series Francq makes anymore, at a rate of one album a year. Philippe Francq lives in the South of France.<ref name=Weyer/>
==Bibliography== {| class="wikitable" id="noveltable" border="1" !Series !Years !Volumes !Scenarist !Editor |- align="left" |''Des villes et des femmes'' |1987–1988 |2 |Bob de Groot |Dargaud |- |''Léo Tomasini'' |1988–1989 |2 |Francis Delvaux |Dargaud |- |''Largo Winch'' |1990- |18 |Jean Van Hamme |Dupuis |- |}
==Awards== *1992: Nominated for Best Cover and Best Long Comic strip at the Haxtur Awards, Spain *1994: Best Drawing at the Haxtur Awards *1996: Best Long Comic Strip at the Haxtur Awards *2003: Nominated for the Audience Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, France *2004: Nominated for Best Long Comic Strip at the Haxtur Awards *2006: Nominated for the Audience Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * {{cite journal | author=Gert Jan Pos | title=Miljardair & moralist | journal=Myx | year=2004 | volume=2 | issue=3 | pages=26–27}} * Béra, Michel; Denni, Michel; and Mellot, Philippe (2002): "Trésors de la Bande Dessinée 2003–2004". Paris, Les éditions de l'amateur. {{ISBN|2-85917-357-9}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Francq, Philippe}} Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:People from Etterbeek