View source for Lambil

{{Short description|Belgian comics artist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image         = File:Lambil.jpg
| imagesize     =
| caption       =
| birth_name    = Willy Lambillotte
| birth_date    = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1936|05|14}}
| birth_place   = [[Sambreville|Tamines]], [[Belgium]]
| nationality   = Belgian
| area          = artist, writer
| alias         =
| notable works = ''[[Les Tuniques Bleues]]''
| awards        = [[Prix Saint-Michel|Grand Prix Saint-Michel]] 2006
}}
[[File:Belgique - Louvain-la-Neuve - Centre sportif de Blocry - 53.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|<div style="text-align:center">Corporal Blutch.</div>]]
'''Lambil''' (born 14 May 1936) is a [[Belgium|Belgian]] [[comic-book]] artist, best known for the series ''[[Les Tuniques Bleues]]'', which has been published in English as "The Blue Tunics" and "The Bluecoats".
==Biography==
Willy Lambillotte was born in [[Sambreville|Tamines]], Belgium in 1936.<ref name=Weyer>De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Lambil". In België gestript, pp. 135–136. Tielt: Lannoo.</ref> He studied at the [[Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts]] in [[Brussels]] and first presented his drawings at the publisher [[Dupuis]], known for ''[[Spirou (magazine)|Spirou]]'' magazine, when he was 16. He was accepted as a letterer, and got to know the major artists of the magazine of the time like [[Jijé]] and [[André Franquin]].<ref name=Weyer/>
In 1959, he published his first comic, ''Sandy'', about an [[Australia]]n teenager and his [[kangaroo]] Hoppy. The story was written by Henri Gillain, the brother of Jijé, and was the start of more than 20 stories in the same series, which only had a moderate success and did not get published in albums until much later. Lambil even parodied his own series in the irregular [[talking animals in fiction|talking animal]] comic ''Hobby and Koala'', about a kangaroo and a [[koala]], and as ''Panty et son kangarou'' (see below).
When in 1972 [[Louis Salvérius]], the artist of ''[[Les Tuniques Bleues]]'' ("The Blue Coats"), unexpectedly died, a successor was sought amongst the Dupuis artists. Lambil was asked to continue the series in collaboration with writer [[Raoul Cauvin]]. Whereas ''Sandy'' was drawn in a realistic style, ''[[Les Tuniques Bleues]]'' was comical and humorous, even though it is set during the [[American Civil War]] and is rather graphic in its portrayal of battle and its aftermath. Due to the rapid success of ''[[Les Tuniques Bleues]]'' (which has become a major best-selling series), Lambil had to drop ''Sandy''.
As of 2009, Lambil has made more than 40 albums of ''Les Tuniques Bleues'', which have sold over 15 million copies.<ref name=Weyer/>
His only other major contribution was ''Pauvre Lampil'' ("Poor Lampil"), a series of short humoristic semi-autobiographic stories, satirizing the hard life of a comics artist and his writing partner – caricatures of Lambil and Cauvin themselves – as they argue about almost everything, from work to life in general. The strip is also a domestic one in the style of ''[[Blondie (comic strip)|Blondie]]'' with the ever-depressed Lampil having to put up with everything life throws at him, which is not helped by the more cheery dispositions of his wife and their son Joel. The strip also features caricatures of other comics artists like [[André Franquin]] and [[Jean-Claude Fournier]]. In his early appearances, Lampil's comic strip is described as ''Panty et son kangourou'' ("Panty and his Kangaroo") which only has a moderate success, but latter ones had him and Cauvin actually working on ''Les Tuniques Bleues''.
==Bibliography==
{| class="wikitable" id="noveltable" border="1"
!Series
!Years
!Volumes
!Writer
!Editor
!Remarks
|- align="left"
|''Sandy et Hoppy''
|1972–1981
|18
|Lambil
|[[Dupuis]] and [[Magic-Strip]]
|Originally started in ''Spirou'' in 1959
|-
|''Les Tuniques Bleues''
|1974-
|44
|Raoul Cauvin
|Dupuis
|The first six stories were drawn by Salverius
|-
|''Pauvre Lampil''
|1977–1995
|7
|Raoul Cauvin
|Dupuis
|Lambil and Cauvin satirise themselves; Lam'''b'''il's name is changed to "Lam'''p'''il", but curiously Cauvin and other writers and artists are still referred to by their real names.
|-
|}
==Awards==
* 2004: Prix Géant de la BD by the Chambre Belge des Experts en Bande Dessinée<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.auracan.com/Indiscretions/2004/20041011.html |title=Comics Festival 3 à Bruxelles: Le Bilan |accessdate=2007-02-19 |publisher=Auracan.com |language=French }}</ref>
* 2006: [[Prix Saint-Michel|Grand Prix Saint-Michel]], [[Brussels]], Belgium<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cfbelgium.free.fr/festival2006.php#prijzen |title=Comics Festival Belgium |accessdate=2007-02-19 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061121181745/http://cfbelgium.free.fr/festival2006.php#prijzen |archivedate=21 November 2006}}</ref>
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
==Sources==
* 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}}
==External links==
*[http://lambiek.net/artists/l/lambil.htm Biography at Comiclopedia]
*[http://www.dupuis.com/servlet/jpecat?pgm=VIEW_AUTHOR&lang=UK&AUTEUR_ID=102 Biography at Dupuis]
{{ACArt}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambil}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Namur (province)]]
[[Category:Belgian comics writers]]
[[Category:Belgian comics artists]]
[[Category:Belgian humorists]]