First Belgian ever to draw Mickey Mouse
The cartoonist from Ghent, Pieter De Poortere, is a really proud and happy man. Glénat, the famous French publisher of comic strips, has asked him to draw the world-famous Disney icon, Mickey Mouse, in a cartoon, making him the first-ever Belgian to have such an honour.
When Pieter De Poortere first began drawing, you just couldn't keep him away from Mickey Mouse. Next to his desk lay mountains of Mickey Mouse magazines from the 1950s, and he consumed Disney films with great gusto. So you can imagine how delighted he was with the prestigious opportunity of creating his own illustrations of this clever and eternally young cartoon character. He joined nine other great names in the profession in doing so.
You may not believe it, but it was no easy task to perfectly portray Mickey's ears and nose and to make him communicate in the required manner through facial expressions in a pantomime comic. Moreover, the creative director at Disney in America set very strict rules and wanted to approve every detail. Violence was therefore out of the question. It took three attempts before Pieter's scenario was finally approved. Even so, the illustrator could still put his own stamp on the intelligent and resourceful Super Mickey and thoroughly enjoyed the work.
Pieter De Poortere continues to make his creations the old-fashioned way. It is a time-consuming process and, at the start, he hardly even completed one page a day. Photoshop is only used to make small corrections.
Meanwhile, Mickey Mouse has turned a tiny bit Belgian.