And as you follow these lines with me,
imagine you’re leaning over the artist’s shoulder — a quiet witness to the birth of a world.
Between each word, let your eyes wander into the sketches and glimpses I’ve chosen for you, tiny windows into this realm where blank pages become stories and ink holds the power of dreams.
Thanks to the NEUVIEME ART fair, we can share this little constellation of images — fragments of genius that remind us just how far a simple pencil can take us.

Come drift among them.

There is something endlessly humbling about the art of drawing.
Perhaps you’ve felt it too — that flicker of envy when you watch someone sketch.
A blank page. A few lines, so casual you barely notice them. And then: an eye. A smile. A whole new life, spun from graphite and ink.
For many of us, the pencil hovers but never obeys. We try, we erase, we crumple sheets of paper.
But there are people — gifted, restless, almost possessed — for whom drawing is as natural as breathing. To sit beside them is to see a doorway open.

They conjure worlds in a gesture. They invent for you another life: yours, but larger, brighter, wilder than you could ever imagine.
This is the hidden magic of the true draughtsman: not the line itself, but the story it carries.
A single curve becomes a secret shared. A tiny mark blooms into a universe.

Belgium knows this magic well. For generations, this little country has been a giant when it comes to the Ninth Art, the art of comics.
In no other place does the bande dessinée (BD) have such deep roots — or such proud affection from readers young and old. Here, drawing was never just children’s play: it was culture, rebellion, satire, escape.



From Hergé’s boy reporter Tintin to Peyo’s blue Smurfs, Franquin’s chaotic Gaston Lagaffe to Morris’ Lucky Luke, Belgian artists didn’t just fill pages — they shaped entire childhoods. And these characters, born in Brussels studios and tiny backstreet ateliers, leapt from printed panels into timeless icons.
The spirit of the Neuvième Art is the spirit of Brussels itself: multilingual, irreverent, endlessly curious. It’s the elegance of a precise pen stroke, but also the grin of a mischievous scribble in the margin.



Walk the city’s streets and you’ll find its walls alive with murals — giant comic strips that make the city an open-air gallery.
Here, we don’t hide the speech bubbles; we celebrate them.



This September, the story continues.
From 26 to 28 September, the NEUVIEME ART fair will gather artists, collectors, and the simply curious in Brussels.
It’s a rare chance to see not just the books we’ve loved, but the original artworks: the first strokes on yellowing paper, the spontaneous notes in the margins, the signatures that turn doodles into treasure. Comics, manga, bande dessinée — all the ways a pencil can set reality on fire.



So come wander among the sketches that changed our stories. Stand beside the dreamers who still draw as they did when they were seven: fearless, bold, enchanted by the blank page. And if, like so many of us, you’ve never quite managed to master that line — come anyway.



Watch, smile, and remember that behind every drawing is a simple, stubborn belief: that with just a pen and a little courage, you can create a whole new world.

MORE INFO.

Download the Presskit!   

FR.version. 

ENG.version.


NEUVIEME ART
Fair & exhibitions of original comics, manga & BD artworks Brussels.
Hôtel des douanes | 26–28 September 2025.
Rue Picard 1/3, 1000 Brussels, Belgique.