2011: A Cartooning Odyssey, Part 3

[johncomic]

In 1985, I began to draw and self-publish The Mundane Adventures of Dishman, a major step in several respects. One, for the first time I was inking a comic book with a Proper™ dip pen like the pros used. (Well, the pros who didn't use a brush, anyhoo.) A dip pen was far more challenging for me but I saw it through anyway. Also, none of my previous comic books had been published -- there was only the one original drawing which I passed around to friends. So, this was that much closer to being a Real Comic Artist®, I thought.

Partly as a result of the change in tools, partly as a result of the broken hand, partly as a result of getting older and tastes changing... I think that Dishman looks like it was drawn by a different guy than the one who drew The Titans or Two Heroes Met.

The most fun part of doing Dishman was always the covers -- here's a few of my faves, issue 9 being probably my fave drawing in the whole series:



Still hadn't lost my fascination with light and texture, but maybe I reined it back a little:




And once in a while I would capture a bit of a “spark of life” in a face or body language, that pleased me a bit and still does:












Work on Dishman trailed off in the early '90s for various personal reasons, but when I had surgery on my drawing hand in 1999, then it was the whole “re-learn to draw, change your drawing style” scenario all over again! So I can no longer draw like that 1980s guy anymore either!

And, once again, there are those who say that my work on Dishman is my best ever, and better than what I'm doing now. However, even if I could go back, it wouldn't be my choice today, so there it is.

Comments

[ginsu.livejournal.com]

I think that Dishman looks like it was drawn by a different guy than the one who drew The Titans or Two Heroes Met.

A different guy living in a different century influenced by different source material.

How did you break your hand?

Also, re this

One, for the first time I was inking a comic book with a Proper™ dip pen like the pros used.

How do you feel today about the concept of proper tools?

I think the tools should suit the artist and the project (think electric guitars, pedals, amps, etc.) rather than some tools simply being "proper" or "pro" and others not.

[alisonebruce.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the tools suiting the artist, but there are industry standards and comics are an industry as well as an art.

[alisonebruce.livejournal.com]

Belay that as a tangental thought from someone who has to save docs in MS Word even though I hate the program.

[ginsu.livejournal.com]

Oh, so do I. So all my writing is done in a completely different app, and only recreated as a Word file at the end.

However, in Curmudge's case, I'm not sure he was trying to fit into an industry, so much as pursue personal ambitions which, in the case of Dishman, he also sold directly (bypassing the industry entirely).

[alisonebruce.livejournal.com]

Exactly - which is why my comment was off topic and had to be nipped in the bud... cut off... smooshed... This is what happens when I'm procrastinating.

[johncomic.livejournal.com]

My thoughts on tools today are kinda fuzzy. To some extent, I think the most important aspect is results. For instance: one of the hallmarks of pleasing, quality, professional inking is a fluid flexible line whose weight varies to indicate volume. A brush, or the right dip pen, will give you these results. A technical pen or a marker will not. Even as mighty an artist as Alex Toth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Toth) inked with markers late in his life, and although his draftsmanship remained exquisite, the quality of his ink line suffered.

However, I've now seen graphic tablets that can duplicate the flexible line of a brush. When the tool gives you equally good results, you can't complain that it's “not how the old pros did it”. Or look at me using computerized graduated grey fills in Space Kid! -- I don't think I'm “cheating”, really.

And yet, if there is, say, a program that will drop a pre-rendered cityscape background into your panel -- no matter how good it looks, that somehow strikes me as “improper”, because it isn't dependent on your own artistic skills and judgments. Fuzzy thinking, perhaps, but that's pretty much how I feel. If a tool allows you to exercise your own artistry and get good results, then it's a good tool.

[ginsu.livejournal.com]

My thoughts on tools today are kinda fuzzy. To some extent, I think the most important aspect is results.

I agree, though I see results in more abstract terms than you. Not so much "how fluid and flexible is the line?" but "what is the effect on your audience, and how close is that to the effect you wanted to achieve?"

I read an interesting discussion of espresso along these lines: http://www.home-barista.com/reviews/favorite-espresso-blends-2010-t14215-60.html

Scroll down to "The Philosophy Issue." There are guys there who have real trouble with the idea that apparently subpar beans (static, marker-like lines) can yield superior espresso (aesthetically pleasing visual art).

[johncomic.livejournal.com]

“How did you break your hand?”

I was working on an assembly line, using pliers to pull rubber plugs out of compressors on air conditioners. One particularly stubborn plug put up a fight, then suddenly gave way. My hand flew up hard and fast and banged into a pipe running above us -- shattered the base of my thumb.

[alisonebruce.livejournal.com]

Well, you know I've always been a Dishman fan, but I am thoroughly enamoured with Space Kid. Would I have been in 1988? I don't know. We've all changed since then.

[johncomic.livejournal.com]

Hey, I woulda turned up my nose at Space Kid in '88! My tastes were narrower back then!

[jasonturner.livejournal.com]

This has been a neat trip through your drawing history! Thanks for sharing.

[jkcarrier.livejournal.com]

This is really neat, thanks for sharing all this cool old stuff. While you mention your hand injuries as being the impetus for your stylistic changes, I wonder if you wouldn't have gotten to that point eventually anyway. In each case you achieved a pretty high level of proficiency in your chosen style, and there's a sense of, "Ok, I've got this down pretty good...now what's the NEXT challenge?"

Or maybe I'm just jealous because, as my pal Dan once pointed out, my style hasn't changed significantly in 20 years...

[johncomic.livejournal.com]

there's a sense of, "Ok, I've got this down pretty good...now what's the NEXT challenge?"

That might be true if I were still able to draw the same in those older styles too, but I'm not! :)