johncomic: (Frank)
Curmudge ([personal profile] johncomic) wrote2024-04-08 05:47 pm

cartoonists influencing Not That Magic

Dik Browne

Hagar by Dik Browne

The clean simplicity of Browne's character designs throughout his career, and his hand-hewn ink line in Hägar, have always been an inspiration to me.

Anthony Auffret

French page by Anthony Auffret

Again, clean and simple, and even more hands-on -- clearly hand-lettered, and with borders and word balloons inked without a ruler. I love this feeling of something made by a real human being.

Thom Zahler

Love and Capes by Thom Zahler

I admire Zahler's graphic novel series Love and Capes - an ongoing comic-book adventure story, but broken down into sections of four same-sized panels with a punchline, so that it could also be run as a regular comic strip. I dig that storytelling rhythm.

Gisèle Lagacé

Menage a 3 by Gisele Lagace

Lagacé is an artist I've been following for years, who also uses that rhythm of a series of four-panel punchline strips to tell an ongoing story.

Tonči Zonjić

Mono Johnson by Tonci Zonjic

Zonjić is better than anyone [IMHO] when it comes to a creative use of black, white, and one single tone of gray -- that was a huge influence on how I approached Not That Magic.