ARTISTS: Stop Tracing. Start Cartooning Again. (Comic Book Resources)

Image via Wikipedia

Excerpt from column by by Augie De Blieck Jr.:

"The best cartoonists know exaggeration. That's true of animation, where stretch and squash is the term given to how an object or character moves in an exaggerated style to better sell a motion. In comics, that exaggeration keeps the pages looking natural and fluid. Redrawing stock poses exactly as they are in a photo is not just lazy (or, perhaps, self-defeating), but also results in a final page that looks stiff. Will Eisner drew characters who had their joints and muscles in the right place, but who would overact, stand with a slight bend in their knees, and have a more iconic look that didn't try to convince you they were real. They were only real in your heads because Eisner told the story so well, through both words and pen-and-ink. It looked natural on the page because Eisner's lines were loose enough to throw enough energy on the page to make you feel that way. If Eisner chained himself to the drawing board and didn't quit until every possible line in every drawing he ever did looked exactly lifelike and realistic, we wouldn't have had half his graphic novels, and they would all look stale, anyway."

Click HERE to Keep Reading!

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AN EVENING WITH JULES FEIFFER MODERATED BY DANNY FINGEROTH

Jules Feiffer, image via Wikipedia

THURSDAY APRIL 15th, 8:00 PM
501 SCHERMERHORN HALL
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
AMSTERDAM AVE. & 116TH STREET
NEW YORK CITY

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
NO RESERVATIONS REQUIRED

Learn how an angst-ridden, impoverished Jewish guy from the Bronx became an acclaimed cartoonist, playwright, animator, screenwriter, novelist, and author of children's books, earning himself a Pulitzer Prize, an Obie, and an Oscar along the way. Join us as he discusses his life and his work as chronicled in his acclaimed new memoir, BACKING INTO FORWARD with comics historian and scholar DANNY FINGEROTH. Q&A to follow.

About JULES FEIFFER:
In 1956, FEIFFER, who began his career working as an assistant to the legendary Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit and father of the modern Graphic Novel, created the eponymous, satirical cartoon strip that would run in the Village Voice for 42 years. A multitalented man who's also enjoyed success as a novelist (HARRY THE RAT WITH WOMEN), playwright (LITTLE MURDERS), and screenwriter (CARNAL KNOWLEDGE), he has in recent years turned to writing and illustrating children's books, including THE MAN IN THE CEILING. The first volume of the “Feiffer” strip compilation EXPLAINERS: THE COMPLETE VILLAGE VOICE STRIPS (1956-1966) was published by Fantagraphics in 2008. His memoir, BACKING INTO FORWARD, was published to rave reviews in March, 2010 by Doubleday/Random House.

Visit IIJS.columbia.edu, email IIJS@columbia.edu, or call (212)854-2581 for more information on the FEIFFER event.

LISTEN! Mr. Media Radio interview with Jules Feiffer!

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Will Eisner's "Humans" (johnglenntaylor.blogspot.com)

Posted by John Glenn Taylor
Will Eisner, a gifted observer of the human condition, wrote and illustrated this fable for Will Eisner's Quarterly #7 (Dec. 1985). We tend to believe, as humans, that we have come a long way from our primitive beginnings. Will speculates, eh, not so much. And he's right!

Click HERE to Keep Reading!

Drawn From Life (NYTimes.com)

By DAVID CARR 

Published: March 18, 2010 

 

Truth in the matter of memoir has always seemed evanescent and, more often lately, either elusive or absent. Memories of the self are often in service of other agendas, including the settling of scores and the creation of a hero where a mere man once stood.

Enlarge This Image

From “Backing Into Forward”

BACKING INTO FORWARD

A Memoir

By Jules Feiffer

Illustrated. 444 pp. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday. $30.

Enlarge This Image

Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

Jules Feiffer in 2003.

 

Those questions, and the recent travails of the genre, seem at great remove to the reader of “Backing Into Forward,” by Jules Feiffer. Reading Feiffer, you know where the truth lies because it is there on every page — resonant, self-­lacerating and frequently hilarious. How else to explain Feif­fer’s frank admissions that he could not stand his mother, even dead; that he coveted the success of peers; that he reflexively courted fame and the famous; and that the mysterious Woody Allen was not really so mysterious to him?

Ostensibly the memoir of an acclaimed cartoonist, “Backing Into Forward” is a portrait of a certain kind of New York during a specific era: the cultural and political foment of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. In that sense, “Backing Into Forward” is a prequel to “Just Kids,” Patti Smith’s memoir, which concurrently serves as a prism on New York’s artistic class.


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Will Eisner: Photo-illustration by Seth Kushner

Seth Kushner writes: "This past Tuesday, we posted a GRAPHIC NYC profile on the great Will Eisner. Unfortunately, Mr. Eisner died long before I started this project, so I never had the opportunity to photograph him. So, to illustrated the piece I came up with the photo-illustration below."

See more of Seth Kushner's work!

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Graphic NYC Honors Will Eisner Week

Friday, March 5, 2010

This week, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, The Will and Ann Eisner Family Foundation, and seven locations throughout the country celebrate the life and works of the late, great Will Eisner! This second annual celebration encourages a widespread knowledge of the graphic novel and comic book, in honor of the trailblazing Eisner. Graphic NYC celebrates the father of the graphic novel in our own inimitable way: with a profile on March 9, in honor of the father of the graphic novels' birthday.
Click HERE to Keep Reading!

First Amherst, Then Main Street (Loose Cruse; Howard Cruse)

Cover of The Will Eisner Companion

At four in the afternoon on Tuesday, March 2, the campus of UMass in Amherst will be the site of a panel discussion about comics and graphic novels featuring two relics—I mean, veterans—of the underground comix movement of the 1970s, plus a member of today’s emerging generation of adventurous comics creators. One of the aforementioned veterans will be Gary Hallgren of Air Pirates fame; the other one will be me. Sharing the stage with Gary and me will be Sophia Weideman, who will have to wait a few years before attaining the relic/veteran status that Gary and I enjoy but who appears to be making good use of her talents in the meantime. Gary and I are longtime friends and I’m looking forward to meeting Sophia. Furthermore, if you’re near enough to Amherst to come and be part of our audience in Room 227 of Herter Hall, I’ll be looking forward to meeting you, too! Moderating our panel, by the way, will be another old friend: N. C. Christopher Couch, co-author with Stephen Weiner of The Will Eisner Companion.

Above: Gary Hallgren’s character Tom Turkey, as seen in the Marvel/underground hybrid Comix Book in the mid-seventies, is flanked by a photo of Gary taken at the 1976 Berkeley Con and a snapshot I took of him a year or so ago. At left: A photo of yours truly, also taken at the same 1976 convention, garnished with one of my own drawings from that era. Both 1976 photos were taken by Clay Geerdes, the legendary chronicler of and cheerleader for the underground comix movement.

At right: I couldn’t find a current photo of our third panelist, Sophia Weideman, and I certainly couldn’t find one from 1976, since it’s highly unlikely that this 2008 graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York had even commenced to exist by then. I can, however, show you the cover of her new book The Deformatory, which she self-published with funding provided by the Xeric Foundation.

Our UMass panel is named "Will Eisner’s Ideals," and as the title suggests we’ll be discussing how our own work has been affected by today’s expanding recognition of comics as a medium for serious artistic expression. Many cartoonists of my generation who cut our teeth in underground comix have been And while a lot of pioneering went on in the pages of underground comix, those who pay attention to comics history know that a trailblazing comics creator named Will Eisner had begun leading the way well before underground comix made the scene.

Amazingly, Will Eisner continued to show what comics are capable of in the parade of acclaimed graphic novels he contined to draw tirelessly until his death in 2005 at the age of 87. In honor of his achievements a host of events will soon be taking place as part of a national celebration called Will Eisner Week. It’s cool that our March 2 panel will be among them.

Click HERE to Keep Reading!

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Will Eisner Week Events

By Admin

February 21, 2010 6:00 PM 

 

Amherst, MA at the University of Massachusetts
Don't miss Will Eisner's Ideals: A Panel Discussion on Comics and Society with Howard Cruse, Gary Hallgren and Sophia Wiedeman in Herter Hall Room 227 on Tuesday, March 2nd at 4:00PM. For more information visit Will Eisner's Ideals.

Philadelphia, PA at La Salle University
Visit the Community Gallery at the La Salle University Art Museum located on the lower level of Olney Hall to see their exhibition of Digital Art. For more information go to www.lasalle.edu/museum.

New York City at Columbia University
Visit Butler Library at the Columbia University campus in upper Manhattan to see their graphic novel exhibition. Seven themes are presented and for each theme an image from traditional art is matched with three images from graphic novels. For more information go to the Butler Library Blog.

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• Will Eisner Week

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Will Eisner Week 2010 (WillEisner.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Will Eisner Week will take place from February 28th to March 6th, 2010.  

Join WillEisner.com in an ongoing celebration promoting graphic novel literacy, free speech awareness, and the legacy of Will Eisner.

This is the second annual celebration of Will Eisner's contribution to comics and American culture and is offered as a springboard to advance education of comics and graphic novels in all communities around the world.  

This year's theme is The Reading Revolution: Will Eisner and the American Graphic Novel. 

Public events are currently being planned during Will Eisner Week including venues at The Minneapolis College of Art & Design, The Savannah College of Art and Design, and by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in New York City.  If your organization is interested in participating or receiving information please e-mail the website administrator or post in the Forum under the Will Eisner Week topic.  

In addition to events, a variety of academic papers and group activity assignments are being generously donated by comic educators and will be available on this site. Our wish is that these materials will inspire you to have your own events in your community. Ideas include events held at schools, libraries, and book groups. 

Will Eisner Week is a collaborative project of The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, The Will & Ann Eisner Family Foundation, and a variety of Comic Institutions.  Will Eisner Week is chaired by Assistant Professor Barbara Schulz from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design assisted by the Will Eisner Week organizing committee. 

Álbum de Will Eisner inaugura coleção dedicada às 'graphic novels' (Jornal do Brasil)

Marco Antonio Barbosa, JB Online

RIO - Há muitos apostos – todos positivos – que podem ser reunidos ao nome de Will Eisner. O quadrinista americano (1917-2005) é creditado como introdutor da influência da linguagem cinematográfica nas HQs. Criou um dos mais icônicos super-heróis de todos os tempos, o Spirit (1940). E foi um dos primeiros a apostar no formato hoje conhecido como graphic novel: histórias longas, narrativas adultas, abordagens literárias. Um dos mais interessantes aspectos de sua longa obra, entretanto, às vezes fica em segundo plano: seu papel como arguto observador do cotidiano urbano. É essa faceta que sobressai no belíssimo álbum Nova York: a vida na grande cidade (Tradução de Augusto Pacheco Calil. 440 páginas, R$ 55), que inaugura o Quadrinhos na Cia., novo selo da Companhia das Letras dedicado apenas à dita “arte sequencial”.

O calhamaço de mais de 400 páginas é, na verdade, a compilação de quatro graphic novels que o artista lançou num momento que, para qualquer outro artista, poderia ser considerado como “crepuscular”. No fim da década de 70, com mais de 40 anos de carreira nas costas, Eisner apostou firme no formato dos “romances gráficos”, combinando uma abordagem artística absolutamente realista com uma rara percepção da poesia (e do surrealismo) que se esconde nos becos e vielas desfavorecidos da Grande Maçã. Nova York, a grande cidade (1986), O edifício (1987) e Pessoas invisíveis (1993), além do Caderno de tipos urbanos (uma coleção de vinhetas essencialmente visuais sobre a cidade) estão no pacote.

Click HERE to Keep Reading (or Pretending)!

Missed it: Will Eisner Studios artist Gene Bilbrew

From the blog of J. Winkel comes this post about Gene Bilbrew, who he says replaced Jules Feiffer in Will Eisner's studio. I never heard of Bilbrew before, so this was an interesting find...

New York City was a good place for an illustrator in the early 1950's, in particular one with the obvious but quirky talents of Gene Bilbrew. The comic market was exploding...the Kefauver Senate hearings had yet to dent their sales to vulnerable youth, Mad Magazine was getting off the ground and lurid pulp magazines requiring sexual humor were booming. Demand for less than tasteful "adult" humor was in demand. (Remember "cocktail napkins") In fact, one of Bilbrew's first jobs as an artist was replacing the recently drafted Jules Feiffer in the studio of noted cartoonist Will Eisner, who not only created the well-known comic strip "The Spirit" but also was one of the founders of the institution now known as the School of Visual Arts.

Click HERE to keep reading!