[Sorry, no doodle for today’s post, just a bit of a rambling fan rave/rant.]
Even stronger than my aforementioned love and respect for the work of George Herriman (Krazy Kat’s kreator), I’d have to say that Winsor McCay is the comic strip artist that evokes the strongest feelings of awestruck admiration/weeping jealousy in me. He, like Herriman, was a master of making the most of a full-page Sunday comics spread…yes, they used to actually have those….and his writing and draftmanship are without equal even today. Oh, and did I mention they were all HAND PAINTED? Too cool for words.
If newspapers still had beauty like this adorning their pages, maybe their readership wouldn’t be plummeting as it is nowadays.
But, then again, maybe it would. McCay, Herriman, and many of their contemporaries actually expected the reader to be able to grasp subtle irony and appreciate surrealism, satire, and the like. Their audiences were also required to spend more than a few seconds reading a comic strip. These were the days when you spent all Sunday afternoon RELAXING (dare I say, taking a day of rest…gasp!) and perusing the newspaper with the whole family.
I mean, SHEESH! Who wants that?? That may lead to such disturbing developments as parent/child bonding and literacy! Forget that! Where’s the remote? I think there’s a NASCAR race on! Yeeeee-harrrrr!
Tags: art, artist, beauty, comic strips, day of rest, drawing, illustration, Little Nemo, painting, rave, Sunday comics, talent, Winsor McCay
Jaggedsmile 
October 18, 2007 at 11:58 am |
Yeah it’s a SHAME about the comics pages of the last 50 years or so.
I’ve got a few books on the classic era of comic strips. To compare the sorry rag of today to the beauty of those wonderful works of art is just too depressing to talk about (almost)
I’ve been blown away by several guy’s I’d never even heard of!
Especially Cliff Sterrett on “Polly and Her Pals” just incredible work, full of surrealism and incredible compositions, and the coloring- oooh man! oh and funny – something else todays guys can’t seem to get much of a handle on!
Not to mention Canifffff, and Foster, and Roy Crane and Herriman, Segar, Alex Raymond and of course McCay, the list just goes on and on.
Whenever I get depressed about the state of the modern comic book I try and think of the comic strip – “it could be worse!”
BTW- They had a full page of Original art of McCay’s Little Nemo on Antiques roadshow a couple of years back. After I picked my jaw up off the ground I just stared at the tv screen it was almost beautiful beyond description- truly astounding!
April 3, 2008 at 12:11 pm |
[…] and instantly fell in love with his style and skills. As I’ve stated before in regards to McCay and Herriman, I’ve always been drawn to playful surrealism, and Britt nails it….with a […]