Are comics an art ? Can a recognized artist draw a comic strip ?
By topffer
@topffer (42156)
France
January 28, 2012 6:39pm CST
From Thursday to Sunday the most important comics festival in Europe is in my town. A friend offered me a pass that I refused first, because I dislike society life around petits-fours and champagne. Then I realized that I would be able to listen to several interesting conferences with a pass
, I changed my mind and I went to some of them today. The President of the festival for this year is an US author, Art Spiegelman. I am not a fan of Spiegelman that I know only for Maus, a work that he rejects no, but I am a fan of US underground authors of the 70's like Crumb or Shelton and Sheridan that I have met in the past. I think that they are more known on this side of the Atlantic that in USA, maybe because comic books are better perceived here. I will try to explain it around a photo of two French authors who were speaking today to a small public -- 50 for the first, and maybe 200 for the second --.
On the left Merwan Chabane, 33 years. Diplomed from ENSAD a prestigious grande école of art and design, he made a presentation of his own creative approach while drawing a strip, all in shades : a lip, an eyelid or an eyebrow are enough for him to express the feelings of a character ; it is not useful to raise arms to express despair : it would be "too exhibitive, too American". I have seen many artists explaining their approach, but Chabane is impressive by the studied elegance of both his drawings and vocabulary. He is representative of a new generation of authors showing that comics are now perceived like a real art in France.
The main responsible for this is on the right, Philippe Druillet, 68 years old. Sorry if my photo is not very good : he asked to reduce lighting because he had a hard night -- it was only 4 pm when he spoke
-- and was a bit drunk, and I did not dared to use the flash of my camera after he said to a guy with a phone ringing : "go outside or put it in your a.. !" The guy preferred to go outside, but personally I wanted to listen this conference without such an inconvenience
. At 16 years old Druillet was an apprentice photographer in a shop Place Pigalle in Paris, specialized in births, marriages and... strip-tease artists, and he speaks a slangy French full of words not authorized at myLot, that would make blush any honest strip-tease artist, though the public present at his conference preferred to laugh. He learned to draw by himself and is a complete self made man with various influence, from 19th C French painters to US sci-fi and fantasy authors like Bradbury or Lovecraft. He is fascinating when he talks of his career. I had the feeling to be in front of a dinosaur, but as I remembered to have listened him 25 years ago, when he was still young and slim, I was possibly also a sort of living fossil in this auditorium, and it is not a good feeling, so I understood why he asked several times : "if it pisses you off, tell me..." It was certainly not.
Drawing comics since the 60's, Druillet wanted in the 80's to see comics recognized as an art, and thought that an exhibition in a great museum was the direction to follow. He asked Centre Georges Pompidou -- the National Museum for Modern Art -- in 1984 which refused. In 1986 he was promoted officer in the Order of Arts and Letters -- and commander in 1998 -- and in 1987 somebody in Centre Georges Pompidou offered to introduce him to some important Art Galleries owners, and he came into museums from galleries. Druillet was not only working drawing comics at this moment, he was mainly painting and sculpting. He received a first prize in this festival in 1988 and a Great National Prize for Graphical Arts in 1996. Druillet is actually working on a book for the Rothschild foundation -- He has already redesigned the logo of the Rothschild group and some furniture for the Rothschild bank -- but he has also just finished a comic book started... in 1987 : a return to his origins ?
Because of Philippe Druillet and his strong personality, comics are recognized like an art in France. I will not tell you if it is my opinion, but I am interested by yours : are comics an art or just for fun ? if you were a recognized artist would you like to draw comics ?
, I changed my mind and I went to some of them today. The President of the festival for this year is an US author, Art Spiegelman. I am not a fan of Spiegelman that I know only for Maus, a work that he rejects no, but I am a fan of US underground authors of the 70's like Crumb or Shelton and Sheridan that I have met in the past. I think that they are more known on this side of the Atlantic that in USA, maybe because comic books are better perceived here. I will try to explain it around a photo of two French authors who were speaking today to a small public -- 50 for the first, and maybe 200 for the second --.
On the left Merwan Chabane, 33 years. Diplomed from ENSAD a prestigious grande école of art and design, he made a presentation of his own creative approach while drawing a strip, all in shades : a lip, an eyelid or an eyebrow are enough for him to express the feelings of a character ; it is not useful to raise arms to express despair : it would be "too exhibitive, too American". I have seen many artists explaining their approach, but Chabane is impressive by the studied elegance of both his drawings and vocabulary. He is representative of a new generation of authors showing that comics are now perceived like a real art in France.
The main responsible for this is on the right, Philippe Druillet, 68 years old. Sorry if my photo is not very good : he asked to reduce lighting because he had a hard night -- it was only 4 pm when he spoke -- and was a bit drunk, and I did not dared to use the flash of my camera after he said to a guy with a phone ringing : "go outside or put it in your a.. !" The guy preferred to go outside, but personally I wanted to listen this conference without such an inconvenience. At 16 years old Druillet was an apprentice photographer in a shop Place Pigalle in Paris, specialized in births, marriages and... strip-tease artists, and he speaks a slangy French full of words not authorized at myLot, that would make blush any honest strip-tease artist, though the public present at his conference preferred to laugh. He learned to draw by himself and is a complete self made man with various influence, from 19th C French painters to US sci-fi and fantasy authors like Bradbury or Lovecraft. He is fascinating when he talks of his career. I had the feeling to be in front of a dinosaur, but as I remembered to have listened him 25 years ago, when he was still young and slim, I was possibly also a sort of living fossil in this auditorium, and it is not a good feeling, so I understood why he asked several times : "if it pisses you off, tell me..." It was certainly not.
Drawing comics since the 60's, Druillet wanted in the 80's to see comics recognized as an art, and thought that an exhibition in a great museum was the direction to follow. He asked Centre Georges Pompidou -- the National Museum for Modern Art -- in 1984 which refused. In 1986 he was promoted officer in the Order of Arts and Letters -- and commander in 1998 -- and in 1987 somebody in Centre Georges Pompidou offered to introduce him to some important Art Galleries owners, and he came into museums from galleries. Druillet was not only working drawing comics at this moment, he was mainly painting and sculpting. He received a first prize in this festival in 1988 and a Great National Prize for Graphical Arts in 1996. Druillet is actually working on a book for the Rothschild foundation -- He has already redesigned the logo of the Rothschild group and some furniture for the Rothschild bank -- but he has also just finished a comic book started... in 1987 : a return to his origins ?
Because of Philippe Druillet and his strong personality, comics are recognized like an art in France. I will not tell you if it is my opinion, but I am interested by yours : are comics an art or just for fun ? if you were a recognized artist would you like to draw comics ?4 people like this
6 responses
@purplealabaster (22094)
• United States
31 Jan 12
I personally think that comics ... the good ones at least ... are definitely an art form. In fact, I think that it takes more talent and study sometimes to create a comic than it does to paint a picture or even several pictures.
I know somebody that used to draw comics. He had to study science, such as anatomy, and other things just to be able to properly draw his characters, since he focused on the muscular and physical cartoons similar to He-man, She-Ra, Conan the Barbarian, etc. He had to know how the muscles would contract and react in any situation to make it look realistic. He had to get the shading right as well to help with the 3-d effect and make them look like they were in motion. It was a lot more involved that just drawing a simple sketch and putting a few words to it.
1 person likes this
@purplealabaster (22094)
• United States
31 Jan 12
I guess that it also comes down to whether or not illustrators are considered artists as well. There are some that do wonderful work, especially with children's books. I think that the truly gifted comics are artists just as the truly gifted illustrators are artists. Of course, there are some that are not that talented, and these I do not considered artists much like not everybody that puts a paintbrush to a canvas is an artist.
I think that it takes more time, effort, and talent to write a story and illustrate it ... be it a comic or a children's book or some other similar work ... than it does to create a single poem or paint a single picture. Therefore, I would definitely have to consider the good ones as artists just as I would consider the good poets and painters as artists.
1 person likes this
@topffer (42156)
• France
1 Feb 12
Illustrators are indeed also artists. It is easy to prove it : Art Nouveau, around 1900, is considered like an important art movement, but has been mainly promoted by artists more known for their illustrations than for their paintings like Mucha -- postcards included
--, not speaking of the role of printed magazines like Jugend or Simplicissimus in Germany to spread Art Nouveau.
To guess who will be considered as a "good" artist in the future is another thing. I bought underground comics during years, and only about 5% of underground comics drawers have been edited through commercial circuits, while a lot more would have deserved it. I think I know very well French 19th C literature and I noticed the same injustice for some forerunners : it is weird to see that somebody like Léon Gozlan is forgotten today, and that an imitator of Gozlan like Pierre Boulle -- Planet of the Apes -- is well known
.
--, not speaking of the role of printed magazines like Jugend or Simplicissimus in Germany to spread Art Nouveau.
To guess who will be considered as a "good" artist in the future is another thing. I bought underground comics during years, and only about 5% of underground comics drawers have been edited through commercial circuits, while a lot more would have deserved it. I think I know very well French 19th C literature and I noticed the same injustice for some forerunners : it is weird to see that somebody like Léon Gozlan is forgotten today, and that an imitator of Gozlan like Pierre Boulle -- Planet of the Apes -- is well known.1 person likes this
@topffer (42156)
• France
31 Jan 12
I believe it depends of the artist, and the two I spoke in this discussion are completely opposite : Chabane is like the person you know, and does a fabulous work on every muscle, when Druillet is more interested by architecture/furniture/landscape and he likes to say that "he does not know anything to anatomy". It is indeed not true, because he learned by himself with the time, but at his beginnings he was getting around anatomic difficulties by taking photos of models -- he was first a photographer -- and by tracing them on very large plates, 4 or 5 times larger than the final print to mask anatomic defects in his drawings. A comics is really a complex work today, involving often also a scriptwriter. In French we name the work done by a painter modifying a painting to give it another look a "repentir", a repent -- English uses the Italian word pentimento --, and when you look at original plates of some comic drawers, you can see sometimes many 'repents' showing that the artist worked a lot to find finally something satisfying for him. And a painter represents only a scene, and has not to think if what he wants to do will fit better in 2 or 3 pictures, like a comic drawer has. Maybe comics are only a minor art, but I also think they are a real art, and not an easy one.
1 person likes this
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
29 Jan 12
Hiya tops,
I don´t know any of these Artists by name at all but I am sure they must be very good too.
As for me Comics are an art on their own as well.
The Comics I did read were very well done but I have never had the chance to keep any of the Comics I had but I still remember them and the Comic Books too although never had many of those either.
For me someone like Rolf Harris is a very natural Comic Drawer and he is fantastic at just doing his kind of Comic drawings he has done that for years he just comes to mind that´s all he is a great Artist everything he does is always instant never thought up before.
Just an example there have been one or two great Spanish ones but their Names escape right now.
I think Comics are an Art though yes in themselves.
Really interesting all that what you have written there.xxx
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
2 Feb 12
Hiya tops,
Even so he does that kind of style very informal and always right out of the top drawer with his ideas too love him for that.
But there are some very good Cartoonist Tops is just that I don´t know the name of any of them really they are excellent alas that is what usually happens the best never get to be known anywhere until they have left this World or they are much much older.
When I go to San Jean de Luz which is not often because of the distance I always find the People there speaking French and its a French I can understand but can´t speak and we always get on so well too.
I love San Jean de Luz (San Juan de Luz) not sure if I am spelling that right but the place is beautiful and right in front of Hendaya Spain its so different and it is always so clean I have never seen it full of litter ever which is not something you can say here.
Oh yes from Taiwan they have to be some of the best but you are right their way of thinking is very different sometimes but not that far from us really.
An Alsation perhaps they see it as a powerful Dog or something some kind of symbol like the British Bull Dog you know which is not really my idea of Britain and I am from there.
So we are all so different but the same.xxx
1 person likes this
@topffer (42156)
• France
30 Jan 12
Hello lovinangelinstead21,
In my mind Rolf Harris was more a painter than a comic drawer. He is probably not young today, and I don't know enough the history of this festival to tell you if he has been here in the past. There was an historical exhibition of Spanish comics since the 70's with plates from about 20 Spanish comic drawers this year. Spain is not very far, and Spanish editors and comics authors are coming every year. There was also a lot of Spanish visitors came in family, and I heard more Spanish than English in the streets : UK seems to have sulked a bit in 2012, but US citizens were more numerous than usual, maybe because the President of the festival was an American, and several conferences were in English about US comics drawers. Comics are perhaps an art, but they are certainly a business, and a lot of contracts are concluded during this festival. I was amazed to see that Taiwan sent not only comic drawers, but also sales persons, though it seems a bit difficult in my mind to export/reprint Chinese comics in Europe. They had a large marquee occupying all the courtyard of the town-hall, but I noticed that they were preferring for their videos the façade of an Alsatian restaurant to the medieval towers of the town-hall : Chinese thinking is not easy to understand for a Westerner.
.1 person likes this
@deodavid (4150)
• Philippines
29 Jan 12
hey there topffer,
Am not really that fond of reading comics, not even locally but this people that youve mentioned got me thinking about the importance of trying to grasp any sort of media material to broaden once intellect and knowledge so i will look them up today.
1 person likes this
@topffer (42156)
• France
30 Jan 12
Hi Deodavid,
I am not reading many comics, but this festival was an opportunity for a personal update. Merwan Chabane is relatively new in drawing comics -- only since 2009 ; he worked in anime/cartoons before --, and I went to his conference because I heard from a friend knowing comics better than myself that he had a real potential and was somebody to follow in the future. It was a good advice and I found his conference really interesting. Druillet is a "sacred monster" : he has been edited in several languages, and there are pirate editions of his comic books -- even some with his signature removed, like his Necronomicon series inspired by Lovecraft
--. You will have no difficulty to find his drawings online. Hope you will like them.
--. You will have no difficulty to find his drawings online. Hope you will like them.
@purplealabaster (22094)
• United States
31 Jan 12
Why don't you think that drawing comics is an art? Do you know how much skill, training and study goes into some of these drawings or do you not think that counts when it comes to what determines what is and is not art? What do you then consider art?
1 person likes this
@topffer (42156)
• France
31 Jan 12
It is a good way to find a beginning of response. If "skill, training and study" were enough to call somebody an artist, any good artisan would be an artist, and maybe any good artisan is an artist. It is weird that some professions are not recognized to be "artistic" : a cabinet maker can be called an artist, but generally not a carpenter ; a silversmith can be an artist, not a plumber. If some jobs are more considered to be artistic than others, it does not mean, in my opinion, that the others cannot be an art. A recognized artist can practice his art in a domain that was not seen like an art before : when César Baldaccini started to compact cars, it has been called "New Realism" and nobody today doubts that a car compacted by César Baldaccini is not a work of art. Hmm, maybe kwincie?
?1 person likes this
@purplealabaster (22094)
• United States
31 Jan 12
Why do you not see comics as an art form? What do you consider art?
