Man when he said he was going to be blogging he wasn’t kidding, as in this analysis of the HEAVY METAL logo:

I like the heavy, easily readable letters, and I think the design of “HEAVY,” having it sinking into the word “METAL” below is a brilliant example of a logo that expresses what it says. This doesn’t always work, but here it’s perfect. The logo is distinctive, original, and could probably be read at a great distance, helpful on a newsstand.

and this: How to: finding Faber-Castell TG1 pens.

Master letterer Todd Klein has a brand-new website that includes his commentary on logos and lettering, galleries, photos, how-tos and much else. Bookmark!

In the topics at right I have some basic How To information, much of which is also covered in the book. But I’m hoping this site will offer a place to answer further questions and expand on these topics. If you have questions, or would like more information about how to create your own lettering, logos or comics design work, email them to me using the CONTACT tab at the top of this page. I’ll address as many as I can on my blog in the NEWS section of the site first, then add them to the topics here as appropriate.

Press Release (Found at the TCJ board)

The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) is proud to announce its approval from the State of Vermont Department of Education Board to award Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Degrees. Based on recommendations from the Vermont Higher Education Council during their June meeting, the State Board approved CCS for Degree-Granting Authority and a Certificate of Approval to offer one-year certificates in cartooning and summer educator courses.

“This is a landmark decision from the State,” says CCS board member and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Vermont Arts Council, Peggy Kannenstine. “What NYU’s Film School is for film or Iowa’s Writing Workshop is for writing, The Center for Cartoon Studies is for comics. Beyond its educational impact, CCS is a fine example of the creative economy at work: helping revitalize a depressed downtown with the economic lift from students, faculty, and tourism. Its contributions to the State and Industry are impressive and quantifiable. It’s appropriate and important to recognize CCS’s quality and the high level of instruction with the terminal degree and certificates.”

(more…)

Matt Madden and Tom Hart have a cartoon challenge as the reënact “The Five Obstructions.”

Tom has been doing a daily strip for New York and Boston’s Metro newspaper for a while now and has been looking for ways to keep it interesting and lively for himself and his readers, so the movie inspired him to ask me–we’ve actively shared an interest in Oubapo and experimentation in general for years–to come up with some constraints for his strip.

We have decided to make the dialogue public: my constraints, his creative process, my reaction to his results, etc. You can read his introduction here and my first constraint here. Be sure to keep checking his blog over the next week or two, it should be interesting.

The combination of honesty and writing skill usually makes for a compelling read, and SLG editor Jennifer DeGuzman’s blog fits the bill. This time a bit of Googling turns up some online reactions from people whose pitches she rejected:

Item the first. This artist is upset that the letter is not signed and that it offers no constructive criticism. His friends call me an “asshole” and “douchebag,”* too, for writing on the rejection letter “We already rejected this last year.” Because I totally should have taken into account that the story and art are more developed! Maybe so, but unless we wrote to you saying, “We might reconsider this if you improve the story and art,” we are rejecting the project. Not just the current version of the project. And now I remember this submission and resubmission. Perhaps the art and story were more developed, but it still was not for us. Sorry. Keep working at it. Perhaps if I had time when the rejection had gone out, I would have told this fellow that he has good ideas but he does not yet have the skill to bring them into fruition as a publishable comic, in my opinion. But I thought it better not to offer criticism that isn’t really constructive; this project required a detailed critique for it to improve (”write better and draw better” doesn’t really help, does it?), and I do not have time to offer that, unfortunately.

Oh, and even though Top Shelf’s rejection was personal and signed, he’s still down on them because the handwriting is messy. See what I mean? We editors must be impeccable, peerless and perfect for these people.

The second example is even better!

Comfortable or predictable? Or is there a difference?
[Via Kottke.]

A few people mentioned Eddie Campbell’s thought on the art of lettering in the comments to our post yesterday, and we thought they were worthy of their very own call out.

Therefore the very first thing the artist must do upon a approaching a page is pin down the balloons. In fact I go so far as to do all of the lettering first, because in addition to the above, lettering will take much less reduction in size than a picture, therefore it is essential to give the lettering priority. When I am certain that the lettering follows reading-logic, only then do I start drawing. Each balloon should follow clearly from the one before it no matter where the panel borders are placed.

Of course, that’s easy for Eddie, easily one of the most natural and intuitive cartoonists ever, to say. Much more of interest in the link.

Greg Rucka and Richard Starkings have a little debate on lettering at Rucka’s journal.Then Starkings begins a
thread at the Engine that covers much of the arcane history and process of lettering:

Having witnessed Marvel’s archaic method of production back in ‘89 when I lived in New York and visited the Bullpen on a regular basis, I knew that Marvel would eventually switch over to digital lettering, not just because of the quality control it allowed, but also because of the tremendous cash savings for Marvel. One thing I didn’t expect was that editors and their assistants would stop proofreading scripts before sending them out for lettering. I’d say that 90% of comics today are proofread only after they’ve been lettered. I’d also say that many editors today are so pressed for time that they rely on writers to check copy, which pdfs and the speed of internet communication has made possible. Unfortunately, although I think it’s essential to keep the writer in the loop, he or she isn’t always the best person to double check scripts for typos and other errors. A couple of years ago we were sent the script for a fairly high profile mini series which featured a page of dialogue which completely obscured all the art on the page.

It is true that The Beat egged Starkings on to start such a thread. Lettering, ballooning and the art thereof are one of the little mysteries of comics–something you can never know too much about but which only a few truly understand. In a recent conversation with Starkings we were wondering if there was any validity to the idea that the Bill Jemas-mandated upper and lower case lettering that was the rule at Marvel for a while really was any more readable. We noted that we had always found it impossible to read, and it looked jarring and stupid. But maybe we were old fogeys and just weren’t used to change. Starkings noted that “It’s readable if its done well.”

Then we happened to pick up a book by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert and realized that they had been using upper and lower case all the time and we never even noticed. That’s what’s called doing it well.

[Art from THE PROFESSOR’S DAUGHTER published by First Second.]

Regular readers will recall our grief over the closing of dive bar McCarthy’s, home to the monthly House of 12 comics jam. Mastermind Cheese Hasselberger writes to say that a new venue has been found! More info here.

So, after the demise of our old home, McCarthy’s and a not-so-exhaustive search, we’ve come up with a new venue for the Ho12 Comic Jams! O’Hanlon’s Bar at 349 14th street (@1st ave.), New York City. I really like the joint, it’s got plenty to offer; a wide selection of beers, cheap prices, a nice big back room for us, and plenty of light. The one drawback might be it’s got some pretty small tables, so I’d advise bringing a clipboard or some such thing. We’re still investigating a few more leads on a permanent home, but for the foreseeable future, this is it folks. Come on out and help us inaugurate the new digs, this Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 at 7pm until drunk.

Another epic post from John K talking about what makes a cartoonist expressive. As usual today’s kids come up short.

These are what I call “Cal-Arts expressions”. They aren’t funny, and they don’t reflect any observation of or comment on humanity.

This is a style that is the opposite of cartoony. It’s about moving things smoothly and using the poses and expressions you have seen a million times in Disney and Bluth movies. These types of artists don’t have cartoonist personalities. They aren’t wacky or zany. They aren’t hard-bitten sarcastic men who take a grim realistic view of life and then make fun of it in their cartoons.

The right kind of guy, says Kricfalusi? Dan Gordon, who drew a bunch of strips for Giggle Comics before switching to animation and creating something called the Flintstones.

There’s even a few pages posted from old comic books, like this one.

It’s easy to see why John K would take a hankering to this kind of style, and how it influenced his own. He also links to this super cool site, Ich Bin Der Chrome Dinette that posts more old cartoony comic book pages in their yellowed glory.

We admit to being big fans of this style ourselves, but we don’t think it’s quite as lost as K. thinks, although the people who are naturally attracted to this style seem to use it more for emo-core autobiographical comics than adventures in canine scampery. Mark Martin pops to mind as an old school fun time guy. The people at Lunchbox would probably also qualify. Top Shelf probably publishes more modern day cartoonists in this vein than any publisher, oddly enough, include some who don’t really succeed at it, in our opinion.

Oh well, a topic for further study.

Chris Butcher takes time out from his usual delightfully savage commentary to examine the evolution of the cover designs of various editions of BONE :

Fabulous! The best one yet! You can really see where Smith refined the hell out of his previous design and made it sing. We get a big beautiful bone, front and centre, and the biggest he’s ever appeared on a cover! The backpack and map colours are brought more in line with Bone’s colouring to make them stand out less. We still get a sense of place (mountainous region) and a sense of time (moonlight) and even an idea of the story (bone with a map, travelling, being stalked by a meancing shadow). Our shadowy friend is greatly simplified, with his large eyes harkening back to the firs OFB edition, but with a much clearer focus and really drawing the reader in. Bone is also engaging the map (not just carrying it), which harkens back to the very first design. The framing is still there thanks to our rocks, the text pops thanks to a drop-shadow, and our pal Bone is smiling too, so we know that even though it’s a bit scary, there’s fun to be had as well. The book is also more colourful than the previous edition, with fewer deep shadows. It’s just a really, really strong design that tightens up all the good elements of the previous editions, and brings something new as well.

Artist Josh Midleton has a blog. And he posts cool things like Batman sketches.

We just can’t stop linking to John K’s blog, but this time he gets Hanna Barbera background designer Art Lozzi to explain his color theory, which does come down to forest green and salmon pink, but, somehow it works, damnit.

Now how does one use it? Acrylic? Water colors, oils, gouaches, pastels -you name ‘em. You can slap it on, dribble it, roll it, sponge it, spray it, finger it and even glue it. But that’s not what determines if the final look is good or not. If there is no inborn taste or acquired, studied, knowledge, then don’t expect too much. And if you see that you don’t have the feel of it, then drop it and hire someone who has it. If one exposes him-her-self to what’s considered good, long enough, then it’s possible that it can rub off onto him-her. Open the eyes, observe, absorb. What’s good is not necessarily what’s trendy. Beware of trends. Analyze: WHY do I like it? WHY is this considered good? It has to come from inside. Usually, good is lasting. And usually good will last.

Scott McCloud’s brief Chapter 5 1/2 on web comics is up. We haven’t had time to thoroughly digest it yet — discuss!

Speaking of John K. we’ve linked to his blog all kinds of stuff before, but it’s really must reading. Kricfalusi is notoriously cranky and disdainful of bad work, and on his blog he has endless tips on drawing, animating and other technical matters. Here’s a sample on composition. Click for a larger version.

Milt Gross is an amazing designer. Most comic artists, even great ones like Jack Kirby draw just one basic face and body type over and over again-especially in crowd scenes. Who can blame them? In this Gross crowd, every lady, while all following a unified line of action, is a completely different design. Invention just flowed out of this guy’s pens.

Now why is he doing all this? Kricfalusi wonders the same thing:

I’m starting to wonder whether all this free knowledge is going to anyone any good, least of all me.

It didn’t do any good when I actually paid people money to read and apply it, so why should anyone benefit from learning something without a gun to their head in an age when knowledge and skill is completely out of fashion?

Is it really? What do YOU think?

Daniel Dociu is a Romanian-born video game concept artist whose work we ran across back when we were a Spectrum judge earlier this year. He’s currently Art Director at ArenaNet, most recently having worked on Guildwarsm according to his website. His work has a kind of Jawa explosion/rainy night in Hong Kong/ruined hydroponic tank feeling to it. Very SF. Very good. Many many more examples of his work at his site.

Over at Make Comics Forever!!, actor/cartooner Cameron Chesney talks about one of the most unusualy aspects of Scott McCloud’s MAKING COMICS: the section on facial expressions:

One aspect of the book, which I was amazed by, but also took odds with a little bit, was the section about Facial Expressions. I have for several years in New York City spent a great deal of time training to be an actor at various schools, with various teachers. A large part of this training centers around one’s ability to analyze a script and come up with an objective or action that drives the character forward through the play or story. One strong lesson that I have come away with, that I feel is certainly imperative to good acting, is to not predict an emotional state for the character before entering into a scene. “Here the character is sad�?, “here the character is angry�?. The reality of the situation carries many complexities which make it necessary to remain open only to the objective of the character. The danger being that if one puts too much thought into the emotional state of the character beforehand, one falls into the risk of simply “indicating�? emotions, instead of expressing something more truthful that follows the character’s need to pursue a strong objective and the course of actions that follow.

More in link.

Chris Butcher has a long important post spinning off from Queenie Chan’s comments on making her Tokyopop OEL/OGM THE DREAMING. First quote is from Chan:

“From this perspective, it’s almost inevitable that “The Dreaming” is structured in a Three-Act Structure. Does that mean that the three-act structure suits the 3-book format? Heck, no. This is because the 3-book format requires each book to be of equal length, which is NOT what you’re supposed to do with the three-act structure. The first act, mostly of set-ups and introduction, ought to be shorter than the other two acts, acting as a “hook” to draw the reader in. Over-extend the first act and your readers will start wondering when the plot is going to start. And yet, that’s EXACTLY what you have to do for the 3-book format. In other words, anybody who uses the three-act structure in the 3-book format is bound to hit against a similar wall. To be true, nobody complained about that aspect of “The Dreaming” vol1 to my knowledge (except me), but I thought vol 1 was too long, and it’s a flaw that I couldn’t fix as long as I used the three-act structure.�?

And here’s Butcher’s reaction:

And that’s where her essay stopped me dead in my tracks. I’ve re-read her essay a number of times and I can only assume that she’s serious, and that she firmly believes that adhering to a three-act structure actually means that each physical book needs to be an ‘act’ of the story. I can only call this a spectacular failure of imagination on the part of her or her editor. Having an overarching narrative in three acts is fine, but why not, say, have the first act “end�? half way through the first book, introductions and premise out of the way, and then start your second act with plenty of action? Why not have your second book recap a brief introduction and then just get progressively crazier, with the climax of your story coming on the last page? Why not have your third volume offer the climax resolution (the end of act two) and then offer the dénouement (act three)? Where’s the rule that says the acts have to rigidly adhere to your publisher’s formatting decisions? Because in any sort of creative writing class I’ve taken, I have to admit to never encountering that rule. The fact that Queenie-chan, and seemingly other OEL creators have accepted this as gospel truth of pacing is a little upsetting. There are hundreds of multi-book series’ on the racks, manga or otherwise, and none of them that I’ve encountered follow this model.

Butcher hasn’t read THE DREAMING, so he talks about the story structure of FOOL’S GOLD. Elsewhere, the structure of MAIL ORDER NINJA has also been discussed of late — this story was split into two volumes, which is not the way it was intended to be read. Butcher has been aken to task by a few other manga-ka for being harsh in his criticisms, but lets face it, Johanna and Chris are important critics because they don’t pull punches based on who they want to hang out with or work with or any other reason.

If nothing else happens from here on out, Tokyopops great original manga experiment has already been a significant undertaking that has introduced an entire generation of cartoonists who will be very important for the next decade, and, hell, let’s be honest, it’s paid them to learn on the job. But in reading all of this handsight, it seems to us that the Satisfying Chunk has become tainted.

Based on the books that sell the best, manga readers aren’t really that big on story structure. However, almost all the good manga we read is broken up into chapters or even short stories, because of the original serialization. Books from YOTSUBA&! to NEGIMA to RANMA 1/2 are broken up into segments, all with rising and falling action. We haven’t read THE DREAMING or MAIL ORDER NINJA either, so we can’t comment on how well the stories play out…or don’t. And as tempting as it is, you can’t compare everything to LORD OF THE RINGS.

Perhaps the bottom line is that just making a chunk bigger doesn’t make it satisfying. With all the graphic “novels”, or big picto-rockets coming out, you’d think people would have sat down and read Robert McKee at least. We don’t hold with all of McKee’s dictums, and certainly his ubiquity in Hollywood has led to rampant homogenization and predictability. (Speaking of which did anyone catch this week’s SOUTH PARK with Stan and the peewee hockey team? Genius!)

But if you’re going to write a 500+ page comic book, study story. It certainly can’t hurt. And it might just help you overcome vague editorial advice and logic-defying marketing decisions.

The footnote interviews color whiz Matt Hollingsworth, who just moved to Croatia:

Q: Coloring techniques have changed quite a bit over the years, with them infernal computers and tools like Photoshop becoming more and more essential. With your colors being known for their textured quality, do you now wonder how you lived without the new fangled tools?

A: Naw. Manually painting is a lot of fun, and I miss it sometimes. I think that those of us who started before digital was around actually have an edge on other folks, at least those of us who survived and made the transition. Knowing how to really paint with real paint can only be a good thing, and I think has helped me tremendously even in my digital work.

Non judgmental Utah writer charmed by polite Dave Sim:

“I don’t have fans,” Sim said on his Web site shortly before coming to Salt Lake City, “I have readers.” Sim refers not only to the readers who love him but those who loathe him. Many who have read Sim’s work would like to shake his hand, while others would like to break his arm off at the shoulder and strike him across the head with it. His views on feminism, which surfaced in the middle of the saga, made him a marked man by those who disagreed with his opinions. He knew what he was introducing into the comic world was anything but comical. Yet, Sim is not the scoundrel critics make him out to be. During a discussion over dinner before his book-festival appearance, Sim came across as a gentleman and a gentle man who cares about people and society. Certainly no ogre, he is a bright and humorous individual but, yes, he does hold his opinions close and tight. Through it all, he is a man who appears to be at peace with his God and his fellow beings. Image Art Dave Sim And Gerhard, Aardvark Vanaheim Inc. Cerebus, moments before his death “It’s not women I have a quarrel with,” he explained at dinner, “it’s feminists.” He pointed to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as a person who accomplished great things without having the system weighted in her direction.

James Cameron on Stan Winston in the Guardian:

Stan and his team did an amazing job on a pinched budget, and created one of film’s iconic fantasy characters. What I didn’t expect, and what I came to admire more than the artistry and technical wizardry, was Stan’s most amazing gift: the ability to lead a team. Running a team of young artists is like herding cats. Stan is somehow able to inspire people to do the best work of their lives, while still maintaining a firm grip on command. Stan is a gifted artist and sculptor himself, but artistic ego can often make a team leader ineffective by blunting the creativity of those under him. While nobody could accuse Stan of lacking an ego, he manages to lead by example without eclipsing his guys.

Star Wars virgin can’t help himself:

My knowledge of Star Wars was limited. I was familiar with the popular sayings that have become a part of today’s language: ‘’May the Force be with you.'’ ‘’Luke, I am your father.'’ And without even knowing it, I had already developed a hatred toward Jar Jar Binks.

It was a red letter day for The Beat when we finally got linked in Gawker in an item parsing Wil Moss’s report on the graphic novel symposium at the 92nd St. Y. Specifically…what to call those books of words and pictures.

La Perdida author Jessica Abel summed it up: “A graphic novel is a description, not a definition of an art form. We really need to repossess that word [comics] and make it something we can use.”

We totally support comic book nerds in their effort to take back this term, and we promise to use it every time we cover comic books, which is going to be . . . yeah, basically just this one time.

That’s fine. You just leave the comics to us. We know what we’re doing here. We are the deciders.

Actually, on one of the private mailing lists we’re on, people were discussing the same topic. We came up with an analogy we hadn’t thought of before, which, considering how much times we spend thinking about the comics, is highly surprising.

Why are comic books called comic books, anyway? Because somewhere in the mists of time they were named after “comic supplements” so called because they were…comic. I.E. funny. Like, for laughs. Thus the road to comic strips, and “the comics.”

So now we have “comics” which aren’t funny at all, and graphic “novels” which are actually based on true events. We’ve heard many people complain about the “novel” part of “graphic novel” for that very reason, including bibliographers, book shelvers and librarians…but it appears that “novel” will soon lose its original meaning in the neology, just as “comic” lost its.

As for us, comic book is downscale, graphic novel upscale. They will keep crossing over with ironic effect until some new genre buzzword comes along, like…”picto-rockets” or something.

Lynda Barry will lead a two-day writing seminar in January. Tickets were available via eBay, but it looks like they are sold out. Barry is the author of the graphic novel ONE HUNDRED DEMONS and novel THE GOOD TIMES ARE KILLING ME, and of course ERNIE POOK’S COMEEK. For those of us who won’t be able to go, here’s the class description:

OK! HEY! WRITING THE UNTHINKABLE! DO YOU WANT TO WRITE? DO YOU WANT A SEAT IN THE TWO-DAY WRITING CLASS TAUGHT BY LYNDA BARRY ON JANUARY 6TH AND 7TH 2007 — A SATURDAY! A SUNDAY! IN CHICAGO!!! DANG! Do you know this is a two day class designed especially by our official class monitor, Kelly Hogan, for night owls and sleepy heads? Check out the late-start hours! Saturday & Sunday 11:00-7:00pm OK! We know about the hours, but what about the class?? THIS IS AN INTENSIVE WRITING CLASS! It’s not a social situation at all! Actually, you can be completely anonomous in this class! You don’t even have to make eye contact! And you don’t have to be a writer to be part of it! In fact, this is a class that works especially well for ‘non-writers’ like bartenders and janitors and anyone who has given up on ‘being a writer’ but still wonders what it might be like to write. Lynda teaches a specific way of working she learned from her teacher, Marilyn Frasca, in the late 1970’s and has used ever since. She says it will work for anyone who has any kind of curiosity about writing or remembering, especially people who have always wanted to write but were too confused about how to even start. BE ADVISED! IT’S GOING TO BE TWO DAYS OF INTENSE CONCENTRATION AND HARD WORK! It is not jive! It is for real! (It is also, actually, pretty fun too, but not in a social way!) Can you dig that? If so, we can dig YOU! All students must figure out their own transportation and lodging. We’ll tell you where the classroom is and other details when we confirm your reservation! Come to CHICAGO IN THE DEAD OF WINTER FOR LIVE ACTION!!! Come to Lynda’s writing class! Kelly Hogan describes the class this way: “Blow your mind with….. your own mind!” GOOD! GOOD! GOOD! What a beautiful gift idea!

M.K. Reed has launched a nifty little blog called comic tools which interviews various folks on just that — the tool they use to create comics. So far she’s interviewed Jim Rugg, Hope Larson, Debbie Huey and others, and she plans to keep on doing it as long as artists answer her questionaire. A sample from Rugg:

Pencils: I use a lead holder (I prefer how these feel compared with a mechanical pencil) and usually HB lead (or whatever I have handy 2H, 2B). Sometimes I use non-repro blue lead (not often though). I don’t care much about lead. I want something that isn’t too soft (to minimize smudging) and isn’t too hard (so I don’t make impressions in the paper).

Inks: For brushes I use Dr. Martin’s Tech Ink. I order big bottles of this stuff from some place in Tampa. I’ve never used Dr. Martin’s Black Star hi-carb ink, but I hear that stuff is pretty good. One of my friends prefers it to the Tech Ink. For pen nibs I use Higgins Engrossing ink. It’s a little thinner than the Dr. Martin’s and flows pretty well from a Hunt 102 nib.

Brushes: My favorite brushes are Raphael 8404s. I’ve tried other sable brushes including the much-heralded Windsor-Newton series 7s, and nothing I’ve tried compares to the snap and quality of the Raphael 8404s. I have a few sizes, but mostly use a size 4 for everything. A tip for using a brush, load the tuft with ink, then lightly drag the brush on a napkin, paper towel, or piece of scrap paper or cardboard. As you drag the brush, twirl it slightly and pull it away from the paper. You should have a sharp point on a brush loaded with ink.

This site in a a bonanza for tech junkies!

Do you want it good, or do you want it Wednesday? We’re not entirely qualified to comment on this, since our knowledge of DC continuity post-Crisis I is spotty at best, but here goes:

One of the big issues in the recent Marvel Civil War controversy was the eternal “Good or Wednesday debate. Editor Tom Brevoort argued that the book would live on in its most complete form in the collected edition and keeping lagging art boy Steve McNiven on the book rather than calling in a substitute legion of artists would make the ultimate collection a better book. (We felt that Brevoort was making the right call because, despite all the protests. there is no way any Marvel Zombies would stop buying the book.)

Now, the example of the “Wednesday” side of the equation most people chose to hold up was the pamphlet publication of INFINITE CRISIS, which called in that substitute legion, and was so rushed for its finale that the collected edition indeed contains a host of differences and fixes. Like we said, we can’t keep up with the ins and outs of DC continuity, so we’ll let Comics Should Be Good! and Blog@ do the heavy lifting.

CBR has several panel-by-panel breakdowns of the changes between the periodical and collected versions, with tons of minor art and text changes. Graeme at Newsarama has a more in-depth look at a single change that seems to affect millions of souls drifting between Earth 2 and Acheron…or something.

It also seems George Perez redrew the final two page spread (we’re just linking to small versions of the original scans, hoep this isn’t a no-no.)

Original:

Improved:

Boing Boing leads us to a page showing Scott McCloud’s soon-to–be-infamous facial emotion generator, and a nifty Flash app that lets you blend expressions as others blend spices.

[Click on all images for larger versions]
By now most everyone who spends a lot of time readings blogs an message boards has seen this: reproductions of a letter from 1986 wherein legendary cartoonist Alex Toth critiques Steve Rude’s layouts for a JONNY QUEST story. The critique is not kind. “FAKE! …Too little thought or care…What the hell kind of camera or tripod is this?” The height of praise is “Okay…I guess.” (Actually coming from Toth that was high praise.)

The critique has engendered much talk here, here, and here. Most agree that Rude was due for a larnin’ and that he continues his eccentric ways to this day. Toth was certainly known as a man who didn’t mince words, but one can only wonder at the effect it had on Rude at the time: It’s well known that Toth was one of his artistic heroes, and such a devastating dress down from an idol would have been painful for anyone. At the same time, Toth would certainly not have spent so much time on someone who didn’t have talent to begin with. (We usually save our toughest critiques for the people we think have the most potential ourselves.)

Although Rude addressed the pages in an interview (helpfully scanned by John Jakala), we asked Rude what he thought of the current revival of the critique, and he graciously wrote this:

Interesting how this Toth letter has gained such momentum over the years. I recall the whole incident fairly well, probably because Alex’s reaction to it was so severe. Let me dig out a copy of this Jonny Quest book from 20 years ago and take a look.

On page 1 (I’m going from memory now on Alex’s responses), but I remember Alex being upset about not showing the main characters more upfront. Since my story was basically a continuation of what Doug had done in the first half of the book, Doug had already done the introduction shots of all the regulars, though Alex wasn’t aware of this context. ( I informed Alex of this, but he just got more mad.)

(more…)