This Pedestrian shows how you have staked out your own territory in comics. The dialogue consists of the kinds of things people actually say, with no pyrotechnics, and it is only in relation to the pictures that it works. Conrad sculpts and is curious about the stranger who passes his yard most days; that's all the set-up we need.
First we see Conrad crossing his lawn to greet out hero, with the vaguely Easter Island head brooding on his otherwise normal lawn. The big, strange sculpture is the focal point, and the center close-up highlights that. So this comic gets at the fact that inner life is much bigger and weirder than ordinary social niceties suggest. What drives Conrad to make this big inscrutable head and place it on his lawn, or fuels his curiosity about Daniel?
The obsessive detail in each panel, like the herringbone jacket weave, grass, handshake, and especially the detailed drawings of Conrad in panel 2 and the sculpture in 3, all convey visually that there is more going on here than "Hi. How ya doing?"
The sculpture knows. The center panel, with its inscrutable face literally under the surface chit-chat, is what makes the whole thing work. It reminded me of the yakking I do about my paintings when confronted with people in a social situation, said yakking having precious little to do with what drives me to paint.
Artistry, mastery, skill, courage, patience, goodness, kindness, humor, wit, intelligence, forgiveness. These are some of the words I would use in commenting on your work, if I could form the sentences.
2 comments:
This Pedestrian shows how you have staked out your own territory in comics. The dialogue consists of the kinds of things people actually say, with no pyrotechnics, and it is only in relation to the pictures that it works. Conrad sculpts and is curious about the stranger who passes his yard most days; that's all the set-up we need.
First we see Conrad crossing his lawn to greet out hero, with the vaguely Easter Island head brooding on his otherwise normal lawn. The big, strange sculpture is the focal point, and the center close-up highlights that. So this comic gets at the fact that inner life is much bigger and weirder than ordinary social niceties suggest. What drives Conrad to make this big inscrutable head and place it on his lawn, or fuels his curiosity about Daniel?
The obsessive detail in each panel, like the herringbone jacket weave, grass, handshake, and especially the detailed drawings of Conrad in panel 2 and the sculpture in 3, all convey visually that there is more going on here than "Hi. How ya doing?"
The sculpture knows. The center panel, with its inscrutable face literally under the surface chit-chat, is what makes the whole thing work. It reminded me of the yakking I do about my paintings when confronted with people in a social situation, said yakking having precious little to do with what drives me to paint.
This is Pedestrian Comics at its best.
Artistry, mastery, skill, courage, patience, goodness, kindness, humor, wit, intelligence, forgiveness.
These are some of the words I would use in commenting on your work, if I could form the sentences.
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