Art Snob

I literally stared at the blank google doc for about 2 minutes. Then I ate a Hershey's hug. Then I typed the entire first sentence before I realized I wasn’t clicked in the field and nothing happened. I’m starting to come down with a cold and my brain is functioning on very low power (my battery light is blinking).

Uhh so webcomics....

I have no idea what to blog about today, but now the Webcomics Weekly guys’ voices are ringing in my head (or that could be the sickness induced insanity), “Update consistently and make your updates significant.”

Hm. Well here goes nothin’...

So my background is in painting. I did 5 years of college, at 2 different Universities and have a BFA in Studio Art to show for it. I have done countless presentations on historical, modern and contemporary artists. I have researched painters I wish I could paint like. I have read and discussed and written papers about critical theory and discourse. My brain is wallpapered with fine art theory.

I am a firm believer in being educated about your surroundings. This is not only just a good idea in dark alley ways or busy downtown streets, but I believe to be a great artist (not just a good one) one has to know who came before and who is working now. There are only a few things in the world that I hate more than ignorance. When someone is going on and on about things that clearly they don’t know anything about...well it just annoys the heck out of me.

My last quarter at school I TA’d for a painting class. It was a really great opportunity to learn how to critique varied levels of experience, skill and style and proved that I might even enjoy teaching at the college level. But it also gave me a deeper realization that being educated about your passion is of utmost importance. If you’re painting a landscape in a loose, painterly way and someone asks who you’re influenced by, Van Gough is not a good enough answer! Unless you really are diving into Van Gough’s work and process and color and paint application, you can’t just take professional inspiration from the poster on your wall or the mug in your hand.

Who else is taking inspiration from Van Gough?

What did they do with it?

How did they use his color choices in their own work?

Who is working today in the style you like?

Be smart about these things, because the day will come when a potential viewer will ask you who your work is similar to and you don’t want to be the ass who says, “My work is not like anything you’ve seen before.” (Because it most definitely is not.) Or a person in the art world will ask who your inspiration is. Seriously: don’t say Van Gough.

I realize that sounds very art-world-snooty, but I acknowledge it: I am an art snob. I can’t really help it - it’s been my life for the past 5 years. So going into this cartooning business I feel the desperate need to know what’s going on around me and who came before me. Currently I read only a handful of current web comics. I’ve been wanting to read more graphic novels (I’ve read Watchmen...) because I adore the format. But I need recommendations. I want to fill my mental tool kit with as many artists as I can, because art in the 21st century is about recycling and reformatting and using things in different ways. Everything has already been done. There is nothing new under the sun.

Right now, on a weekly basis I read Sheldon, Digger, BearNuts and The Abominable Charles Christopher. (I’ll review those last 2 here eventually.) There are just so many good webcomics out there, I really want to find the great ones.

Send your webcomic, comic book or graphic novels - really any kind of sequential art - recommendations to beth@fledglingcomics.com. Give me a good one and I’ll give you a shout out here.