Search
- Jul 2, 2018
- 7 min
Behind the Scenes: the Typography of “Black Panther”
When I saw Black Panther opening weekend, I wanted to push pause time and time again. Whether it was a flashback in Oakland or an action scene in Wakanda, there was so much to take in, architecture, characters, clothing, jewelry, transportation, weaponry, technology. Now that it’s available on DVD and as a digital download, I can finally watch it and push pause anytime to study the rich, amazing world that Hannah Beachler and her production design team created for director Ry
1,867 views0 comments
- May 28, 2018
- 4 min
Beyond Black Panther: A Celebration of Black Comix Creators
Black Panther the movie has just been released on 4K Ultra HD. Marvel’s new Black Panther: World of Wakanda spin-off series from Marvel just scored this year’s GLAAD Media Outstanding Comic Book Award. And here in real life, multitudes of conventions and exhibitions nationwide are honoring the talents and accomplishments of black comics creators. If you attended the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s BAM Black Comix Expo, the Black Comic Book Festival at Harlem’s Schomburg Center, a
69 views0 comments
- Jul 7, 2017
- 4 min
David Lynch, Cartoon Detectives, and Crackpot Twin Peaks Theories
Non-warning warning: the following article about a certain Showtime series is spoiler-free, purely because it’s far too convoluted to reveal any actual, meaningful information about what’s been going on in that show. Of course the Twin Peaks cast will be at San Diego Comic-Con in two weeks, as was just officially announced. And that’s because the series has always been about two things. One, it’s been about how everyone and their doppelgänger can authoritatively spout off abo
40 views0 comments
- Jun 28, 2017
- 3 min
Steve Ditko’s Midcentury Comics Art: Stranger Than Doctor Strange
Okay, so Wonder Woman’s CGI can probably beat up Doctor Strange’s. Still, Strange’s spirited, Academy Award-nominated effects easily outshone Benedict Cumberbatch’s less-than-magical performance, still memorable six months after its release. And we should also remember that ILM and Strange‘s other effects studios owe an inspirational debt to Marvel’s dazzling Steve Ditko. It was Ditko who first gave artistic form to the Sorcerer Supreme and his kaleidoscopic inter-dimensional
149 views0 comments
- Dec 28, 2016
- 10 min
13 Best Graphic Novels & Books About Comics from 2016—A Designer’s Guide
You survived 2016 without having your head explode. So congratulations: You deserve at least one book by and about artists of comic strips, comic books and graphic novels. And here are some recommendations for designers who may also be animation addicts, history and/or biography fans, the politically and/or satirically oriented, the internationally inclined, eggheads, and/or just oddballs. And again: This was the oddest of oddball years, wasn’t it? See you in the funny papers
332 views0 comments
- Feb 12, 2016
- 2 min
Best Deadpool Comics Artists: A Designer’s Guide
The Deadpool reviews are in. Thumbs up for the meta-commentary mixed with lowbrow humor, not-so-up for substantive plot and narrative. But what about the top concern among graphic designers, i.e.: how smart does it look? Well, in a word: Eh. And not surprisingly, considering the film’s Beavis and Butthead-y teaser ads like that billboard which may be the most juvenile takeoff ever on Paul Rand’s Eye-Bee-M. Although Blur Studio visual effects pro Tim Miller does shine with his
534 views0 comments
- Sep 23, 2015
- 6 min
Design Influence & Inspiration in Jack Kirby’s Comic Art
Print’s Steven Brower covered Los Angeles’s apocalypse from the safety of the East Coast, but I experienced it firsthand. The opening of Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby at Cal State Northridge Art Galleries was duly noted in Brower’s column last month, the latest in his cottage industry of Kirby features; also see here, here, and here. As for us Southern Californians who’ve lived through the 1994 quake as well as the jam-packed opening reception — photo
803 views0 comments
- Aug 14, 2015
- 7 min
21 Best Comic-Con Artists: A Designer’s Guide
The world’s largest comic book convention has some secrets that are practically unknown to lovers of graphic design and illustration. San Diego Comic-Con International is famous, as well as feared and loathed, for its lengthy lines of lemmings endlessly waiting to get into mammoth show biz hype-fests that are usually available to the whole world on YouTube within hours. But what gets all the press is just a piddling part of the Con experience, quality-wise. The truth is, you
1,745 views0 comments
- Jun 3, 2015
- 3 min
The Multimedia Comics Artists Behind Netflix’s Daredevil
If you’ve been captivated by the bold, atmospheric cinematography of Daredevil‘s first season on Netflix, you might want to seek out the similarly stunning comic book version by Alex Maleev. Series executive producer Jeph Loeb credits Maleev as a key visual influence: “With Alex’s art, we looked at that and said ‘that’s the look of the show.’ And that really captures it.” And even if you haven’t tuned in, and like your action-adventure tales on a human rather than super-power
143 views0 comments
- Apr 29, 2015
- 6 min
Avengers (Covers) Assemble!
With Marvel Studios ongoing releases, I thought it would be fun to trace the graphic chronology of “Earth’s Mightiest Super-Heroes.” Next to The Silver Surfer (another character that, like the Avengers, started with Jack Kirby and later fell into the talented hands of John Buscema), The Avengers was my favorite comic book title as a kid. It was also the only comic title that I had every issue of, from #1 through the end of the 1960’s—AND the first comic line that I actually r
141 views0 comments
- May 16, 2014
- 9 min
Art for Comics and Storyboards: What’s the Difference?
Aaron Sowd and Trevor Goring have a lot to say about the art of narrative storytelling. Aaron’s worked on movie storyboarding and concepting for Steven Soderbergh and Michael Bay, comics for Marvel and DC, art for Apple and Netflix, designs for theme parks and video games, and illustrations for the New York Times and People Magazine. Trevor’s been doing film and TV concepts and boards for decades with directors such as Steven Spielberg, Bryan Singer, and Michel Gondry and on
1,107 views0 comments
- Jul 16, 2012
- 2 min
Fight Talk: A WWII Poster Campaign
The Second World War saw the participation of countless corporations steering and converting their talents and resources toward the war effort. At the end of the war, many of these corporations took advantage of their contributions to produce promotional pieces that highlighted their involvement. For instance, the Chrysler Corporation published a four-volume set of small books describing how the company converted its factories into munitions and supply sources for everything
41 views0 comments
- Jul 11, 2012
- 3 min
Super Schumer Fights for Artist-Creator Credit
Never mind whether Captain America is more powerful than Iron Man or Dr. Strange. The real problem is that Marvel Comics editor/publisher Stan Lee is vastly more powerful than Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and many others who originally drew those superheroes for the company. And Lee presently enjoys 100 percent ownership of the Marvel Universe, in both the public’s perception and the legal arena. And what do the artists own? Zilch, that’s what! And this makes Arlen Schumer pretty
15 views0 comments
- Apr 17, 2012
- 7 min
Jack Kirby’s Collages in Context
Jack Kirby had choices to make, especially considering he could do it all: writing, penciling, inking, coloring. Along the way he found it prudent to concentrate on what he could do best: dream big and render those flights of fancy in graphite. Why then would he choose to break his stride and search through various magazines in search of the right image, rubber cement in hand? Kirby’s entrée into the world of collage did not begin with the Fantastic Four, or even by his own h
747 views0 comments
{"items":["5ee0cc99e7464600173390a7","5ee0ce5f23a2bf0017f9a0a8","5ee0ced3a31d9c0017fc757b","5ee0d2a2e6b13600179cb4a1","5ee0d2b79f34bb0017244a6f","5ee0d51974d00c00170c6c76","5ee0ddbe798a150017aff104","5ee0e1217da0e700172df62f","5ee0e1b3a31d9c0017fc956f","5ee0e78323a2bf0017f9cd0c","5ee0ea9b6063a30018fd28f9","5ee0f743798a150017b0232e","5ee10129d2bf4c0017c7cd59","5ee10132798a150017b038b0","5ee10260c11c330017c5ae92"],"styles":{"galleryType":"Columns","groupSize":1,"showArrows":true,"cubeImages":true,"cubeType":"fill","cubeRatio":1.3333333333333333,"isVertical":true,"gallerySize":30,"collageAmount":0,"collageDensity":0,"groupTypes":"1","oneRow":false,"imageMargin":32,"galleryMargin":0,"scatter":0,"rotatingScatter":"","chooseBestGroup":true,"smartCrop":false,"hasThumbnails":false,"enableScroll":true,"isGrid":true,"isSlider":false,"isColumns":false,"isSlideshow":false,"cropOnlyFill":false,"fixedColumns":1,"enableInfiniteScroll":true,"isRTL":false,"minItemSize":50,"rotatingGroupTypes":"","rotatingCropRatios":"","columnWidths":"","gallerySliderImageRatio":1.7777777777777777,"numberOfImagesPerRow":1,"numberOfImagesPerCol":1,"groupsPerStrip":0,"borderRadius":0,"boxShadow":0,"gridStyle":1,"mobilePanorama":false,"placeGroupsLtr":true,"viewMode":"preview","thumbnailSpacings":4,"galleryThumbnailsAlignment":"bottom","isMasonry":false,"isAutoSlideshow":false,"slideshowLoop":false,"autoSlideshowInterval":4,"bottomInfoHeight":0,"titlePlacement":"SHOW_ON_THE_RIGHT","galleryTextAlign":"center","scrollSnap":false,"itemClick":"nothing","fullscreen":true,"videoPlay":"hover","scrollAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","slideAnimation":"SCROLL","scrollDirection":0,"scrollDuration":400,"overlayAnimation":"FADE_IN","arrowsPosition":0,"arrowsSize":23,"watermarkOpacity":40,"watermarkSize":40,"useWatermark":true,"watermarkDock":{"top":"auto","left":"auto","right":0,"bottom":0,"transform":"translate3d(0,0,0)"},"loadMoreAmount":"all","defaultShowInfoExpand":1,"allowLinkExpand":true,"expandInfoPosition":0,"allowFullscreenExpand":true,"fullscreenLoop":false,"galleryAlignExpand":"left","addToCartBorderWidth":1,"addToCartButtonText":"","slideshowInfoSize":200,"playButtonForAutoSlideShow":false,"allowSlideshowCounter":false,"hoveringBehaviour":"NEVER_SHOW","thumbnailSize":120,"magicLayoutSeed":1,"imageHoverAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imagePlacementAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","calculateTextBoxWidthMode":"PERCENT","textBoxHeight":0,"textBoxWidth":200,"textBoxWidthPercent":50,"textImageSpace":10,"textBoxBorderRadius":0,"textBoxBorderWidth":0,"loadMoreButtonText":"","loadMoreButtonBorderWidth":1,"loadMoreButtonBorderRadius":0,"imageInfoType":"ATTACHED_BACKGROUND","itemBorderWidth":1,"itemBorderRadius":0,"itemEnableShadow":false,"itemShadowBlur":20,"itemShadowDirection":135,"itemShadowSize":10,"imageLoadingMode":"BLUR","expandAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imageQuality":90,"usmToggle":false,"usm_a":0,"usm_r":0,"usm_t":0,"videoSound":false,"videoSpeed":"1","videoLoop":true,"jsonStyleParams":"","gallerySizeType":"px","gallerySizePx":940,"allowTitle":true,"allowContextMenu":true,"textsHorizontalPadding":-30,"itemBorderColor":{"themeName":"color_12","value":"rgba(232,230,230,1)"},"showVideoPlayButton":true,"galleryLayout":2,"targetItemSize":940,"selectedLayout":"2|bottom|1|fill|true|0|true","layoutsVersion":2,"selectedLayoutV2":2,"isSlideshowFont":false,"externalInfoHeight":0,"externalInfoWidth":0.5},"container":{"width":940,"galleryWidth":972,"galleryHeight":0,"scrollBase":0,"height":null}}