Wally Wood and If I Knew Then

I've been sick and busy so I haven't yet posted this week but I am enjoying working on this blog and it doesn't feel like a distraction-the way other attempts to blog have historically. I learned a lot this week and much of it came from Steve Lieber who is the closest thing to a mentor in comics that I am likely to have. He is very generous with his time, resources and knowledge. The other day Steve asked me if I had ever heard of Wally Wood and, like Alex Toth, I had heard the name in interviews and peripherally through other comics culture contexts. I had never seen the art and once I did it was like finding that puzzle piece that you needed to complete the frame of that bigger picture-let's say a puppy and a kitten in a basket of fall flowers.

Wally Wood is the direct link between my favorite contemporary artists ad the larger illustrative ethos of the past. The tradition of great illustration that started to unravel in the mid 20th century was still a palpable influence on Wood and his contemporaries. This guy knew about form, function and storytelling in all the important ways. Steve said he would be like a holy grail of artists for me an he is right. Wood does all the kind of line making that I like, exciting design and pulpy subject matter that could give just about anyone a campy thrill. His work can be found in old anthologies of EC comics and in snippets here an there on the internet. His sci-fi stuff is unbeatable; you can see Mingola and Nowlan reflecting it in their work.

I have posted is 22 panels that always work-a guide that Steve and other studio members showed me to help my design sense and eye for page layout:



The funny thing about going to the studio is that everyone who is there with regularity is working professionally in some capacity or another and it makes me feel like a kid in a room full of adults talking about things I can't understand. I am reminded of being in college and my thoughts on computer-based work during that period. At the time it seemed like something that was specialized and had too many hurdles for me to jump. Expense and frustration with the interface were a few factors that kept me from investigating it but those things seem like cop-outs now because of how helpful it could have been. I was also young and pulled in many directions. I wanted to make comics but I didn't come back to that until after I had been through 4 years of school and by then I had fallen in with indie comics makers who were very DIY/low tech and computers didn't factor in much. After meeting a bunch of people recently who use them regularly it has confirmed my suspicion that traditional drawing skills are (commercially) secondary to good design, web savvy and the ability to improve your imagery with computer based tools. I've seen people who couldn't render very well take a goofy sketch and manipulate it digitally into an impressive piece of work.

I am chasing the techno-train down the tracks as it has already left the station. My hope is that I can continue to learn some of this new information and combine it with my solid understanding of form and analog techniques.

I don't think it's too late to get good but it does seem like I didn't have much foresight. I've got a bunch of catching up to do.