Art and Society - classical pianist Alain Lefèvre

Art and Society I was listening to this show with local classical pianist Alain Lefèvre, and he made some interesting comments - (See text below, as his English is a little broken at times, the words in brackets are paraphrased for clarity). 'Education is a part of democracy – and I will try to explain myself - all the dictatorships in the world - they all come to power with the help of people who have less education. We are (currently at an historical turning point) – we have to wake up, we have to bring the arts and culture in the schools. If we (neglect to do this) we will have enormous problems because the children who are going to be able to listen to great music, the children who will be able to (distinguish) the difference between a book such as the Da Vinci Code and Shakespeare, we need those kids - because tomorrow they will be voters. If we do not bring that cultural aspect to our schools, we will have a dangerous society – we will have a society were any kind of politician could come and say (whatever they want and the voters will go along with them) – education and music are not luxuries – they are food for the soul, they are food for society. Our society needs, our kids need to see beauty; they are fed up with just listening to the mass stupidity that we feed them…' The whole program at: http://www.cbc.ca/studiosparks/features.html

Alex Raymond - Rip Kirby - shadow and lighting techniques

This from a French version of an old obscure Italian book on Cartooning - good book - put together by George Macabish, a pretty good adventure strip artist - this a section on shadow with some samples from Alex Raymond's Rip Kirby.

May 1928 -H M Stoops. 1952 vs. ACG's Out of the Night#1 Al Williamson,

May 1928 -H M Stoops.

1952 on ACG's Out of the Night#1, courtesy of Al Williamson,

Herbert Morton Stoops Blue Book vs. Al Williamson Flash Gordon

a Herbert Morton Stoops Blue Book illo - 20 years later, he mysteriously reappears on the planet Mongo courtesy of Al Williamson - .

Clara Elsene Peck

Artist of the week

Clara Elsene Peck started out around 1900 doing small-press high-quality books. Her masterpiece is 'A Lady of King Arthur's Court' which is her trademark faerie-medieval genre. She did the two-tone illos, designs, lettering, decorations, etc... Beautiful book. Then she had a kickass, busy magazine career from 1910-1930 (Collier's, Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, and many more). Her illustration work drops off rather abruptly in 1930- she got into painting and fine arts. she had a brief, but quality stint in comic books in 1946. 'The Robinson's Rumpus Room is an example.

Special thanks to Hames Ware and Jim Vadeboncoeur for help with the comic book info.

John Buscema - Thor 247 p2

Page c panel 1 - another suspensful bit where were not sure if Firelord is still under hypnosis or what - note the expression on the girl's face - pretty worried but still defiant - panel 2 - fire is exagerated for dramatic effect - jewel hidden fromview for suspense... panel 3 - good body language on girl - hair, flame and hand all intertwine to focus attention on jewel, Firelord neutral body language for suspense... panel 4 - enlarged, tensed hand perfectly illustrates girl's desperate action and domineering character, links Firelord's face( expression is neutral yet somewhat willful) with his hand (that's holding the jewel). Page c panel 5 - close-up of fist - climax - as the latina girl's plans definitively crumble, dig the almost symbolic focus as the source of her powers and plans are crushed. panel6 - essentially the same as panel 1 - except expressions and composition show a reversed balance of power - this is the fourthclose-up of her face over 3 pages and one can see a progression of her expression from defiant to defeated panel 7 - quick-cut transition - great dynamic shot - creates a new tense situation... /  

stuff:

Page 33 of that strip I'm doing, fresh off the griddle... introducing Wulfgar the Dane and another character known only as 'The Masked Knight'...

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4181573&a=31631255&f=

John Buscema - Thor 247 p1

  a mexican stand-off sequence that John Buscema drew inThor#247. It strikes me as a real cool bit of storytelling business. I'm not saying that the Marvel style is the only way to layout a story - to me, there are many ways to skin a cat, but for this particular type of scene, I do feel that it's exceptionally well handled... / Page a - a catfight with knives - that's freaky! The revolutionario pulls out a gun - OK - Classic Mexican standoff (figuratively and literally) - dig the 4-panel zoom with that cool eye closeup - with Jane's face reflected in the eye - that's cherché! Then suddenly... (to be continued tomorrow..) /Stuff: / Here's the 'new' Skylark : http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/ulluxyl.html 

 Page b - Panel 1 - big Kirby climax panel (Thor breaks free from mind-control)- great diagonal 'x' composition - but he also winds up hammer - creates tension... Panel 2 ... release - a hammer flying - clever - prolongs the suspense of the standoff... Panel 3 - another Kirby climax panel - cool how the unusual overhead view allows for justapostion of gun, hammer, and hand in one focused area - panel 4 - Basically the same panel as in page a, panel 3 (repetition of a dramatic image reinforces suspense) . Great facial expression - Defiant but getting worried... knife keeps suspense going... panel 5 - arms and knife bring focus on jewel - Jane is shown in-between grabbing the jewel and pulling it off - more suspense... panel 6 - Dramatic fire in foreground - Fire, action line and straps all converge focus on jewel - action shows thrown object in mid-flight... more suspense... Buscema is milking this for all its worth... 

John Ford - Fort Apache 2

More random thinkings on Ford's Fort Apache

Although the Apache play the role of hostile savage threat - considerable respect is given to their plight and they are shown easily defeating the US Cavalry with skill and integrity- The character of the corrupt reservation representative acknowledges the government's failures in dealing with the native peoples.

The script of this movie really attempts to present quite a striking number of socio-political contradictions and complexities within a given historical context - and presented in a way as to convey a commentary on the contemporary post-way situation as well - and ends on note that optimismically stresses traditional collective values over individualism.

By today's standards, the ideal values put forward could be considered very conservative - although considering the current governmental positioning to the far right, perhaps not as rigid.

My only unresovled question is how well did the film succeed in fluidly juggling all the various complexities it very ambitiously set out to deal with... and maintaining a unified structure....

John Ford - Fort Apache 1

Some more random note's on John Ford's 'Fort Apache' The John Wayne character - is something of an ideal leader - pragmatic, compassionate, open, honest, intelligent, unselfish, true to his code,... One thing though is that there is something of an aristocratic, elitist portrayal where the officers are shown as honorable, dignified, and responsible whereas the lower ranks as seen as alcohol-fueled cornballs... although I'd say better this than the other way around (It's relatively rare that the upper class or ruling class aren't portrayed as decadent and corrupt in films, and this a subtext in this film as well). However, an important theme in Ford's work is that virtue and personal merit are more important than rigid social stratification (i.e advancement should be based on worthy qualifications rather than political manoeuvering, social barriers should not be so rigid as to not recognize acts of nobility, regardless of social standing or rank). Tradition and social ceremony are used to underscore these points - dancing for example, is used as a symbol of harmonious social interaction... Stuff: There's this guy: http://www.artpastel.com/ Besides being a very cool pastel artist, he also has amazing knowledge of the coolest illustrators. ..and this guy, a helluva cartoonist/illustrator: http://sanmillan.free.fr/ They did a book on this guy : http://mapage.noos.fr/beuville/ This dude is da bomb - you can see how he influenced European cartoonist René Follet, who's one my favorite euro guys...

Claire Wendling Bodoi 1997

(Above from the latest Bodoi, drawing dates from 97.)