Chris Ware

Most famous are his comic series Acme Novelty Library and Jimmy Corrigan comic story - the smartest boy in the world. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska and now lives (2006) in Oak Park, Illinois.

Drawing style and influences

As a stylistic influences is called the commodity character of art, realism and the masterful use of perspective by Winsor McCay's Little Nemo; the way, operated as Frank O. King, Gasoline Alley as a chronicler of everyday American life; George Herriman Krazy Kat and Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

With its clean lines follows Hergé's ligne claire goods. That he ( as Hergé) his figures provides a significant black border and the colors of his paintings composed carefully, making ( as goods) his comics of memory similar to that help you categorize things and " figure out how everything fits together. " Images obtained by a slightly supercooled and distanced quality, what regrets goods by its own account, but can not completely change.

Before he reached the style of Jimmy Corrigan, Ware experimented with different character styles, ranging from traditional to cut comic panels to ads and toys. His precise, geometric designs are reminiscent of pictures drawn on the computer, but actually works mostly goods with pencil, ruler and eraser and colored the images only on the computer; as a tool he uses also photocopies and transparencies.

Professional career

Wares earliest comic strips appeared in the late 1980s on the comic page of The Daily Texan, the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to numerous daily strips, published the product under different titles, he also had a weekly satirical science fiction series in this newspaper, the Floyd Farland: Citizen of the Future said. This series was released in 1988 in a collector's edition of Eclipse Publishing. During his second year at the University of Austin in goods fell to the cartoonist, publisher and designer Art Spiegelman, who invited him to publish comics in his influential magazine RAW. This led to further fame and recognition, and finally Wares connection with Fantagraphics Books. His series Acme Novelty Library by Fantagraphics resisted with every issue the conventions of publishing. The series contained a combination of new material with new editions of the work, the goods for the Texan (eg, Quimby the Mouse ) and the Chicago weekly New City had made. Later, he had moved with his strips to the Chicago Reader. Since the 16th edition of his Acme Novelty Library Ware published his works published by the author, where he maintains a collaboration with Fantagraphics for warehousing and distribution.

In recent years, Ware has also worked in publishing and the design of several books and book series, eg in the new edition of Gasoline Alley by Drawn and Quarterly; Walt and Skeezix; the reprint of Krazy Kat by Fantagraphics, and the thirteenth edition of Timothy McSweeney 's Quarterly Concern, the comics is dedicated.

Recurring characters and stories

Quimby the Mouse

Quimby the Mouse is an early Wares of figures, a comic character in the style of cartoon characters such as Felix the Cat. The lively Quimby has an alternate problematic and loving relationship with an immobile cat head named Sparky, who is all that hires the mouse with him, helpless. In other episodes Quimby appears in the form of Siamese twins ( Quimbies the Mouse ) and as an outsider against a group of identical -looking mice ( Quimby the Mice ). Often goods Quimby recorded in very small panels, reminiscent of a zoetrope, and in fact designed a zoetrope goods to cut, which can use to view a Quimby silent film, the reader according to his instructions. At the same time developed product in the Quimby comics is its characteristic chart style in which the book page is not a linear sequence of panels, but made ​​up of numerous, complex interrelated picture elements.

Rusty Brown

The title character of Rusty Brown is a boy from Nebraska, which (in contrast to his friends ) is not separated from his obsession with action figures, lunch boxes with stickers and other elements of his childhood.

Building Stories

Wares series Building Stories ( stories about a building), which was first printed as appearing monthly in the nest Strip Magazine is, since then appeared in a number of other journals, including The New Yorker, Kramers Ergot and the New York Times Magazine ( September 18, 2005 to April 2006). Building Stories told in 24 parts of the story of the residents of three apartments of a Chicago skyscraper: One 30 -year-old woman who (still ) has no partner found a couple in a relationship crisis and the house owner, an older woman.

The Super -Man

The Super -Man is an anti- hero who wears a costume similar to that of Superman, but is dismantled by his receding hairline and his drive -controlled beings.

Beyond the Comics

Goods collects ragtime paraphernalia and publishes a music magazine, published annually, which is called The Ragtime Ephemeralist. He plays banjo and piano. For various musicians goods posters and album art has done. He has also designed cartoon animations and book covers.

Prizes and awards

Wares comic story Jimmy Corrigan - The smartest boy in the world received the 2001 Guardian First Book Award; thus won for the first time a comic tale of a major book awards in the UK. With Jimmy Corrigan won the 2003 Prix du goods also meilleur album at international comic festival of Angoulême. At the same festival, he won the 1998 Prix de l' École supérieure de l'image.

Ware is the first comic artist who was invited to the Whitney Biennial in New York ( 2002). In May 2006 he had an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Along with Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, Harvey Kurtzman, Robert Crumb and Gary Panter was a commodity of comic artists honored in the exhibition Masters of American Comics at the Jewish Museum in New York City on September 16, 2006 to January 28, 2007 were.

Footnotes

Sources and links

• Chris Ware's publications ( English)
• The Rag -Time Ephemeralist. A magazine from Chris Ware Template: Web Archive / Maintenance / Nummerierte_Parameter (English)
• Acme Novelty Archive: Unofficial database of Wares works (English)
• Acme Novelty Toy Gallery ( English)
• The Art of Melancholy. The Guardian 31 October, 2005 (English)
• Words and Pictures. Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, October 17, 2005 ( English)

• Cartoonist
• Illustrator
• Graphic Designer
• Americans
• Person ( Omaha )
• Man
• Born in 1967