Charles Burns

For the last fifteen minutes I have been trying to write an appropriate introduction to my feelings regarding Charles Burns and his incredible work. And, I'm just stupified. We've met a couple times before, in those fleeting "how do you do" moments, and it's always the same-- I fall into a mute silence.

Charles was working on pre-press and technical issues with our mate John Kuramoto, and I sat across the room thinking about how I am a certifiable nerd for his stuff: my FACETASM posters are over fifteen years old, I owned and wore his "Devil" t-shirt through my teen years, I stared in wonder at his Time Magazine covers, I videotaped Dog Boy episodes from Liquid Television!

Not mentioning any of these stalker-type things, the office got into a cheerful discussion about Tintin and Hergé's influences, Charles' current work-in-progress graphic novel, managing the mental ups and downs of freelance gigs, and having a family while being an artist.

His style of conversation reminds me of his art-- thoughtful, mysterious, and purposeful. I felt terrifically at ease and nearly forgot that I was sitting and chatting with a living legend/master inker! At one point, he remarked upon our joint, "You guys have a real comics vibe in your studio."

Thank you, Charles.

"There was a certain line quality that I was always really attracted to—this very thick-to-thin line that is a result of using a brush. There was just some kind of solidity to it, or a kind of richness…. I don’t know, just a feeling to it that I really liked.

So I started out trying to emulate the look of that kind of line, and took it to an extreme, I guess. Because if you compare the work that I do with the work that inspired it—more traditional comic-book stuff—mine looks much tighter and much more precise in a certain way. Not more mechanical, but more extreme. It’s also something that I arrived at slowly. In my earlier work I relied on shade patterns and cross-hatching to create a gray middle ground, but I gradually stripped it down to pure black and white.

I try to achieve something that’s almost like a visceral effect. The quality of the lines and the density of the black take on a character of their own—it’s something that has an effect on your subconscious. Those lines make you feel a certain way. That kind of surface makes you feel a certain way. That’s the best way I can describe it. If you’re looking at the texture of the woods in Black Hole, that starts to be a real element of the story, part of the character of the story. Or when Keith is in the kitchen, and he’s looking into a cup that has cigarette butts floating in it… Hopefully I’ve drawn it in a way that you’ll feel his disgust, or it reflects a sense of his despair. I don’t have to write “I looked down into the cup and saw…” or “The room was all trashed and it made me feel crummy.” I don’t need to tell the story that way—that’s what the artwork achieves if it’s successful. Hopefully it makes you have some kind of gut reaction."

-- Charles Burns
interviewed in The Believer

Douglas Wolk

We had a tremendous flurry of activity last week here at Office 54. On Friday, I joined Douglas Wolk for breakfast at Cafe Henri on Bedford Street and got to have a terrific chat about comics, the comics industry, music, and our kids. I'd first encountered Douglas a couple years ago at the NY Comic Con where I was a panelist, with R. Kikuo Johnson, on a romantic panel he was moderating called 'Heartbreak in Comics', so what was not to love when we met?

Since then, he's been wowing me on a regular basis with his journalistic endeavors, not to mention his How to Read Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean. He bowls me over with his rock 'n' roll birthday blog Mincing Up the Morning and I am an absolute fan of his show 'Crickets'. As such, it was a lovely treat to have him come over for a bit to mix it up and DJ our regular Office 54/DANCE PARTY FRIDAY! With a Tony Clifton pie from Two Boots!

Thank you, Douglas.

Lisa Anne Gidley and Douglas David Wolk, half of a post-punk band called the Media, are to be married today at Studio 450, a photography studio in Manhattan. Rabbi David Honigsberg is to officiate.

The bride, 30, is also a freelance music writer and a copy editor in Manhattan. She graduated from the University of Missouri. She is a daughter of Carol Gidley of Kansas City, Mo., and the late Byron Gidley.

The bridegroom, 31, writes about music and comics in Long Island City, Queens, and owns a small record label, Dark Beloved Cloud. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard. He is the son of Josephine Wolk and Dr. C. Peter Wolk of East Lansing, Mich.

Ms. Gidley and Mr. Wolk met briefly at a party in October 1998.

"I thought he was cute and interesting, but I was primarily interested in picking his brain," said Ms. Gidley, who was then thinking about trying freelance music journalism.

Six months later, they found themselves roommates with two other people attending the Bowlie Weekender, a three-day music festival, which was held at an English seaside resort near Rye.

"I was already thinking about going there," Ms. Gidley said. "But when I found out he was going to be there also, it was the nudge I needed to get the ticket."

They had more time to become acquainted.

"We began talking about getting guitar tablature off the Internet," Mr. Wolk said, alluding to the musical notation for stringed instruments. "I told her I was excited because I'd gone online and seen one for an obscure punk song that I liked a lot — `Vertical Slum' by Swell Maps."

He added: "I told her I wasn't expecting to find it there. When she told me she was the one who posted that tab, I looked at her and said, `Friend!' "

-- The New York Times, Fashion & Style, August 5, 2001

Jackson SuperForest

One of my most favorite collaborateurs, Jackson Nash, came to visit yesterday! We met last Spring on a developing project at the AZ/LNW Studio and I can't believe how fortuitous it's all turned out. Jackson embodies all the things that I like most in an artist: inventiveness, incredible human spirit, and being unafraid to present his ideas to the world.

Appropriately, we had lunch at Le Pain Quotidien and had much to catch up on. A typical conversation revolves around current events and how it may apply to positive thinking, our hopes and goals for children, personal fears, movies, books, gossip, and how to tackle the issue of teaching co-workers the bathroom philosophy of "if it's yellow, let it mellow". (I'm thinking we drop in eco-friendly blue drops and people won't be grossed out to leave green pee in the potty...)

And Jackson always bears presents and yesterday was no different. He gave me a gorgeous print of a recent illustration he'd done:

Please check out Jackson's amazing blog :

SUPERFOREST NYC
...a connection point for humanists,
a greenhouse for ideas, an oasis of hope.

Superbad

Mr. Bertozzi has brought in a new intern and his name is Eric Sailer. He'll be here most of January to assist us on our various projects, learn from the Office 54 crew, as he completes his major in Visual Communications at the University of Delaware.

Old-timey story-timey!

Chris marvelously acts out voices from a script, which John's recording on to ye ol' computer, to use in an upcoming animation project.

Boy Designer

Incredibly accomplished and super-talented designer/art director Chad Beckerman dropped by this morning. Impeccably dressed, with charming tie and conversation, and a check and contract in hand. Dare I say that this morning is starting out beautifully?

Anyway, we worked together this past summer on the cover and title page art for Something to Blog About!

Something to Blog About by Shana Norris

Boys, bullies, and blogs come together in a book that brings the popular online diary format to print.

For fans of Lauren Myracle's ttyl, ttfn, and l8r, g8r, this fun, fast-paced book introduces an unforgettable and relatable heroine and features chapter openers designed to look like the pages of an online blog. An innovative debut, Something to Blog About is filled with the memorable missteps and heartfelt emotions of growing up.

Libby Fawcett decides to start a secret blog so that she can have an outlet to vent her feelings and frustrations. When Seth Jacobs (her crush since eighth grade) witnesses her tragic (and comic) run-in with a Bunsen burner in chemistry class, or when she finds out that her mother is dating the father of her arch-nemesis, Angel Rivera, she's able to keep a level head and make it through school each day with each blog posting. But when her entries get posted all over for the whole world to see, will Libby be able to walk the halls--or face Seth--ever again?

Coming Spring 2008 from Amulet Books.

DESKSET w/ Nick Bertozzi

DESKSET w/ Nick, originally uploaded by spookoo.

We've got a new office-mate! Nick Bertozzi casually moved into our space last week... he's seen here working on his thumbnails for a LENNY BRUCE biography with Harvey Pekar.

http://www.nickbertozzi.com