October 14, 2015

"Richard Thompson is renowned among cartoonists as the 'artist's' cartoonist."

"Little known to all but those close to him is the extent of his extraordinary art, a gift so rare that it compelled 'Calvin and Hobbes' creator, Bill Watterson, to break an almost 20 year silence and declare, 'Now I have a reason to read comics again.' Cul de Sac, his comic strip, from the beginning."

From Metafilter. I loved this:

The Art of Richard Thompson from GVI on Vimeo.

17 comments:

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"I think I've learned enough today, Miss Bliss. Can I go home?"

That's how life should work.

Known Unknown said...

Sad to see one's body betray them. But the mind is still sharp. For now.

His Richard's Poor Almanac is always fairly excellent.

Phil 314 said...

Do they always have to have liberal politics?

Phil 314 said...

Parkinson's is an awful disease; slowly consumed by inertia.

BN said...

Lol.

JackWayne said...

Not funny.

great Unknown said...

Re Phil 3:14

Living in a world of creativity and emotion tends to detach one, to varying extents, from reality and embrace magical thinkin. Hence, fertile ground for being a liberal.

Thus the aphorism attributed to Churchill: If one is not a socialist by 25, he has no heart; if he is not a conservative by age 35, he has no brain.

'TreHammer said...

...well, if it's good enough for Watterson, I guess I can give it a try...

Rusty said...

I can't think of a worse nightmare for an artist.
The compulsion to create and not being able to do so.

Darrell said...

Bazooka Joe was funnier.

Henry said...

Thank you for sharing that. If I have any heroes in this world they are reclusive, humane, cartoonists. George Herriman was another.

Unknown said...

Richard Thompson is a brilliant draughtsman, a master illustrator, and among the greatest newspaper strip cartoonists that ever lived. CUL DE SAC is better than CALVIN AND HOBBES, the humor more subtle, and the apparently scratchy, casual drawing is sublime.

eddie willers said...

CUL DE SAC is better than CALVIN AND HOBBES.

Now you're just being silly.

CStanley said...

I had read this post and then read an article elsewhere that contained a word cloud related to Hillary Clinton (large font LIAR, EMAILS, BENGHAZI, etc) which purported to be the words that most people associated with her.

It occurred to me that a good artist could create a great cartoon strip by drawing characters based on real politicians, with drawing made up of these word clouds. Don't actually name them, but the reader would instantly know who it was based on the word associations.

Robert Cook said...

"'CUL DE SAC is better than CALVIN AND HOBBES.'

"Now you're just being silly."


That was me "being silly" above. I hadn't seen I wasn't signed into my account.

I love CALVIN AND HOBBES...but CUL DE SAC is better...and I'd bet Bill Watterson would agree. Thompson's work is as quirky, but is sly and understated where CALVIN AND HOBBES had the frenzy of...a little boy. I love Watterson's drawing, but again...Thompson's is more beautiful.

BN said...

This is a test:

"I thought Richard Thompsom invented alt music."

BN said...

Hell, I failed the test. I meant to say, "alt rock."