Art Crusade vol. 6
Sunday Comics
Going back to the start. I believe that it is a good idea to remind yourself what sparked your creative journey from time to time, but especially when creative energy and/or ideas may have slowed down. What was it that sparked the idea to become creative?
One of the ideas that sparked my desire to create, and also to start this newsletter, was my memories of reading the Sunday comics. Before the internet, 24 hour a day tv shows, iPhones, and email in the early 1970s, almost everyone I knew would get the Sunday newspaper. In that newspaper was an entire comic section and most of them in color. It was during this magical time that I discovered Peanuts, Garfield, Family Circus, Hagar the Horrible, and The Wizard of Id.
I had drawn, doodled, and scribbled ever since I could hold a pen or pencil. My mother is an artist, so it seemed very natural. Something about the Sunday comics was different. At one point, I noticed that everyone liked looking at them, my mother, my grandfather, and my grandmother. There was joy and happiness associated with reading the comics for all ages. I did not know it then, but this was the start of my journey to draw for a living.
I have only in the last year attempted to become an artist full-time and it has been a rocky start. It is good to go back to the start and remember why I started.
My idea for this newsletter comes from my fond memories of Sunday comics. A highly visual format that arrives every week and optimistically people are looking forward to seeing in their inbox. In my mind, it is a combination of Sunday comics and a zine(a small-circulation self-published work). I will keep working on the style and format in hopes that I eventually get close to the version in my head.
Reading:
Sunday comics
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_comics
Watching:
A century of Sunday funnies
Over one hundred years ago, King Features Syndicate began producing a cherished part of the Sunday newspaper: the comics section. In this video CBS Sunday Morning takes a look the history of the institution, and talks with "Beetle Bailey" artist Mort Walker, still drawing his strip after 65 years.Â
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