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Nobrow Press’ 17 x 23 series highlights accomplished smaller works in a pleasing package that speaks to graphic novel consumers who might not seek out short comics stories. Two recent releases are particularly success in the way they take story forms of old and present them through a modern lens, making traditional lessons applicable to […]

Given the recent tragic events in Paris, Vincent Mahé’s absolutely stunning 750 Years In Paris is a sprawling reminder that this is not the first time darkness has been cast over that city, and it’s likely not the last. Paris has been home to bloodshed and destruction, as well as a site of rebuilding and […]

Tweet17×23 Showcase Contributors: Isaac Lenkiewicz, Kyle Platts, Henry McCausland, Nick Sheehy, Joe Kessler Nobrow Press Following on from the success of the excellent Nobrow anthology- a bi-annual publication of two halves: one comics and one illustration, and their Showcase series, a smaller format paperback comic which launched Luke Pearson’s much-lauded Hilda adventures, Nobrow produced this last July : [...]

Eleanor Davis is one of my favorite cartoonists and illustrators, not only because of her amazing way of making complex things seem easy and organic, but because she is constantly getting better and better. Which is saying something: Eleanor passed most of us years ago. This comic (click through to read the whole thing) is in the new Nobrow #7, and is.. well to use a technical term, wow. 

So at SPX a few weeks ago, Jim Rugg walked by with a giant Sam Vanallemeersch book (Big Mother #2, from Nobrow Press), which of course sold out before I could get one. Vanallemeersch is no stranger to readers of Drawn—or even me; I’ve been following his Flickr for awhile, have seen his stuff here and there, and liked it. But something about looking through that book made my hair stand up a little; nothing beats a book for a tactile, visceral experience.

So anyway, I got home and started looking him up, and found a bunch of gorgeous, frenetic, manic drawings like the one above, very much in line with what I’d responded to so much in Big Mother. But somehow I had never made the connection between Vanallemeersch’s textured, inky, organic drawing and his second “Kolchoz” style, which is an incredibly polished, shape and color-based approach. Not quite the opposite of the organic style, but a kind of mirror version. Like what if a robot, programmed with everything Vanallemeersch knows about drawing, color, and movement, then struck with some sort of divine lightning, were to create? Look at this, the first image of a eyeball-withering long horizontal scroll, on Vanallemeersch’s Kolchoz site:

It’s a beautiful drawing, right? But when I tried to open it up on my computer, I found something crazy: it’s essentially pixel art! 

Now, pixel art by itself is not such a new exciting thing. I mean, this is gorgeous and everything, sure. But as someone who draws all day, who knows a bunch of drawers, who sees drawings and makes drawings and blogs about drawings, sometimes it’s hard to get excited about drawings. But this duality, the mirroring of Sam Vanallemeersch into chaotic-but-sensible organic drawings, and these inorganic-but-insane ordered drawings—something about those two things going on in the same brain makes both more interesting. You end up looking closer at each to discern the other, does that make sense? 

The funny thing is, I emailed Sam to ask him a bunch of breathless questions, and he was appreciative but maybe not as excited about his illustration “clean” style. Which is fair, of course. Heck, you can feel anyway you like about whatever you like. But it reminds me of something I read somewhere about illustrators keeping a single sketchbook, rather than having a “work” sketchbook and a “personal” sketchbook. So all your ideas and tryouts and mistakes inform and feed each other, rather than existing in two walled cities, stagnating. Is that what Sam’s doing? I’m not sure, but if he is, there’s definitely a tunnel between the two and some trade going on; a subterranean Athens-Sparta Railroad. 

My favorite thing was this: while trying to figure out how to get screencaps of 72dpi pixel art up close, I ended up looking closely at that first image:

I love it! Art is great for looking at and learning from and talking about and all that, but there’s something really enervating and human about seeing someone’s brain at work. Definitely am looking for anything with Sam Vanallemeersch’s name on it, whether it’s the hard-to-spell regular version, or under Kolchoz. 

Oh, man! Oh, MAN! I loved the first Hildafolk book that Luke Pearson put out through Nobrow last year (and so did my 3-yr-old daughter: “Read it again!”) I can’t wait to crack open this new book, “Hilda and the Midnight Giant”. My favorite phrase in the whole teaser: “the first volume in this new series”! SERIES!

(via Nobrow – Hilda is coming…)

Jon McNaught’s new graphic novella from Nobrow Press, Birchfield Close, is a most perfect little treasure of a comic.

Printed with a restrained three colours, the short book is a gentle, unassuming reflection on time, place, and sound. It’s not so much a story as it is a snapshot of suburban life. The sights and sounds of a sleepy, mundane evening become the beats and rhythms in the poetry of a neighbourhood.

It’s a lovely, precious little piece of nostalgia. It makes me hungry for more comics-as-poetry. I was unfamiliar with McNaught’s work, but am looking forward to discovering more of his work. His website offers up a decent amount of his other comics work, all of it as equally reflective. He has an uncanny ability to perfectly capture moments in time. His comics feel like real memories.

I’ve just reread his minicomic Broadcast, available to read on his website, three times in succession, marvelling at how he plays with colour, sound effects, and pacing.

Here are some panels from another story of his, Pebble Island.

His blog features more of his work, including some lovely-looking prints. I am officially a fan.

Posted by John Martz on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | No comments
Tags: Comics, Jon McNaught, Nobrow Press