December 14th, 2010 / 2:45 pm
Behind the Scenes
Reynard Seifert
Behind the Scenes
The Writer at Work
by Tom Gauld
Originally printed in The Guardian,
reprinted in Kramer’s Ergot
Tags: ben jonson, cervantes, Dorothy Parker, dylan thomas, emily dickinson, Leo Tolstoy, Robert Burns, tom gauld
these are way good, hella nice linework
glow
Anyone remember the Beethoven episode on Monty Python? “I don’t know why you sit at that piano all day!!!!”
These pages are awesome. Now I really have to check out Tom’s work. Thanks, Reynard.
One thing, though, I can’t help it, it’s my analytical side. (And, please, nobody pretend they don’t share this affliction.) Only one instance: I can’t help but want to delete two of the frames in Ben Johnson’s depiction: the one where the key pops in his head, and the one where he thinks, “Damn! Locked out” . . . I might even consider going so far as to also eliminate him thinking “Clunk” (although I can see some value in that) and maybe even “What an idiot” although taking that out removes a human aspect. Anyhow, think about it: The door closes with the “clunk”. The guy checks his pocket. He looks back. The reader understands everything.
I like economy wherever necessary.
But… everything else, and all the other pages are spotless, beautiful.
I also agree with M. Kitchell: the technical execution is quite good.
Some of these frames are just priceless. Emily thinking, “Peace at last,” then staring out the window. Priceless.
…Notwithstanding that there’s some argument over whether or not Emily Dickenson really was a shut-in. I’ve heard from other people who’ve studied her that she truly did have her social circles and was not at all socially inactive.
EDIT: On Dylan Thomas’ page: I really wish I had a girlfriend who’d lock me into a room for 8-10 hours with no internet access and no computer games (though it’d be a challenge to try to block my non-DRM games from access (like Eschalon and Spiderweb’s games… and anything d/l from GOG (although those are restricted to my PC, which can be easily taken away from me).)… since even I don’t know how to do that. Maybe I can find a girl, someday, who’s a computer wizard.
The Tolstoy, the Dickinson, and the Cervantes are especially potent and apt.
lock you in a room with a pencil and paper
include an eraser to delete the ‘h’ in “Johnson” and edit the ‘e’ in “Dickenson”
That wouldn’t work. I won’t go into why, just suffice to say that aside from scribbling occasional notes, I can’t write with a pen.
However… locking me in a room with a stripped-down laptop might work.
Ah, you’re too critical . . . but you’re right, nonetheless. [blushes]
actually I get that. I find it easier to write on a computer these days.
what “critical”
I didn’t say anything – less, anything negative – about the cool comix.
I was just being “analytical” about spelling hic[oop]cups of proper nouns spelled properly in the comix.
[…] Here are some cartoons depicting writers at work. My favorite is the Dickinson. What’s yours? (Hey, hey, don’t […]
Excellent stuff. Someone wrote “easier to write with a computer”… agreed… that’s why I’ve returned to longhand for drafting. I get at different things that way.
I love the Dylan thomas one and Emily Dickinson, great work!!
[…] Here are some cartoons depicting writers at work. My favorite is the Dickinson. What’s yours? (Hey, hey, don’t […]