Saturday, March 10, 2012

Comic Books are Dead III: Moebius Is Dead

Olafur Eliasson, The Weather Project (2003): Moebius, The Incal (1981)
(Part I and Part II)

When I was in grade school I fell in love with the comic book art of Moebius. I was sad to hear he died. As an artist myself I think a lot about my first loves, Moebius was one of them. When I talk with parents who have children who like to draw and are curious how to foster their "talent" I tell them to find art the boy or girl will enjoy copying. I usually suggest Calvin and Hobbes, because Bill Watterson's drawings are actually very advanced, with sketchy traces of cross-sectional contour and other old master devices for describing 3D forms and spaces. For the children of my friends and acquaintances, Watterson it is a safe bet, the subject mater is tame, no one is going to get mad at me. No one is getting fucked by a dog-headed villain or dropped from a thousand foot drop and shot at for sport.


Luckily for me, that is exactly the sort of subject matter I cut my teeth on as a young artist. I discovered Moebius for myself. Like Watterson, there was always enough of a trace of how Moebius made his drawings left behind in his comics, that I could decode them. As an aspiring artist I wasn't interested in the final product (although I love the naked women, the bloody madness and fantastic aspect of it all). I wanted to unravel the garment and examine the weave. Moebius was a skilled and confident enough artist to leave me dangling threads to tug on. I still recommend his comics to older kids - in their late teens, twenties, thirties, and forties...
I remember being particularly obsessed with the center concept drawing of the film's villain for Tron

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