Thursday, December 31, 2009

 Sausage Hand- Andrew Smith

Sparkplug Comic books put out a lot of great titles. One of my favorites from them this year was Sausage Hand by Andrew Smith. I really like the drawing style Smith uses; the complex hatching, the bizarre proportions, the way it seems the figures are squeezing themselves so as to fit into the very comic frames. As I was flipping through it for the first time I was surprised to find how much I wish I could draw more successcfully in Smith's style. Definitley reads like some bizarre and awesome mix-up of S. Clay Wilson (in tone) and R. Crumb (in style, though it would be unfair to overstate this,) it's absolutely worth your time and the six dollar admission price. You can buy it at:




 
 

Rene Laloux-Fantastic Planet

An incredible film by french animator/director René Laloux, known in the english speaking world as Fantastic Planet, the french title is La Planète sauvage, or Savage Planet. Laloux enjoyed success with this film in 1973 and it ended up winning the special jury prize at Cannes. As far as I am concerned Laloux is one of the absolute masters of animation and out of all his work Fantastic Planet is his best.