It’s only a paper moon -- or how I learned to stop worrying and love scanning paper
Life goes on until it doesn’t
From my current perch in Berlin, things look terrible back home. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I know this. I read the news and continue to make pro-democracy drawings daily. I’ve been at this daily practice for five years. In that time, I’ve made more than 5,000 anti-fascist drawings, with a few carve-outs for comedy relief or personal reflection. Daumier only made 4,000 drawings in his lifetime. I certainly only compare myself to Daumier in numbers, not quality. He was and is the boss. I went to visit his grave in Paris last month, and I took my students.
On my journeys, I also collect paper samples. I have papers from Italy, France, Portugal, Germany, Japan, China, and Mexico – to name a few. I scan paper as I collect it and use it in my work. I tend to be a creature of habit and often use the same paper samples repeatedly – mainly because they’re in a template of my creation. Once in a while, I’ll jump over to my jumble of paper scans and grab something different for effect.
As I travel, I pick up old vintage comics. As we speak, I’m about to purchase the full run of a European “Piccolo” format science fiction comic called “Nick.” Wider than it is tall, I love this format. Along with variations in comic formats, there are also significant variations in paper quality. The Soviet-era East German comic “Mosaik” is the most beautifully printed monthly comic book I’ve ever seen. The colorists and printers were wizards, but the paper they used made it all possible.
Dustin at RetroSupply convinced me to organize my papers. I decided to release comic book paper textures specific to various countries and periods. My FUNNY PAPERS pack represents three countries and formats: Japanese Manga, French Bande Desinée albums, and Italian Fumetti. The paper scans are 600 DPI and are the same scale as the original comics.
If you decide to pick them up and you like them, email me or, better yet, leave a review on the product page. If you don’t like them, you can get your money back. Finally, I’m working on a new comic book font based on some old French comics I found. The drawings are done – the characters have to be encoded. Look for that soon!