George Herriman and Krazy Kat

George Herriman is one of the other great influences on my work. His Krazy Kat strip which began in 1913 in the William Randolph Hearst newspaper, The New York Evening Journal, is citied by many as one of the most iconic comic strip in American history.

Herriman's style is simple, often scratchily drawn, yet his layouts were revolutionary - particularly his Sunday pages, which were also wonderfully coloured in ink and watercolour washes. It's no surprise then that the legacy of this strip is great. It won many intellectual fans through its deeper love triangle between Krazy, Ignatz Mouse (who constantly engages in hurling bricks at Krazy's head, though in the most loving manner) and Officer Pupp, who tries to prevent harm coming to Krazy by arresting and jailing Ignatz.

The above is a good example of how Herriman used innovative page layouts to add more to the stories and create a sense of dynamism.  He also used the strip to explore deeper philosophical issues such as those around love and existence, unusual for the time.

 This painting was drawn for a close friend of Herriman's and shows the main characters discussing Agathelan in Monument Valley in Arizona. Much of this landscape featured heavily in Herriman's Krazy Kat strips.

 His daily strips were also rendered beautifully in pen and ink.  This shows Don Kiyote, one of the lesser characters in the Krazy Kat kanon (sorry canon)

Among the strips admirers over time have included poet E.E Cummings, Chuck Jones (who borrowed heavily the desert backgrounds of Road Runner and Wile.E.Coyote from Herriman's Coconino County, Arizona setting), Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) and Charles Schulz (Peanuts).

Sources

http://www.old-coconino.com/sites_auteurs/herriman/bio/bio.htm

Really nice website of Herriman's work including a wide range of Krazy Kat strips

McDonnell,P, O Connell, K, de Havenon,G.R (1986) Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman. Abrams, New York, New York.

One of the best books on Krazy Kat - a nice overview of Herriman's work from start to finish.

Marschall, R (1997) America's Great Comic Strip Artists: From The Yellow Kid to Peanuts. Stewart, Tabori and Chang, New York, New York.

Good introduction to Herriman's work along with other classic comic strip artists from America's golden age.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krazy_Kat

Standard reference on Herriman.

That's all for this week