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By: Isabel Lopez, Sat Sep 6th, 2008
Comics as an art form established itself in the late 19th and early 20th century, alongside the similar forms of film and animation. The three forms share certain conventions, most noticeably the mixing of words and pictures, and all three owe parts of their conventions to the technological leaps made through the industrial revolution. Although the comics form was established and popularised in the pages of newspapers and magazines in the late 1890s, narrative illustration has existed for many centuries. Rodolphe Töpffer, a Francophone Swiss artist, is seen as the key figure of the early part of the 19th century. Although speech balloons had fallen from favour during the middle part of the 19th century, Töpffer's sequentially illustrated stories, with the text compartmentalised below the images, were reprinted throughout Europe and the United States. The lack of copyright laws at this time allowed such pirated editions, and these translated versions created a market on both continents for similar works. The 1920s and 1930s saw further booms within the industry. In China a market was established for palm-sized picture books like Lianhuanhua while the market for comic anthologies in Britain had turned to targeting children through juvenile humour, with The Dandy and The Beano launched. In Belgium, Hergé created the Tintin newspaper strip for a comic supplement; this was successfully collected in a bound album and created a market for further such works. The same period in the United States had seen newspaper strips expand their subject matter beyond humour, with action, adventure and mystery strips launched. In Japan, a country with a long tradition for illustration and whose language evolved from pictures, comics were hugely popular. Referred to as manga, the Japanese form was established after World War II by Osamu Tezuka, who expanded the page count of a work to number in the hundreds, and who developed a filmic style, heavily influenced by the Disney animations of the time. The Japanese market expanded its range to cover works in many genres, from juvenile fantasy through romance to adult fantasies. Japanese manga is typically published in large anthologies, containing several hundred pages, and the stories told have long been used as sources for adaptation into animated film. In Japan such films are referred to as anime, and many creators will work in both forms simultaneously, leading to an intrinsic linking of the two forms. Comics have been presented within a wide number of publishing and typographical formats, from the very short panel cartoon to the more lengthy graphic novel. The cartoon, traditionally containing satirical or humorous content in the manner of those seen in The New Yorker or Private Eye, originate from the mid nineteenth century. This form of comics is still popular, although the last few years has seen a reduction in the number of editorial cartoonists employed in the US media. Although there is some dispute as to whether the cartoon constitutes a form of comics, a precursor or a related form, it has been argued that since the cartoon both combines words with image and constructs a narrative, it merits inclusion as a form of comics. Today comics are an integral part of culture in our society. Their popularity fuels the art and print industry. Comic characters now occupy their corners in hall of fame of every realm. Decorative comics are very popular nowadays. You can buy posters of your favorite comics characters online. Comics posters such as Superman posters, Spiderman posters are popular decorations. Other notable names are Tintin, Peanuts, Batman, Captain America to name a few. Comics artists will generally sketch a drawing in pencil before going over the drawing again in ink, using either a dip pen or a brush. An artist will use a variety of pencils, paper, typically Bristol board, and a waterproof ink. When inking, an artist may choose to use a variety of brushes, dip pens, a fountain pen or a variety of technical pens or markers. Mechanical tints can be employed to add grey tone to an image. An artist might also choose to create his work in paints; either acrylics; gouache; poster paints; or watercolors. Color can also be achieved through crayons, pastels or colored pencils. With the growth of computer processing power and ownership, there are now an increasing number of examples of comic books or strips where the art is made by using computers, either mixing it with hand drawings or replacing hand drawing completely.