Friday 14 July 2017

Gerhard: A Big Explosion In Space

Cerebus #192 (March 1995)
art by Dave Sim & Gerhard

GERHARD:
(via Comic Art Fans)
This was 'take two' for this page, Dave wanted a big explosion in space, but in space there is nothing to give you a sense of scale, so 'big' is quite relative. My first attempt really sucked; way too 'cartoony' and it had the stereotypical ball of flames and mushroom-like clouds. But in space there wouldn't be any flames or clouds and there isn't any 'up' for clouds to rise into. I went to the library and found photos of nuclear tests in space: incredibly boring looking, just a bright ball. So I added the expanding nebulous bands of dust and debris. The little Cerebus on the chunk of throne room is a photocopy from the original first attempt.


Gerhard's 2017 Convention & Signing Itinerary:

Keep up to date with Gerhard's latest news at Gerz Blog!

8 comments:

Margaret said...

This was one of the pages Ger and Shelly had with them at Menachem's Escape Pod Comics when I went down there for that signing. It was beautiful to see it in person - all the detail on it. Makes me long for a 1:1 ratio art book of Cerebus.

Delwyn Klassen said...

This is one of my favourite pages, primarily because it is drooling-ly gorgeous (envying all of you who got to see it 'live'), but also due to the impact it has on pacing. "This is how you use a splash page!"

Dean Reeves said...

I saw Margaret's post from April - Meeting Gerhard and Shelley (http://momentofcerebus.blogspot.ca/2017/04/meeting-gerhard-and-shelley.html) - where she held this page up and took a photo...I was stunned with the amount of detail, and the stars…ohh the stars. Fast forward a month later to when I was looking at the collage of photos from Gerhard's Motor City show (http://gerhardart.com/back-motor-city/) where I like to play a game and try to guess the pages he has for sale from what's on his table in those teeny tiny images, and in one of those teeny tiny images I saw that he still had this page available. An email or two later and I locked it in. When it arrived I was in complete awe of it.

Margaret is right...it's beautiful in person. And what makes it even more beautiful is the texture of the stars Ger created with the white paint. It's a page that you not only want to look at, but you want to touch it. I am a happy camper with this one.

I also wish there was a 1:1 book for Cerebus art. THAT is what I thought the covers book was going to be. THAT is what the covers book SHOULD have been...but I digress.

Hopefully this didn't come across as too braggy.

Dean

Ibis said...

Yes, 1:1 would be great.

Margaret said...

Dean - sweet! I'm a bit jealous, that is a great page. Like you said, it is a page one wants to touch, the 3D texture of it. I was so tempted to touch it, but held back. . And no, I for one didn't take it as braggy. I love hearing about other Cerebus fans collections - new and old pieces a like.

Carson Grubaugh said...

Thanks for sharing that podcast. Really cool stuff.

The real question is where did Gerhard pick up so much knowledge on perspective? He obviously is operating WELL beyond the basics one would pick up in high school drafting and good manuals for learning the nuances of the system are lacking.

Damian T. Lloyd, Esq. said...

Delwyn K.: As I've said before (and I'm far from the only one), Dave's control over pacing is one of his greatest strengths as a cartoonist.

-- Damian

Jimmy Gownley said...
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