“Comics are a beautiful medium. The combination of visual art and text engages both sides of your brain, causing you to retain more than from a similar story in other mediums,” shares writer ,…
Continue Reading…
Visual learners, rejoice. French artist and journalist Philippe Squarzoni—known for his celebrated non-fiction, graphic novel-style works on politics and human rights—lends his eye and storytelling panache to an extensive work on one of the world’s most significant and controversial issues: climate change. Inspired…
Continue Reading…
The 1982 French sci-fi comic “Le Transperceneige” would have remained in obscurity had film director Bong Joon-Ho not walked into a comic book shop in Seoul and devoured all three volumes in the store. Nobody could blame him. Within the black-and-white illustrations, a…
Continue Reading…
Corinne Maier—a French psychoanalyst with a background in economics and international relations from the prestigious Sciences-Po in Paris—also happens to be a best-selling author. Out of the 15 or so already under her belt, her two most controversial books encouraged readers not to…
Continue Reading…
In book design, provocation is the name of the game. Intrigue the reader enough to pick up the work and open it—this is a process that Chip Kidd has turned into an art. From David Sedaris’ “); return…
Continue Reading…
Bridging futurist design, letterpress technique and augmented reality, “The Airship” is a new graphic novel from Todd Thyberg. The writer, illustrator and publisher is also the founder of Angel Bomb Design + Letterpress, and has put his array of talents to the test in this work. Twenty-two photopolymer plates…
Continue Reading…
A cinematic duet between director Michel Gondry and cartoonist Julie Doucet
Highly charming and intensely creative, “My New New York Diary: A Film-Book” by graphic artist Julie Doucet and director Michel Gondry merges graphic novel with cinematic storytelling. The book comes packaged with a DVD, and both are a necessary accompaniment to the other to help tell the tale of Gondry’s meeting with Doucet.
The French director proposed to make a film that would make Doucet the center of the story as she had done before with her autobiographical comic-book novel “My New York Diary,” but with her drawings as the film’s setting and vehicle. As they talked, the process of making the 20-minute film ended up as its very plot.
“My New New York Diary” begins with Doucet talking to Gondry from her home in Montreal before meeting and staying with him in NYC, where they film her in front of a blue screen. She buys a digital recorder and records her observations on everything from Gondry’s quarrels with his housemate to her reluctance at acting in her own story.
After a few days in New York, Doucet returned back to Canada, where she did dozens of drawings. Gondry edited everything, including her narration, and turned her drawings into something live—a talent he previously exemplified so well with “Science of Sleep.”
“My New New York Diary” is perhaps best experienced in the order it was packaged—starting first the book, then with the DVD tucked into the back cover—to truly see how two artists breathe life into their individual mediums.
Gondry is signing the book on 11 November 2010 at L.A.’s Family Bookstore. “My New York Diary” sells online from Amazon and PictureBox for $25.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
