Did you expect to see anything quite like this on Attempted Bloggery? Me neither.
I met cartoonist Jay Sjostrom at MoCCA Fest 2012 where he was giving away drawings. One might think it's hard enough to make a living as a comic artist without giving away one's creations. At the very least, I'm sure he had to pay up front for an exhibition table and it can't be cheap to stay in New York from out of town.
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I really liked what he had to say, though. He's trying to establish himself as a comic artist and he was giving away drawings to help promote himself at this early stage of his career. He asked the people who take his artwork to scan it if they can and to post it back on his website. Great idea! In fact, more fledgling artists should do this, no? I decided not to discuss my pathetic inability to operate my new scanner.
Sjostrom's art falls well outside the aesthetic domain I usually cover in my blog. I proudly admit this blog is mostly backward-looking, and based on tastes I developed years ago which, if they've changed, have done so only glacially. The next big cartoonists, though, are not going to be hand-picked by the likes of me, and their work is not going to look like that of Peter Arno or Peter Max. Rather, the stars of the coming years will reflect the preferences of a new generation. What those talented comic artists need now is to get their work out there and have it seen by those who will appreciate it.
So today, Attempted Bloggery is promoting the work of an artist who wouldn't normally appear here, who gave me a drawing without even knowing or caring that I have my own old-fashioned blog, and who could probably use a little publicity even from an obscure corner of the web like this one. I wish you a fruitful career, Jay Sjostrom, but I wouldn't mind at all if you got over your hairy phase.
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| Jay Sjostrom, "Clive...sure I know Clive, that son of a gun..." MoCCA Fest 2012 |
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