Lately, I have been buying hundreds of comics. Not only for inspiration but for collage making.
After creating my first handful of zines, I have been purchasing zines at some local comic book shops. I want to learn how other "zinesters" are making zines, and I also want to see what materials and experimental things they were doing with them.
I found zines that are self-published comics, and then I discovered independent comics that are full of crazy ideas and adult themes. My favorite indy comic I recently found is called "Vacuum Decay". Vacuum Decay is a compilation of bizarre hand-drawn black and white horror/ sci-fi comics compiled by California-based artist, Harry Nordlinger. Check out the Vaccum Decay Website here.
Creating a simple eight-page zine taught me so much about bookmaking and storytelling.
When I was young, I loved comics. Particularly the Fantastic Four. Something about the retro-futurism of the aliens, technology, and (of course) the giant planet-eating god-robot: Galactus. Occasionally, as a boy, I would accidentally buy a comic similar to Vacuum Decay, full of wild horror and black and white marker drawn gore. I loved them even more!
When I was young, I didn't read comics, I would stare at them. I would stare at the pictures. I didn't know it, but I was figuring out how the artist drew them. I was fascinated with the different faces and bodies of the monsters. ( side note: when my parents got home from dinner, if they ate seafood, they would bring me home crab claws so I could look at them)
I always loved monsters, the Xenomorph from the movie Alien (originally designed by the surrealist H.R. Giger) was what made me want to be an artist to begin with.
Aliens infesting the imaginations of humans across the globe on film and paper. Image source: Wicked Horror
I think lately I have been bummed that I am not making my own monsters. I also feel a need to share my own far-out sci-fi stories. As a rule, 4 years ago, I told myself I would be a collage artist exclusively, and I am sticking to it. So, this takes me on my next cosmic art journey:
How can I make collage art inspired by the monsters and superheroes I fell in love with as a kid? The answer is somewhere in this thin comic book paper. All I gotta do is cut these comics up to find out...
Thank you for listening to my thoughts.
-The Red Wizard 9/28/21, 12:11pm EST, Location: Earth Planet, Milky Way Galaxy.
About Me
Red Wizard is a contemporary collage artist and NYS certified teacher from Buffalo, New York. His past clients include Mountain Dew, OLFA, and Liten Buffel Winery.