Friday, November 20, 2009

Master of the silent cartoon


Silent comedy when done well is brilliant.

Just look at movies by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
Silent comedy in cartoon form is a favourite of mine. There are a plenty of cartoonists who do wordless gags but one of my favourites is Sergio Aragones one of the long standing contributing artists to Mad Magazine.
His cartoons are lively and carry his wonderful sense of humour effortlessly to the reader or should I say observer. His cartoons are silent and always funny, the expressions get the message across as do the situations, and general story telling.
Here is an example that I found particularly funny, just look at the expressions in panels 4 & 5 for me this where the story is nailed, the realization on the faces that say “hey maybe we are onto to something here”
Pick up any Mad Magazine and Sergio’s drawing are scattered throughout the margins and he always does a main feature. He is reputed to draw constantly and there is probably not enough time left on earth for most of us to look at all the drawings he has ever done. But a least you can make a start here at his website http://www.sergioaragones.com/

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