Chris Ware is A Lunatic

A few pics from the Chris Ware exhibit at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum

If you aren’t familiar with Chris Ware, you should be. There’s a chance that you may already know him from his New Yorker covers and other commercial work. But it’s his comics that really stand out. They are masterworks of precision, detail, and complexity. Some of his pages are so dense they can take a few minutes to read. I like to think that he likes to make things difficult for himself just for the fun of it, but I think he just can’t see the world any other way.

I was happy that the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum hosted an exhibit of his work, because I can’t think of another cartoonist that I’m as interested to see the process. I went with my friend to check out the exhibit, as well as the new permanent exhibit on what comics are that is a wonder to behold in itself.

If you are within driving distance of Columbus, Ohio, you owe it to yourself to visit. It’s free!

There are a few walls in the exhibit that are filled with Chris Ware stuff. I wasn’t sure what they were, but it turns out they are stickers that come in sheets, kind of like wallpaper.

For one thing, I wanted to see if Ware actually hand drew all his work because doing it on the computer would be way easier (and it’s so precise it seems like it might have been). But no—you can see here that he plans everything out meticulously. I don’t know how he thinks through page layouts. It’s safe to say that AI won’t be creating any Chris Ware work anytime soon. And you’ll see some of the ideas rendered in blue pencil that he eventually discarded, like the houses in the background below.

Who comes up with this stuff?

He’s clearly using compasses, protractors, Ames guides, French curves, and other tools most of us abandoned. And look at the script! Very meticulous, and I don’t see anything he had to go back and correct.

Here’s a finished page. I think this is from Building Stories, but I’m not sure. Nothing was labeled in the exhibit at Ware’s request.

You might think that Ware wouldn’t have any free time on his hands, but then there’s a couple of … sculptures? Marionettes? That he made. Not sure what he used them for—again, no labels, which adds to their mystery.

This was one of those rare occasions where I go to an exhibit and am left even more in awe of the artist’s work. I question his sanity after seeing all the work that goes into making his comics. He is a true singular talent, and no one has been able to (or wants to) make stuff like him.

If you want a good place to start with Ware’s work, check out Jimmy Corrigan.

If you like what I’m doing, why not subscribe? Or become a paying subscriber? Thanks!