This is a picture of myself and Will Eisner-the inventor of the graphic novel. The pic is a few years old. I met Will back in the first year that I hit the San Diego con with the ghostwerks crew. Today, I needed to get a scan of the pic and I thought it would be a good opportunity to blog about Will and his influence on me.
Eisner's impact on comics really can't be understated. Will was around from the earliest days, both as an artist and writer, and as one of the industry's first publishers. He gained wide recognition doing an eight page comic called the Spirit that shipped with American sunday newspapers. Later, Will pioneered the use of comics for teaching purposes in the army and for corporations. In 1970, Will invented what today is know as the graphic novel, with the publication of A Contract With God. A later work of his, Comics and Sequential Art, would be considered as THE bible for comics teaching for many years. Eisner continued to release graphic novel after graphic novel until his death last year.
Comics' most recognized award, our version of the Oscars, is called the Eisner.
Other people document this better than me (obviously). But generally I just want to communicate that Will was really an important figure in the history of this, my favorite artform. His work itself has a huge influence on me. I think of Will as the master of cartooning and simplifying the human form. He made drawings which were very cartoony, yet at the same time show a true craftsmanship for illustration. When I saw Will's work and injected his influence into my style, it was like I had figured something important out about how I was supposed to draw. To this day, his influence is all over my work.
Meeting Will in San Diego was a big deal to me. He was signing at a booth. I waited for him a bit and asked if he would look at my portfolio. He quickly glanced and then said that he would only be signing here a minute, and could I wait by the side for him to finish so that he could look at it more. I did and he gave me a thorough review. At this point, I had very little experience. I'm sure there were prolific pros who would've loved to get that kind of review from Will.
He was extremely encouraging. I remember he pointed out a very simple, simple drawing (in a complex page) and told me that that figure had much more life than the others I had spent so much time drawing.
That was a great experience for me and something I'll always keep in mind. To this day, this photo of Will and I sits above my drawing table. When Will passed, part of my sadness came from knowing a dream of mine had passed- Will would never see me reach the status of an important creator in the artform. Sigh.
Many thanks, Will. Your influence on me was and is great. Thank you for sharing your time, and dedicating your life to this art.
www.willeisner.com
