Daniel Clowes
by Jessie Howell
Fall 2004

MORE ARTISTS | COMICS-RELATED TOPICS

Dan Clowes was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1961.  He attended the Pratt Institute in New York, but did not find that useful in training as an illustrator.  His first comic book series, Lloyd Llewellyn, was published in1985.  He is better known for his comic book series Eightball, which began in 1988. The comic generally features a variety of short stories and sketches, some of which continue across several issues.  His graphic novels have also received quite a bit of attention.  Ghost World, a story about two sardonic teenage girls, was turned into a feature film in 2001 and received much acclaim, including a best screenplay nomination for Clowes and the film’s director, Terry Zwigoff.  Some of his other graphic novels include Like a Velvet Glove in Cast Iron and David Boring, among others.

Clowes’s comics often depict the annoyances and insecurities of everyday life.  Eightball has featured strips on topics as simple as art school, sports fans, and simply getting up in the morning.  His latest work, David Boring, presents a more surreal story about the end of the world but still retains a very real feel.  In terms of his drawing style, he is unique because his comics often at first feel very plain and generic (he draws in both cartoonish and more realisitic styles), but at the same time he is able to convey a great range of emotion.


A panel from "Why I Hate Christians” from Twentieth Century Eightball, p.53
Click for whole page | and page 1 of Ghost World

MORE ARTISTS | COMICS-RELATED TOPICS