The January 2008 issue of The Comics Journal features a long interview with Jeffrey Brown, Chicago-based cartoonist and painter. Brown is best known for his book Clumsy, an extra-ordinary “slice of life” book about the rise and fall of a romantic relationship from Brown’s real life.
I actually wrote about Brown’s work on another blog, Theatreforte. Here’s an excerpt:
A really great example of “ugly” comics is the work of Jeffrey Brown. Brown’s drawings are shaky, scratchy, ill-proportioned … a less-cautious judge might say they’re “bad” drawings. Indeed, they have a bit of a quality of being like something you might find scribbled in a 14-year-old’s school notebook when he’s thinking about the girl who broke his heart. (Click here for a pop-up example.)