This Artist Is Good - Kevin Huizenga

Kevin Huizenga reminds me of Sean Murphy, and not in the sense that their styles are all that similar, but more in that they both remind me that for all the doom and gloom people sometimes have about comics, we still have plenty of good, young talent coming who, even if they do not IMPROVE their craft, will provide us with plenty of good comics for many years to come.

Kevin has been doing mini-comics called Supermonster for years, but recently, he has beginning to become pretty darn big, as he has a quarterly comic, "Or Else" coming out from Drawn and Quarterly, and he did a comic strip for Time magazine (talk about a big opportunity!!).

Kevin's style has the cartoonish, Chic Young-esque charm to it, while still being very expressive (well, like Chic Young, as well, really...but a little more so than Chic Young, consarnit!). In addition, I like the way that he writes things that show off his art well.

Here are some of his early artwork, from Supermonster...(note, all drawings come from Kevin's nifty site, where you will get sucked up into if you check it out, so be forewarned!)...

Here is a drawing from Supermonster #7, which would make it be about 1999...



See what I'm saying about the charm?

But that is still fairly rough compared to his later work, heck, just from a few issues later, check this out...



Funny, and evocative, I really enjoy this drawing.

However, I will admit, I am more partial to his current work.

Here is a piece from Or Else...



This page reminds me of when you hear a catchy song with depressing lyrics. Huizenga's cartoony style is peppy, while still having enough of an underlying mood to really draw you in to caring about the character.

By the by, the character Kevin draws about now is a semi-autobiographical character named Glenn Ganges.

Here is the beginning of a story Kevin has been working on this year (I am pissed that I cannot get the link to work for the cool, middle part of the story)...



His style is affected enough to show the metaphysical, but down to earth enough to make it seem almost natural, which is really what this short story is about, about how something as simple as taking a familar path can bring up so many old memories that it almost feels supernatural. Sorta like how a song can carry memories of past events when you hear it. When you examine it closely enough (which Glenn does in this story), you can really sorta freak yourself out.

Finally, here is part one of Kevin's Time Magazine strip. It is the beginning of a funny story about the nature of fads. Check out Time's website to get the rest (or just get there through Kevin's site).



I like looking at good art.

It makes me happy.

I hope you all are a little happier after being introduced to (or reminded of) Kevin Huizenga's work.

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