Wiseman Silhouettes- Dennis in Hollywood (part 1)
Well, we all know that Al Wiseman was the undisputed master of the comic-panel silhouette. So isn't it about damn time The Al Wiseman Blog celebrated this fact?
To start off our Wiseman silhouette series, we've scanned various panels from Dennis the Menace in Hollywood and whited out the dialog (so the silhouettes would stand on their own, as the self-contained works of art they demand to be).
And why did Al draw so many silhouetted images? Was it to add an interesting design element to the comic page layout? Was it to achieve an unfulfilled artistic need that his obsession with fine-line inking could not quench? Or was it merely a time-saving device to make up for the fact that he spent so many hours adding detail to some panels that he needed to simplify others?
Perhaps all of the above. And more...
Wiseman Silhouettes:
Dennis in Hollywood:
Part 1/Part 2
Charley Jones' Laugh Book Magazine:
August 1950: Part 1
March 1953: Part 2
Please order Dennis the Menace books from Fantagraphics (and ask them to reprint the Wiseman Dennis comic books and Sunday strips).
"Dennis the Menace" & related characters are ©Hank Ketcham Enterprises, Inc.
To start off our Wiseman silhouette series, we've scanned various panels from Dennis the Menace in Hollywood and whited out the dialog (so the silhouettes would stand on their own, as the self-contained works of art they demand to be).
And why did Al draw so many silhouetted images? Was it to add an interesting design element to the comic page layout? Was it to achieve an unfulfilled artistic need that his obsession with fine-line inking could not quench? Or was it merely a time-saving device to make up for the fact that he spent so many hours adding detail to some panels that he needed to simplify others?
Perhaps all of the above. And more...
Wiseman Silhouettes:
Dennis in Hollywood:
Part 1/Part 2
Charley Jones' Laugh Book Magazine:
August 1950: Part 1
March 1953: Part 2
Please order Dennis the Menace books from Fantagraphics (and ask them to reprint the Wiseman Dennis comic books and Sunday strips).
"Dennis the Menace" & related characters are ©Hank Ketcham Enterprises, Inc.
4 Comments:
Silhouettes are really no time-saving device. All of the time you save by not having to draw the clothing and such is spent balancing and perfecting the silhouette so it reads correctly. Back in the day, and in the newspaper strips that first introduced Dennis (and in Ketcham's own work) silhouettes were a design staple that broke up the layout of a strip or a page. Mort Walker, Chester Gould, Herriman- many famous cartoonists would rely on silhouettes from time to time to balance out a layout.
I love this blog, and I lurk here often.
Thanks for visiting the blog, Tom!
I, myself, stand by the theory that Al Wiseman actually invented the silhouette in all it's forms.
And I will continue to believe this even though the facts entirely disprove my theory.
Well, Wiseman was certainly a master of the silhouette and it was one of his trademarks that I noticed even as a kid.
I subscribe to the theory that it was used most often to add variety to the page layout.
However, in the third example of your post, I think it was also used to really focus attention on the non-silhouetted figure of Dennis.
BillyBatson,
Yeah, with Henry & Alice in the "shadows", Dennis does become the center of interest.
I also like how the building behind them is simplified, so only Dennis has detail...
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