(Almost) Live From Tokyo!One of those pleasant moments is when email arrives from out of the blue from a new voice operating out on the 'Net, and they have something interesting and creative going on. So it was that this morning's mail included something from Dirk, a European artist currently staying in Tokyo who's been blogging about his experiences there in a novel fashion.
While indications are that he has more than enough assignments on queue already to cover through the end of June, when this approach will have run its course, what he's been doing is to take assignments from readers and report in the form of a comic the following week. So far he's been sent to explore specific locations, strange cultural phenomena, food, religion, etc.
While very much his own style, there's something in the shift of line styles from elaborate detail to comic simplicity and exaggeration that I'm reminded of what I've sometimes seen from Zippy's creator, Bill Griffith. Here's a two-page spread from his April 24th entry that captures some of what I'm reaching for (click on the pic for a larger view... or, better yet, just visit his site):
I'm flush with admiration for this sort of direct creativity, being myself one of the unwashed masses who generally avoids jumping in and trying such things because I have unrealistic demands concerning vague notions of perfection. It's a moronic attitude, I tell myself, and while I know that's true it's still manages to make it so easy to put creative efforts off.
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