27/01/2009

Transmission





The 'Broadside', a publication that directly precedes the newspaper as we know it today. Broadsides were posted in the streets and were used as a means of transmitting information about local/national events to the populace. Information would not always be conveyed in conventional prosaic form they would include poetry describing tragic acts and Illustrative imagery. Broadsides were around for about 300 years up to the beginning of the 19th century when industrialised printing methods enabled the quick and cheap production of newspapers.



This new phenomenon of cheap printmaking resulted in the emergence of ephemeral, low brow and morally questionable publications like the Penny Dreadful. These publications opened up a world of creative and authorial possibilities for anonymous illustrators. In publishing terms, they are the precursor of the contemporary comic and zine.



So describing the development and history of Illustration is inextricably bound to the development of media, the reproduction IS the Illustration.







Some examples of the [genius] work of Winsor McKay, an early 20th century cartoonist and comic book Illustrator. His most famous creation, Little Nemo.





Tijuana Bibles, low quality, trashy, erotic shlock. What would Mr Hogarth make of this?



The Beano, published by DC comics.

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