Craig Thompson
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| Craig Thompson | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 21, 1975 (age 31) Traverse City, Michigan, USA |
| Occupation | Graphic novelist |
Craig Thompson (b. September 21, 1975, Traverse City, Michigan) is a graphic novelist best known for his 2003 work Blankets.
He has quickly risen to the top ranks of American cartoonists in both popularity and critical esteem. In mock-jealousy, Eddie Campbell once expressed a temptation to break Thompson's fingers (The Comics Journal, issue 266). He is significantly influenced by French comics (bandes-dessinées) and cartoonists, such as Edmond Baudoin, Charles Berberian, Blutch, and David B.
Other works by Thompson include the graphic novella Good-bye, Chunky Rice (1999), the mini-comics Bible Doodles (2000) and Doot Doot Garden (2001), and the travelogue Carnet de Voyage (2004). He also contributed numerous short works to Nickelodeon Magazine, as "Craigory Thompson."
He is currently at work on a new graphic novel, Habibi, to be published by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House. The book is said to be influenced by Arabic calligraphy and Islamic mythology: "I'm playing with Islam in the same way I was playing with Christianity in Blankets," as he said in a 2005 interview.[1]
In the same interview, Thompson outlined his composition process. Initially, pages are composed "in a very illegible form, a shorthand where words and pictures blur into alien scribbles .... I'm working with words and pictures right from the beginning, but the picture might not look any different from a letter, because they're just a bunch of scribbles on a page." Then he rewrites those sketches into "a detailed thumbnail with clear handwriting, and that way I can go back and edit." Even on his long works, Thompson drafts the entire book in ballpoint pen before beginning the final brush-inked version.
[edit] Other work
- In 2007, he created the artwork for the Menomena album Friend and Foe, which was released on January 23 from Barsuk Records.
[edit] Notes and references
- Hatfield, Charles. "The Craig Thompson interview." The Comics Journal #268 (June/July 2005). Seattle: Fantagraphics. 78-119.
- ^ Hatfield p.112
[edit] External links
- doot doot garden Craig Thompson's official website
- Top Shelf Catalog for Craig Thompson
