Madame Xanadu, No. 6
Pages 18 and 19. This two page spread uses jagged, stained glass inspired panels in a spiral pattern to draw the reader’s attention towards the woman curled in the lower section of the left page who is the focal point of the image. Visually this is accomplished in two ways, first by tapering the edges of the panels towards the woman, and then by decreasing the size of each panel the closer to the focal point they are placed. Because the focal point rests off center, the creators of this comic placed the text captions in a descending curve from the top left to the bottom right. This half-circle arrangement allows the reader’s eye to flow the length of the image while staying anchored from beginning to end at the focal.
Wagner, Matt, Amy Reeder Hadley, and Richard Friend
VCU Libraries, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections and Archives
DC/Vertigo
2009
Jack Tales, Page 5
While the paper choices talked about above are highly important to the final quality and appearance of the finished comic, this is not how the pages often begin. The printed version on the paper that we as readers handle is compiled from artists’ drawings, and digital sketches. In the case of the former, heavy stocks like Bristol board, watercolor paper and charcoal sheets can be used for the base of the original drawings. In this example by Charles Vess, each individual panel has been cut out from drawing paper and glued onto a thicker board. This 15 x 20 inches finished work is far too large to fit nicely into the typical comic book, so when it was printed the piece would have been scaled down.
Vess, Charles
VCU Libraries, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections and Archives, Charles Vess Papers M374.
1980
Inscriptions of previous owners on fly leaf<em> of The Invention of Lithography</em> by Alois Senefelder, 1911.
Flyleaf inscription reads: "Presented to the Art Club of Richmond, 521 West Grace Street, 1917 ; Inherited from the Art Club of Richmond, Virginia by the atelier of Nora Houston and Ade?le Clark [...] 1918 ; Presented to Maurice Bonds by Ade?le Clark 1961; Note: the original presentation was made by E.A. Hoen through E. Weber Hoen of the above Co. ; To David Freed who carried on the good work, by Maurice Bonds 1985."<br /><br />Book cover also shown on this page.
Senefelder, Alois
VCU Libraries, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections and Archives, NE2420 .S53 1911
VCU Libraries, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections and Archives
1911
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