Posy Simmonds, Lynda Barry and David Shrigley are all well known cartoonists, as well as illustrators, artists, teachers and a wide range of other sub-occupations. They have all made a dent in the world of art, but in different ways.
Posy Simmonds well known for regular comic strips in news papers such as the Guardian and Observer, and author and illustrator for her children’s books such as Fred (1987) where she successfully deals with the subject of death for young children. Simmonds work is normally aimed at the middle-class society reader, and often observing social or political content of the time in a light hearted manner, making her work well suited for the Guardian readers. Some of her 1980’s cartoons is a liberal view of the Conservative government and Thatcherism that was happening at the time. Recently her comic Tamara Drewe was made into a film1.
Lynda Barry uses her child-like drawings to engage with her audience, making the traditional mainstream sense of hierarchy between artist and reader irrelevant and brings the artist down to the same level as the reader. She achieves this using a variety of techniques including; flattening perspective, non-rigid human anatomy where joints can bend in unnatural ways, lack of proportion, a varying thickness in line to mimic the difficult a young child would have holding a paint brush and trying to draw accurate lines2. Barry is an American cartoonist but seems to aim towards a middle class society like Simmonds does towards the British.
Simmonds and Barry are two rarities in the comic industry, in the fact that there is an absence in female cartoonists throughout history and has been a male dominant industry. An important factor for female cartoonists to be considered in this world is to have a shared laughter between male and female audiences, as not to constrict the artist into a stereotypic role3.
David Shrigley also uses a naïve approach to his work like Barry, and like both of the aforementioned cartoonists, he has a strong flare for wit. Shrigley’s work is much bolder, and he uses bold black lines and blocked out colour with provocative captions.
Out of the three artists Simmonds uses a more refined technique of proportion, perspective and detail, which aids advantage to her work for her intended readers. Shrigley and Barry’s naïve quality functions in a different manner, yet all three artists are directed at similar audiences.[1]
2.Samancı, Ö. “Lynda Barry’s Humor: At the Juncture of Private and Public, Invitation and Dissemination, Childish and Professional”, International Journal of Comic Art [Online] Volume 8, Issue 2, p181-99 Fall 2006,Available: Art Full Text (H.W Wilson)
3.Samancı, 2006, p181-99
Bibliography
Book
1.Shrigley, D, Kill your pets, London: Red Stone, 2004
2.Shrigley, D. The Book of Shrigley, London: Red Stone, 2005
3.Simmonds, P. Fred, London: Cape 1987
Article in Electronic Catalogue
1.Samancı, Ö. “Lynda Barry’s Humor: At the Juncture of Private and Public, Invitation and Dissemination, Childish and Professional”,International Journal of Comic Art [Online] Volume 8, Issue 2, p181-99 Fall 2006, Available: Art Full Text (H.W Wilson) [29thJanuary 2011]
Website
1.Dr Jules Smith, “Posy Simmonds,” [Online]http://literature.britishcouncil.org/posy-simmonds [29th January 2011]
2. “David Shrigley,” [Online] http://www.davidshrigley.com/ [29th January 2011]
3.”Lynda Barry Bibliography,” [Online ]http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/artBio.php?artist=a45a8141b837f5[29th January 2011]
4.Nicholas Lezard, “David Shrigley: one of the cleverest, funniest conceptual artists,” [Online]http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/jan/27/david-shrigley-conceptual-artist?newsfeed=true [29th January 2011]
5.Nicholas Wroe “A life in drawing: Posy Simmonds,” [Online]http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/28/posy-simmonds-tamara-drewe-interview [29th January 2011]
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