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Cartoonist

Cartoonist

A cartoonist is an artist who specializes in drawing cartoons. The term can also be applied to those who produce comic books, anime, manga, as well as comic strip creators and those working in animation. Those artists whose work is said to have a "cartoony" style are also called cartoonists. A cartoonist traditionally sketches the picture out roughly in pencil first, before going over the sketches in black ink, using either brushes or metal nibbed pens. Cartoonists whose work is intended for online publication increasingly work in digital media. Large comic book publishers (such as Marvel or DC) utilize teams of cartoonists to produce the art (typically one doing the pencil work and another doing the inking, with the coloring added digitally by colorists). When a consistent artistic style is wanted among different cartoonists (such as Archie Comics), character model sheets may be used as reference. Traditional animation houses employ specialized cartoonists, called "inbetweeners", to draw the motions connecting the broad movements of a character.

External links

- [http://www.cartoon-crn.com/index.htm Cartoonists Rights Network] Category:Art and design workers
- Cartoonist ja:漫画家 simple:Cartoonist

Cartoon

A cartoon is any of several forms of art, with varied meanings that evolved from one to another.

Historical

In its original historical meaning, a cartoon (from the Italian cartone, meaning "big paper") is a full-size drawing made on paper as a study for a further artwork, such as a painting or tapestry. Cartoons were typically used in the production of frescoes, to accurately link the component parts of the composition when painted onto plaster over a series of days. Such cartoons often have pinpricks where the outline of the design has been picked out in the plaster. Cartoons by painters such as Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci are highly prized in their own right.

Print media

Leonardo da Vinci In modern print media, a cartoon is an illustration, usually humorous in intent. This usage dates from 1843 when Punch magazine applied the term to satirical drawings in its pages, particularly sketches by John Leech. The first of these parodied the preparatory cartoons for grand historical frescoes in the then-new Palace of Westminster. The original title for these drawings was Mr Punch's pencillings and the new title "cartoon" was intended to be ironic, a reference to the self-aggrandising posturing of Westminster politicians. Modern gag cartoons are found in magazines and newspapers and generally consist of a single drawing with a caption immediately beneath or (less often) a speech balloon. Many consider New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno the father of the modern gag cartoon (as did Arno himself). Gag cartoonists of note include Charles Addams, Gary Larson, Charles Barsotti, Chon Day and Mel Calman. Editorial cartoons are a variation of this, found almost exclusively in news publications. Although they also employ humor, they are more serious in tone, commonly using irony or satire. The art usually acts as a visual metaphor to illustrate a point of view on current social and/or political topics. Editorial cartoons often include speech balloons and, sometimes, multiple panels. Editorial cartoonists of note include Herblock and Mike Peters. Comic strips are found daily in newspapers worldwide, and are usually a short series of cartoon illustrations in sequence. They are not as commonly called "cartoons" themselves, but rather "comics" or "funnies". Nonetheless, the creators of comic strips - as well as comic books and graphic novels - are referred to as "cartoonists". Although humor is the most prevalent subject matter, adventure and drama are also represented in this medium. Noteworthy cartoonists in this sense include Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson, Scott Adams, and Mort Walker.

Motion pictures

Mort Walker Because of the stylistic similarities between comic strips and early animated movies, "cartoon" came to refer to animation, and this is the sense in which "cartoon" is most commonly used today. These are usually shown on television or in cinemas and are created by showing illustrated images in rapid succession to give the impression of movement. In this meaning, the word cartoon is sometimes shortened to toon (which may be a corruption of "Looney Tunes" and was popularized by the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit). Although the term can be applied to any animated presentation, it is most often used in reference to programs for children, featuring anthropomorphized animals, superheroes, the adventures of child protagonists, and other related genres. Animated material which does not fit the traditional conventions of Western animation, such as Japanese anime can also be called cartoons.

External links

- [http://www.punch.co.uk/ Punch website's history of cartoons]
- [http://www.cartoonbank.com New Yorker's Cartoon Bank]
- [http://www.cagle.com/ Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index]
- [http://www.toonopedia.com Don Markenstein's Toonopedia]
- [http://www.bcdb.com/ Big Cartoon Database]
- [http://www.goldenagecartoons.com/ Golden Age of Cartoons]
- [http://www.toon-cycle.com/ Toon-Cycle: Cartoon community and media resources] Category:Art genres Category:Film ja:%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%82%A5%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3 th:การ์ตูน

Anime

:This article is about Japanese animation. For the oleo-resin, see Animé (oleo-resin). Animé (oleo-resin) Anime (アニメ, see Terminology section about pronunciation) is a style of animation originating in Japan. It is sometimes referred to by the portmanteau Japanimation. Anime is characterized by stark, colorful graphics and stylized, colorful images depicting vibrant characters in a variety of different settings and story-lines, aimed at a wide range of audiences. Anime is usually influenced by Japanese comics known as manga.

Terminology

manga on top of the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo]] The Japanese term for animation is アニメーション (animēshon, pronounced: ), written in katakana. It is a direct transliteration of the English term "animation." The Japanese term is abbreviated as アニメ (anime, pronounced: ). Both the original and abbreviated forms are valid and interchangeable in Japanese. The term is a broad one, and does not specify an animation's nation of origin or style. In turn, the English word anime is a transliteration of the abbreviated version of this Japanese term, and it is typically pronounced as , or "ANN ih may" ("AH nee may" is a less common variant). Some non-Japanese speakers theorize the word comes from the French animé ("animated") or "les dessins animés" (animated drawings) and pronounce it as "ah nee MAY", though the Japanese themselves deny this theory, and the fact that it is written in Japanese syllables as アニメ (anime) rather than アニメー (animei) further lowers its credibility. As with a few other Japanese words such as Pokémon and Kobo Abé, anime is sometimes spelled as animé in English with an acute accent over the final e to cue the reader that the letter is pronounced as . Hence, the pronunciations "ah NEEM" and "uh NEEM" are incorrect. Anime once bore the popular name Japanimation, but this term has fallen into disuse. It saw the most usage during the 1970s and 1980s, which broadly comprise the first and second waves of anime fandom. The term survived at least into the early 1990s but seemed to fade away shortly before the mid-1990s anime resurgence. In general, the term now only appears in nostalgic contexts. The term Japanimation is much more commonly used in Japan to refer to domestic animation. Since anime or animeshon is used to describe all forms of animation, Japanimation is meant to distinguish Japanese work from that of the rest of the world. In more recent years, anime has also frequently been referred to as manga in Europe, a practice that may stem from the Japanese usage. In Japan, manga can refer to both animation and comics (although the use of "manga" to refer to animation is mostly restricted to non-fans). Among English speakers, manga usually has the stricter meaning of "Japanese comics". An alternate explanation is that it is due to the prominence of Manga Entertainment, a distributor of anime to the US and UK markets. This term is much more common in Europe since Manga Entertainment started out in the UK. The voice actors for anime usually bear the Japanese equivalent designation, seiyū.

History

seiyū. (1963-1966)]] Though filmmakers in Japan had been experimenting with animation beforehand, the first widely popular anime series was cartoonist Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy in 1963. During the 1970s, anime developed further, separating itself from its Western roots, and developing unique genres such as giant robots (popularly known among English-speaking fans as mecha). Notable shows in this period include Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Lupin III and Mazinger Z. In the 1980s, anime experienced a boom in production. The start of the Gundam franchise and the beginnings of cartoonist Rumiko Takahashi's career have their roots here. Akira set records in 1988 for the production costs of an anime. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the increased acceptance of anime in overseas markets. Cowboy Bebop was widely popular in Japan and attracted attention in the West. Spirited Away shared the first prize at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002, and Innocence: Ghost in the Shell was featured at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Characteristics

2004 Cannes Film Festival]] Anime features a wide variety of genres and unique artistic styles which varies from artist to artist and each attracts a different target audience.

Target Audience

Anime is often an explicitly commercial art form; producers and marketers aim for very specific audiences, with focused categories for shōnen (boys) and shōjo (girls) genres, as well as for teenagers and adults.

Genres

Anime can have as many genres as live action cinema, including adventure, science fiction, children's stories, romance, medieval fantasy, erotica (hentai), occult/horror, action. Most anime includes a variety of thematic elements. Many anime shows feature a large mix of genres, making distinguishing and categorizing difficult. A show might have a seemingly simple surface plot, but at the same time feature far more complex storyline and character development. For example, it is not uncommon for strongly action-themed anime to involve humor, romance, and even poignant social commentary, and romance-themed anime may involve a strong action element. The following are genres and designations that are specific to anime and manga. (For other possible genres, see list of movie genres.)
- Bishōjo: Japanese for 'beautiful girl', blanket term that can be used to describe any anime that features pretty girls.
- Bishōnen: Japanese for 'beautiful boy' blanket term that can be used to describe any anime that features "pretty" and elegant boys and men, example: Fushigi Yugi
- Ecchi: Japanese for 'indecent sexuality'. Contains mild sexual humor, example: Love Hina
- Hentai: Japanese for 'abnormal' or 'perverted'. Pornographic anime, erotica. Sometimes referred to as "seinen" (成年; adult).
- Yaoi: Homo-erotic hentai featuring men, intended for females. Increasingly used in North America to refer to shounen-ai (boys-love) titles.
- Yuri: Homo-erotic hentai featuring women.
- Shotacon: As in 'shotaro complex' - erotic anime featuring young boys.
- Lolicon: As in 'lolita complex' - erotic anime featuring young girls.
- Josei: Japanese for 'young woman', this is anime or manga that is aimed at young women, and is one of the rarest forms.
- Kodomo: Japanese for 'child', this is anime or manga that is aimed at young children, example Doraemon.
- Mecha: Anime or manga featuring giant robots, an example is Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- Moé: Anime or manga featuring characters that are extremely perky or cute, example Little Snow Fairy Sugar.
- Progressive: "Art films" or extremely stylized anime, example Voices of a Distant Star.
- Seinen: Anime or manga targeted at young male adults, example Oh My Goddess!.
- Sentai/Super Sentai: Literally "fighting team" in Japanese, refers to any show that involves a superhero team (e.g. Cyborg 009).
- Shōjo: Japanese for 'young lady' or 'little girl', refers to anime or manga targeted at girls, example Cardcaptor Sakura.
- Mahō Shōjo: Subgenre of Shoujo known for 'Magical Girl' stories, example Sailor Moon.
- Shōjo-ai: Japanese for 'girl-love', refers to anime or manga that focus on love and romance between female characters, example Revolutionary Girl Utena.
- Shōnen: Japanese for 'boys', refers to anime or manga targeted at boys, example Dragon Ball Z.
- Shōnen-ai: Japanese for 'boy-love', refers to anime or manga that focus on love and romance between male characters. This term is being phased out in Japan due to references to pedophilia, and is being replaced by the term "Boys Love" (BL). An example of this style is Gravitation.

Music

Songs and music used in Anime can bring a view of the story to the audience, or allow the audience to ask questions relating to the story, some of which are not commonly asked, or are plotholes which have been discovered. Mai-HiME 's insert song "It's Only The Fairy Tale" is an example of the former, while various opening songs (Abbrevation: OP) and ending themes (Abbrevation: ED) can also provide a (occasionally hidden) summary of the story. Other characteristics of songs and music in Anime include those played to add emotions or tones to a certain scene, for example Neon Genesis Evangelion 's "Decisive Battle", played when the EVA characters have to make battle preparations against enemies, has heavy drum beats and a militaristic-style of music, indicating that something serious is going to happen. In this way, music and songs become a very important "ingredient" in Anime.

Animation Style

Decisive Battle It should be noted that typically the drawing style used in anime is counter productive to the animation process, having far too many details and subsequently making it difficult to keep the number of drawings comparable to other cartoons with design ethics that stress simplicity. This may be due to a philosophy of pouring more effort into a each of a few drawings than less effort into one of many. Osamu Tezuka adapted and simplified many Disney animation precepts to reduce the budget and number of frames, though it should be noted that Disney films are not anime. This was intended to be a temporary measure to allow him to produce one episode every week with inexperienced animation staff. Anime studios have since perfected techniques to draw as little new animation as possible, using scrolling or repeating backgrounds, still shots of characters sliding across the screen, and dialogue which involves only animating the mouths while the rest of the screen remains absolutely still, a technique not wholly unfamiliar to Western animation. The overall effect of these techniques—reduced frame rate, many still shots, scrolling backgrounds—has led some critics to accuse anime of choppiness or poor quality in general. (See also limited animation.) However, there are often scenes where the frame rate of the animation far exceeds the norm of the rest of the work. These are commonly called "money shots" outside Japan, where more effort is put into the animation of one scene to give it emphasis over the rest of the work. Animator Yasuo Otsuka was the pioneer of this technique. Exceptions to these rules are early classic films, such as those produced by Toei Animation up to the mid 1960s, and recent big budget films, such as those produced by the enormously successful Studio Ghibli. These movies have much higher production values, due to their anticipated success at the box office. Some animators in Japan can overcome production values by utilizing different techniques than Disney or the old Tezuka/Otsuka norms of anime. Directors such as Hiroyuki Imaishi (RE: Cutey Honey, Dead Leaves) simplify backgrounds so that more attention can be paid to character animation. Other animators like Tatsuyuki Tanaka (in Koji Morimoto's Eternal Family in particular) use squash and stretch, an animation technique not often used by Japanese animators; Tanaka makes other shortcuts to compensate for this. Some higher-budgeted television and OVA (Original Video Animation) series also forego shortcuts found in most other anime. In short, anime tends to be dominated by a school of animation thought that emphasizes direction over character motion as means to save money. Other schools of thought in animation do exist in Japan but these works are less common. Mainstream anime is often very stylized. Because of this stylization certain features or concepts have become so common that they have been given names of their own. Often in comedic anime, characters that are shocked or surprised will perform a "face fault", in which they take an extremely exaggerated expression. Angry characters may exhibit a "vein" or "stressmark" effect, where four lines representing stylized bulging veins will appear on their forehead. Angry women will sometimes summon a mallet from nowhere and strike someone with it, leading to the concept of Hammerspace. Male characters will develop an inexplicable bloody nose around their female love interests (typically to indicate arousal). Embarrassed characters will invariably produce a massive sweat-drop, which has become something of a stereotype of anime. More auteuristic schools of anime don't use such shorthands or find different but similar ways to express the same thing. FLCL (pronounced "Furi Kuri" and sometimes called "Fooly Cooly") is known for more wild exaggerated stylized emotions than in most mainstream works. In contrast an Isao Takahata film like Only Yesterday takes a much more realistic approach emphasizing realism over stylization. Another unique aspect of anime not found in other commercial animation markets is the lack of a directoral system. In most animation produced around the world animators are all forced to conform to a set style by the director or animation director. In Japan starting with the animation director Yoshinori Kanada (as a means to save time and money) each animator brings his/her own style to the work. The most extreme examples of this can be found in Mindgame or The Hakkenden. The Hakkenden is particularly extreme showing constantly shifting styles of animation based upon the key animator that worked on that particular episode. This approach combined with Otsuka's "money shots" make key animators important individuals in the style and production of an anime film. Many non-Japanese cartoons are starting to incorporate mainstream anime shortcuts and symbols to appeal to anime's tremendously growing fanbase and cut costs.

The "large eyes" style

Large, saucer-like eyes are a striking and common feature of anime characters. This is mainly due to the influence of Osamu Tezuka, who was inspired by the exaggerated features of Western cartoon characters such as Betty Boop and Mickey Mouse and from Disney's Bambi. Tezuka found that large eyes allowed his characters to better express their emotions. Some Western audiences have interpreted such stylized eyes as more Caucasian. Cultural anthropologist Matt Thorn argues that Japanese animators and audiences do not perceive them as inherently more or less foreign. When he began drawing Ribbon no Kishi, the first manga specifically targeted at young girls, Tezuka further exaggerated the size of the characters' eyes. Indeed, through Ribbon no Kishi, Tezuka set a stylistic template that later shōjo artists tended to follow. Another variation of this style is "chibi" or "super-deformed"; which usually feature huge eyes, an enlarged head, and small body.

Production Types of anime

Most anime can be categorized as one of three types:
- Films, which are generally released in theaters, represent the highest budgets and generally the highest video quality. Popular anime movies include Akira, and Spirited Away. Some anime films are only released at film or animation festivals and are shorter and sometimes lower in production values. Some examples of these are Winter Days, and Osamu Tezuka's Legend of the Forest. Other types of films include compilation movies, which are television episodes edited together and presented in theaters for various reasons, and are hence a concentrated form of a television serial. These may, however, be longer than the average movie. There are also theatrical shorts derived from existing televisions series and billed in Japanese theaters together to form feature-length showing.
- Television series anime is syndicated and broadcast on television on a regular schedule. Television series are generally low quality compared to OVA (Original Video Animation) and film titles, because the production budget is spread out over many episodes rather than a single film or a short series. Most episodes are about 23 minutes in length, to fill a typical thirty-minute time slot with added commercials. One full season is 26 episodes, and many titles run half seasons, or 13 episodes. Most TV series anime episodes will have opening credits, closing credits, and often an "eyecatch", a very short scene, often humorous or silly, that is used to signal the start or end of the commercial break (as "bumpers" in the United States are used in a similar fashion). "Eyecatch" scenes are often found in TV series anime and are generally similar throughout the series.
- OVA (Original Video Animation; sometimes OAV, or Original Animated Video) anime is often similar to a television miniseries. OVAs are typically two to twenty episodes in length; one-shots are particularly short, usually less than film-length. They are most commonly released directly to video. As a general rule OVA anime tends to be of high quality, approaching that of films. Titles often have a very regular, continuous plot best enjoyed if all episodes are viewed in sequence. Popular OVA titles include FLCL, Bubblegum Crisis, and Tenchi Muyo!. Opening credits, closing credits, and eyecatches may sometimes be found in OVA releases, but not universally. It is very common for one title to spawn several different releases. A title that starts as a popular television series might then have a movie produced at a later date. A good example is Tenchi Muyo!—originally an OVA, Tenchi Muyo! spawned three movies, three television series, and several spinoff titles and specials.

Licensing and distribution

Anime is available outside of Japan in localized form, referred to as licensed anime or Dubs. Licensed anime is modified by western distributors through dubbing into the language of the country. The anime may also be edited to alter cultural references that may not be understood by a non-Japanese person and companies may remove what may be perceived as objectionable content. For the fans who may object to the editing and dubbing of anime, DVDs may be their preference. DVD releases often include both the dubbed audio and the original Japanese audio with subtitles, are typically unedited, and lack commercials.

Fansubs

Although it is a violation of copyright laws in many countries, some fans watch fansubs, recordings of anime series that have been subtitled by fans. Watching subtitled Japanese versions is usually seen as the intended method of watching anime by enthusiasts. The ethical implications of producing, distributing, or watching fansubs is a topic of much controversy even when fansub groups do not profit from and cease distribution of their work once the series has been licensed. See fansub for further discussion of ethical issues of fansubbing

References

- Clements, Jonathan and Helen McCarthy. The Anime Encyclopedia. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 2001. ISBN 1880656647.
- Napier, Susan J. Anime: From Akira to Princess Mononoke. New York: Palgrave, 2001. ISBN 031223862.
- Poitras, Gilles. Anime Companion. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 1998. ISBN 1880656329.
- Poitras, Gilles. Anime Essentials. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 2000. ISBN 1880656531.
- Baricordi, Andrea and Pelletier, Claude. Anime: A Guide to Japanese Animation (1958-1988). Montreal, Canada.: Protoculture, 2000. ISBN 2980575909. #

External links

Databases

- [http://www.anidb.net/ AniDB]: database of anime series, hashes, fansub groups, and 'mylist' feature
- [http://www.animelyrics.com/ Anime Lyrics]
- [http://www.AnimeNfo.com/ AnimeNfo]: Anime database, reviews and community forums
- [http://www.animeacademy.com/ Anime Academy]: Anime database, community forum; articles on culture, style, prominent figures, etc.

Link sites

- [http://www.animeallies.com Anime Allies Directory] Directory of quality anime sites and resources.
- [http://www.anipike.com/ Anime Web Turnpike]

News

- [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ Anime News Network]: one of the oldest and busiest English language anime news sources on the net. Also has weekly columns, forums, and an extremely extensive encyclopedia of series, companies, and staff/cast

Wikis

- [http://www.anime-wiki.org/ Anime Wiki] Their goal is to build the wiki without copying other sources (e.g. Wikipedia)

Other reference

- [http://www.animeondvd.com/ Anime on DVD]: one of the most popular anime web sites with an extensive list of reviews of anime DVDs, primarily Region 1, and an active forum
- [http://www.animefridge.com/ Anime Fridge] An archive of anime, video games, manga, and related soundrack reviews. It has a continuously growing community forum.
- [http://www.theanimereview.com/ The Anime Review] Reviews of current and past anime series
- [http://www.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeTrope Anime Tropes]: common cliches and visual cues.
- ko:재패니메이션 ms:Anime ja:アニメ th:อะนิเมะ

Comic strip creator

A comic strip creator, also known as a newspaper strip creator or cartoonist, is an artist who produces work in the medium of the comic strip. Typically, these artists do so for syndicates such as the Universal Press syndicate or King Features syndicate. Their cartoons are usually printed in newspapers. The Sunday cartoon strips, which are colored, go to a coloring company such as American Color before they are published. Comic strips can also be collected in books.

Pencil

A pencil is a handheld instrument used to write and draw, usually on paper. The writing is done with graphite (except for colored pencils), which is typically covered by a wooden sheath. Pencils may also have an eraser or "rubber" attached to one end, typically by means of a metal ferrule. The pencil differs from most pens in that erasing is possible.

History

pen The prototypical pencil may have been the ancient Roman stylus, which was a thin metal stick used for scratching on papyrus, often made of lead. The word pencil comes from the Latin word penicillus which means "little tail". Some time prior to 1565 (some sources say as early as 1500), an enormous deposit of graphite was discovered at the site of Seathwaite Fell near Borrowdale, Cumbria, England. The locals found that it was very useful for marking sheep. This particular deposit of graphite was extremely pure and solid and it could easily be sawed into sticks. This was and remains the only deposit of graphite ever found in this solid form. Chemistry was in its infancy and the substance was thought to be a form of lead. Consequently it was called plumbago (Latin for "acts like lead"). The black core of pencils is still called "lead", even though it does not contain the element lead. The value of plumbago was soon realised to be enormous, mainly because it could be used to line the moulds for cannon balls, and the mines were taken over by the Crown and guarded. Graphite had to be smuggled out for use in pencils. Because the plumbago was soft, it required some form of case. Plumbago sticks were at first wrapped in string or in sheepskin for stability. The news of the usefulness of these early pencils spread far and wide, attracting the attentions of artists all over the known world. Although deposits of graphite had been found in other parts of the world, they were not of the same purity and quality as the Borrowdale find, and had to be crushed to remove the impurities, leaving only graphite powder. England continued to enjoy a monopoly on the production of pencils until a method of reconstituting the graphite powder was found. The distinctively square English pencils continued to be made with sticks cut from natural graphite into the 1860s. Today, the town of Keswick, near the original findings of block graphite, has a pencil museum. The first attempt to manufacture graphite sticks from powdered graphite was in Nuremberg, Germany in 1662. They used a mixture of graphite, sulfur and antimony. Though usable they were inferior to the English pencils. antimony It was the Italians who first thought of wooden holders. An Italian couple in particular named Simonio and Lyndiana Bernacotti were believed to be the the ones to create the first blueprints for the modern carpentry pencil for the cause of being able to mark their carpentry pieces, however, their version was instead a flat oval, more compact type of pencil. They did this at first by hollowing out a stick of juniper wood. Shortly thereafter, a superior technique was discovered: two wooden halves were carved, a plumbago stick inserted, and the two halves then glued together—essentially the same method that is in use to this day. English and German pencils were not available to the French during the Napoleonic wars. It took the efforts of an officer in Napoleon's army to change this. In 1795 Nicholas Jacques Conté discovered a method of mixing powdered graphite with clay and forming the mixture into rods which were then fired in a kiln. By varying the ratio of graphite to clay, the hardness of the graphite rod could also be varied (the more clay, the harder the pencil, and the lighter the color of the mark). This method of manufacture remains in use today. America colonists imported pencils from Europe until after the American Revolution. Benjamin Franklin advertised pencils for sale in his Pennsylvania Gazette in 1729, and George Washington used a three-inch pencil when he surveyed the Ohio Territory in 1762. It is said that William Munroe, a cabinetmaker in Concord, Massachusetts, made the first American wood pencils in 1812. If so, this was not the only pencil-making in Concord. According to Henry Petroski, transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau discovered how to make a good pencil out of inferior graphite using clay as the binder; this invention was prompted by his father's pencil factory in Concord, which employed graphite found in New Hampshire in 1821 by Charles Dunbar.

Manufacture

New Hampshire Today, pencils are made industrially by mixing finely ground graphite and clay powders, adding water, forming long spaghetti-like strings, and firing them in a kiln. The resulting strings are dipped in oil or molten wax which seeps into the tiny holes of the material, resulting in smoother writing. A juniper or incense-cedar plank with several long parallel grooves is cut to make something called a slat, and the graphite/clay strings are inserted into the grooves. Another grooved plank is glued on top, and the whole thing is then cut into individual pencils, which are then varnished or painted. Many pencils, particularly those used by artists, are labelled on the European system using a scale from "H" (for hardness) to "B" (for blackness), as well as "F" (for fine point). The standard writing pencil is "HB". However, artist's pencils can vary widely in order to provide a range of marks for different visual effects on the page. A set of art pencils ranging from a very hard, light-marking pencil to a very soft, black-marking pencil usually ranges from hardest to softest as follows: 9H 8H 7H 6H 5H 4H 3H 2H H F HB B 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B 7B 8B 9B The American system, using numbers only, developed simultaneously with the following approximate equivalents to the European system. U.S. Europe #1 = B #2 = HB (most common) #2 1/2 = F (also seen as 2 4/8, 2.5, 2 5/10, due to patent issues) #3 = H #4 = 2H Even though the natural deposits of pure graphite are tapped out, it is still possible to write the way Englishmen did centuries ago, without clay or wax additives leaving oily stains on paper. Chemical supply companies commonly sell 99.995% pure graphite rods in 3 mm and 6 mm diameters. The largest commonly available mechanical pencils ("lead holders") take 2 mm leads.

Pencils in space

A story in circulation since the 1970s tells of NASA spending large sums of money, typically in the millions of dollars, to develop an instrument that would write in space (a space pen). This task is not as simple as it seems, for standard ballpoints and fountain pens require gravity in order to function. The typical punch line is that either someone sends NASA a pencil, or that the Soviets used pencils. This second form appeared as a joke as high up as an episode of The West Wing. While humorous, it is not true (See [http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp Snopes] for details). There are drawbacks to using pencils in space. The act of writing would cause graphite dust to come free from the lead and float about the cabin. From there it could become a health risk by being inhaled by the astronauts, clog filters in the ventilation system, or even cause short-circuits by getting into switches and other electrical equipment.

Carpenter's pencil

A carpenter's pencil is not round or square. It appears as though it were a flattened circle. This shape performs two functions; a flat pencil does not roll away from the user, and a flatter pencil marks a line closer to the cutting edge, allowing for a more precise cut.

Miscellaneous

The pencil is a common cause of minor puncture injuries in young children. The tip of the lead may leave a grey mark inside the skin for years. This led to the old-wife's tale that the lead bits could be passed through the blood vessels into the brain, causing retardation in those with such a wound. Of course, pencil lead is graphite (carbon) and does not contain the element lead, so it is not poisonous, despite what teachers have been telling school children for decades.

References

- Petroski, Henry (1990). The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0394574222; ISBN 0679734155.
- Petroski, Henry. H. D. Thoreau, Engineer. American Heritage of Invention and Technology, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 8-16.

External links

- [http://pencils.smoky.ca/ paper and pencil]
- [http://www.pencilpages.com/ The Pencil Pages] – A website containing history, numbering systems, and other pencil information
- [http://pencilrevolution.com/ Pencil Revolution]
- [http://www.dibujosparapintar.com/english_activities/drawing_course_pencil.html Pencil information] More information about the pencils.
- [http://www.pencils.co.uk/ The Cumberland Pencil Museum in Keswick]
- [http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/7942sci4.html History of pencils, pencil lead; details of modern pencil manufacture] – An article from the American Chemical Society Category:Art materials Category:Writing instruments Category:Stationery Category:Pencils ko:연필 ms:Pensil ja:鉛筆 simple:Pencil

Brush

The term brush refers to a variety of devices mainly with bristles, wire or other filament of any possible material used mainly for cleaning, grooming hair, painting, deburring and other kinds of surface finishing, but also for many other purposes like (but not limited to) seals, alternative traction systems and any other use imaginable for this tool. In the industry it is possible to find many configurations such as twisted in wire (like the ones used to wash baby feeding bottles), cylinders, disks (with bristles spread in one face or radially) or in any other shape needed. There are many ways of setting the bristle in the brush: the most common is the staple or anchor set brush, in which the filament is forced with a staple by the middle into a hole with a special driver and held there by the pressure against the walls of the hole and the portions of the staple nailed to the bottom of the hole. The staple can be substituted with a kind of anchor, which is a piece of rectangular profile wire that, instead of nailing itself to the bottom of hole, is anchored to the wall of the hole, like in most toothbrushes. Another way to set the bristles to the surface can be found in the fused brush, in which instead of being inserted into a hole, a plastic fiber is welded to another plastic surface, giving the additional advantage of optionally using different diameters of tufts in the same brush, and a considerably thinner surface (sometimes the bristles can be set this way to the outer surface of a plastic bottle!). See below for some other common kinds of brushes.

Hairbrushes

Main article: Hairbrush Brushes with rigid bristles are often used in hair care, to comb human or animal hair. Brushes are more useful with longer hair, while combs are typically used for shorter hair.

Brushes for cleaning

Brushes used for cleaning come in various forms and sizes, such as very small brushes for cleaning a fine instrument, toothbrushes, the larger household version that usually comes with a dustpan, or the broomstick . Some brushes, usually used for professional cleaning could be even bigger, like some hallbrooms, used for cleaning wider areas. A very important usage of cleaning brushes can be found in the industry. Thousands of different cleaning brushes can be found in the food industry like brushes for cleaning vegetables, washing glass, or even other special uses like finishing tiles or even sanding doors for example. Those brushes are unique ones, made specially for a given machine by the manufacturer of the machines or a few special companies dedicated to make custom designs.

Paintbrushes

Paintbrushes are used for applying ink or paint. These are usually made by clamping the bristles to a handle with a ferrule. Paintbrush may also refer to the digital equivalent one would find in a bitmap graphics editor, i.e. a virtual brush that can modify a digital picture. Paintbrushes can have three shapes:
- Round: The long, closely arranged bristles of these brushes enable them to hold more paint than other similarly sized but differently shaped brushes. This is why many artists prefer them for painting large areas and for color washes.
- Flat: These spread paint well
- Fan-shaped: These mix paint well. Various types of brushes are used for painting pictures:
- Brights are flat brushes with short stiff bristles and can be useful in impasto work.
- Filberts are flat brushes with pointy ends. You can vary the width of the stroke by applying more or less pressure.
- Hakes are larger flat brushes used for covering large areas.
- Riggers are round brushes with longish hairs, and were traditionally used for painting the rigging in pictures of ships. They are useful for fine lines.
- Spotters are round brushes with just a few short bristles. Image:Filbert.png The paintbrush has appeared as a charge in heraldry.

Brush care

- Paint must be cleaned from brushes immediately after use. This is especially true for oil and acrylic paint because removing dry, set residue can take bristles off or ruin a brush's shape.
- Never leave brushes bristle-end down in a container of water, turpentine, or any other solvent (if you want to clean them, do it by hand or with a wet cloth). This is because the bristles of the brush spread out against the bottom of the container and, will, if left too long, set that way (like hair).

Sizes and materials

Decorators' brushes

The sizes of brushes used for painting and decorating, usually given in mm or inches, refer to the width of the head. Common sizes are:
- ⅛ in, ¼ in, ⅜ in, ½ in, ⅝ in, ¾ in, ⅞ in, 1 in, 1¼ in, 1½ in, 2 in, 2½ in, 3 in, 3½ in, 4 in.
- 10 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 60 mm, 70 mm, 80 mm, 90 mm, 100 mm. Bristles may be natural or synthetic. Natural bristles are preferred for oil-based paints and varnishes, while synthetic brushes are better for water-based paints as the bristles do not expand when wetted. Handles may be wood or plastic; ferrules are metal (usually nickel-plated steel).

Artists' brushes

Artists' brushes are usually given numbered sizes, although there is no exact standard for their physical dimensions. From smallest to largest, the sizes are:
- 7/0 (also written 0000000), 6/0, 5/0, 4/0, 000, 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30. Sizes 000 to 20 are most common. Bristles may be natural -- either soft hair or hog bristle -- or synthetic.
- Soft hair brushes are made from Kolinsky sable or ox hair (sabeline); or more rarely, squirrel, pony, goat, or badger. Cheaper hair is sometimes called camel hair... but doesn't come from camels.
- Hog bristle (often called china bristle) is stiffer and stronger than soft hair. It may be bleached or unbleached.
- Synthetic bristles are made of special multi-diameter extruded nylon filament. Artists' brush handles are commonly wooden, but the cheapest brushes may have moulded plastic handles. Many mass-produced handles are made of unfinished raw wood; better quality handles are of seasoned hardwood. The wood is sealed and lacquered to give the handle a high-gloss, waterproof finish that reduces soiling and swelling. Metal ferrules may be of aluminum, nickel, copper, or nickel-plated steel. Quill ferrules are also found: these give a different "feel" to the brush.
- [http://www.passionforpaint.com/Paintbrush.html The Invaluable Paintbrush] Category:Tools Category:Painting materials ja:筆

Digital media

Digital media (as opposed to analog media) usually refers to electronic media that work on digital codes. Today, computing is primarily based on the binary numeral system. In this case digital refers to the discreet states of "0" and "1" for representing arbitrary data. Computers are machines that (usually) interpret binary digital data as information and thus represent the predominating class of digital information processing machines. Digital media ("Formats for presenting information" according to Wiktionary:Media) like digital audio, digital video and other digital "content" can be created, referred to and distributed via digital information processing machines. Digital media represents a profound change from previous (analog) media. The digital data is per se independent of its interpretation (hence representation). An arbitrary sequence of digital code like "0100 0001" might be interpreted as the decimal number 65, the hexadecimal number 41 or the glyph "A". See also: ASCII, Code.

History

The history of the digital starts with the development of the number 0 (see 0 (number)) by the Babylonians about 2000BC. Around 1620, Francis Bacon researches the first binary alphabet for representing numbers and alphabetic characters. The intended use was to establish secret communication for e.g. cities under siege and armies abroad. Leibniz was the first mathematician to develop calculations in the binary system. According to some sources, John Napier had developed binary calculations even earlier. Yet, it remains to Leibniz to first think about automating calculations using the newly developed binary arithmetics. Around 1830, [Carl Friedrich Gauss] first electrifies binary information in his telegraphy experiments. He replaces "1" with "+" and "0" with "-" and thus translates binary information into electric currents. There is a rich history of non-binary digital media and computers.

Digital and analogue data

:Main article: Analog-to-digital converter. The transformation of an Analog signal to Digital information via an Analog-to-digital converter is called sampling. According to information theory, sampling is a reduction of information. Most digital media are based on translating analog data into digital data and vice-versa (see digital recording, digital video, television versus digital television).

Working with digital media

:Main article: digital signal processing. As opposed to analog data, digital data is in many cases easier to manipulate, and the end result can be reproduced indefinitely without any loss of quality. Mathematical operations can be applied to arbitrary digital information regardless of its interpretation (you can add "2" to the data "65" and interpret the result either as the hexadecimal number "43" or the letter "C"). Thus, it is possible to use e.g. the same compression operation onto a text file or an image file or a sound file. The foundations of operation on digital information are described in digital signal processing.

Examples of digital media

The following list of digital media is based on a rather technical view of the term media. Other views might lead to different lists.
- Compact Disc
- Minidisc
- Digital video
- Digital television
- eBook
- Video Game
- Internet
- World Wide Web
- and many Interactive Media

References

Coy, Wolfgang (2005): Analog/Digital. In: Warnke, Martin et al. (2005): Hyperkult II - Zur Ortsbestimmung analoger und digitaler Medien (in german), Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, ISBN 3899422740 Nelson, Ted (1990): Literary Machines, Sausalito: Mindful Press. Pflüger, Jörg (2005): Wo die Quantität in Qualität umschlägt. In: Warnke, Martin et al. (2005): Hyperkult II - Zur Ortsbestimmung analoger und digitaler Medien (in german), Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, ISBN 3899422740

External links

- Category:Digital Revolution

DC Comics

.]]DC Comics is one of the largest companies in comic book and related media publishing. Today a subsidiary of Time Warner, DC is responsible for such famous characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and their teammates in the Justice League. For decades, DC Comics has been one of the two largest American comic book companies (the other being Marvel Comics). Located in New York City for many years at 575 Lexington Avenue, DC Comics moved to 75 Rockefeller Plaza (which is still Time Warner corporate headquarters) and then to 666 Fifth Avenue. Relocating at 1325 Avenue of the Americas in 1992, DC took over several floors when it moved to 1700 Broadway in the mid-1990s. The initials "DC" are an abbreviation for Detective Comics, after one of the company's flagship titles.

History

The corporation was originally three companies: National Allied Publications (founded by Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson in 1934 to publish the first American comic book with all-original material rather than comic strip reprints); Detective Comics; and All-American Publications. The first two companies merged in the 1930s to become National Comics (later National Periodical Publications) and the third shared offices until it was bought by the merged company in 1945. At this time "DC" was simply an informal logo regularly used on the cover; the name National Periodical Publications remained the company's official name into the 1970s.

Golden Age (1930s and 1940s)

1945 This company was the first to publish original stories in comic book form in 1935 with its first title, New Fun Comics, and then was the first to feature superheroes beginning with Action Comics in 1938. It was the foremost exploiter of the new genre in the Golden Age of Comic Books, introducing such popular characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the first superhero team, the Justice Society of America. When the superhero genre faded in the late 1940s, the company focused more on other genres, such as science fiction, westerns, humour and romance. They largely avoided the crime and horror trends of the time, and thus avoided taking the brunt of the backlash against crime and horror comics in the 1950s. A handful of the most popular superhero titles (most importantly Action Comics and Detective Comics, the two longest-running titles in comics history) continued publication.

Silver Age (Late 1950s through early 1970s)

In the mid-fifties, there came a renewed interest to explore superhero properties. Instead of creating new characters, editor Julius Schwartz decided to recreate popular older characters starting with the Flash. This heralded the beginning of what is commonly referred to as the "Silver Age" of comics. The character's civilian identity, costume, and origin were all changed for a more modern audience. The new series was so popular that it soon led to similar treatment for Green Lantern and a new series which featured a team-up of all of the company's popular characters entitled the Justice League of America. On the other hand, Mort Weisinger oversaw the Superman family of titles that established many of the elements of Superman's supporting characters and villains that still influence the character to this day. In 1967, Carmine Infantino became the artistic director of the company with the declining sales, in part with the growing competition of Marvel Comics being the primary challenge. He attempted to remedy the situation with new titles like The Secret Six and recruited major talents like Steve Ditko and rising new blood as in Neal Adams. However, the results had a mixed success at best. A major change happened in the late 1960s when many veteran creators petitioned DC management for health plans, pensions and similar considerations. DC responded by curtly firing most of the offending staff and replacing them with young people who had largely grown up with the Marvel influence in comics. This proved to be a mixed blessing: for while the new employees strove for sophisticated storytelling and characters, they had little experience in the industry and the relative lack of professionalism in their work hampered the product of the company. Neal Adams), the first issue of an acclaimed run that delved into social commentary in the genre.]] social commentary There were, however, bright lights, like Dennis O'Neil, who worked on Green Lantern and Batman. Nevertheless, the period was plagued by short-lived series that started out strong, but quickly petered out when the creators, not having strong financial reasons to stay, abandoned their creations. In addition, Jack Kirby defected from Marvel to create his most artistically ambitious creation, The Fourth World titles, in which Kirby attempted to create an original sophisticated sub imprint that could appeal to a loyal fan audience. However, conflicts with management who had little faith in the concept led to the venture's premature cancellation, although the characters and concepts would become integral to the DC Multiverse.

Late 1970s and 1980s

The company was acquired by Warner Communications (now Time Warner) in 1976. During this time, DC attempted to compete with Marvel by dramatically increasing its output, which they called the "DC Explosion", including series featuring new characters, such as Firestorm and Shade, the Changing Man and several non-superhero titles. This didn't last long, with many of these series being abruptly cancelled in what industry watchers dubbed "the DC Implosion". DC Implosion In the early 1980s, the new management of publisher Jenette Kahn, vice-president Paul Levitz, and managing editor Dick Giordano decided to address the problem of talent instability in their series. To that end, they began to offer more concrete financial rewards to their talents, such as royalties which gave a direct incentive to foster successful properties and to keep with them. In addition, the company created the publishing concept of the limited series that allowed more flexible arrangements for storylines that could be successful without the pressure of immediately following them up on an indefinite basis. These policy changes immediately paid off with the success of The New Teen Titans by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, a superhero comic that earned significant sales with its artistic quality and the stability of the talent who kept with the title for years. In addition, the creative team took early advantage of the limited series option to create a spin off title, Tales of the New Teen Titans, to present the origins of their original characters without having to break the narrative flow of their main series or obliging them to double their work load with another ongoing title. This successful revitalization of a minor title led the editorship to look at doing the same to their entire line comics. The result was the limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, which gave the company an opportunity to dismiss some of the "baggage" of its history, and revise major characters such as Superman and Wonder Woman. Yet DC did not abandon their history completely. In 1989, they began publication of the DC Archive Editions, a series created to collect their early, rare issues into a permanent hardback format. DC Archive Editions Meanwhile, British writer Alan Moore had re-energized the minor horror series Saga of the Swamp Thing, and his highly acclaimed work sparked a comic book equivalent of rock's British Invasion, in which numerous British talents, including Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison, came to work for the company. The resulting influx of sophisticated horror and dark fantasy material led not only to DC abandoning the Comics Code for particular titles by those talents, but also to the later establishment in 1993 of the Vertigo imprint for mature readers. Acclaimed limited series such as The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Alan Moore's Watchmen, also drew attention to changes at DC. This new creative freedom and the attendant publicity allowed DC to seriously challenge the dominance of Marvel.

1990s

The comics industry experienced a brief boom in the early 1990s, thanks to a combination of speculative purchasing of the books as collectibles and several storylines which gained attention from the mainstream media. DC's extended storylines in which Superman was killed and Batman was crippled, resulted in dramatically increased sales, but the increases were as temporary as the substitutes, and sales dropped off as industry sales went into a major slump. DC's Piranha Press and other imprints in the 1990s were introduced to facilitate diversification and specialized marketing of its product line. They increased the use of nontraditional contractual arrangements, including creator-owned work and licensing material from other companies. They also increased publication of trade paperbacks, including both collections of serial comics and original graphic novels. The Vertigo line was aimed at an older and more literary audience, largely free of the "kid stuff" stigma its main superhero line still held. DC entered into a publishing agreement with Milestone Media, which gave the company a line of comics featuring a more culturally and racially diverse range of superhero characters; although the Milestone line ceased publication, it yielded the popular animated series Static Shock. Paradox Press was established to publish material that would be considered "mainstream" in the book trade - including the large-format Big Book of... series, and crime fiction such as Road to Perdition - but paradoxically remained a niche in the comics industry. DC purchased Wildstorm Comics from Jim Lee and maintained it as a separate imprint with its own style and audience. Likewise they added the Wildstorm imprint America's Best Comics, created by Alan Moore, including the titles Tom Strong and Promethea.

2000s

Comics sales stopped declining but remained weak in the early 2000s, as DC continued diversifying its publishing activities to reach new markets. In March 2003 DC Comics acquired publishing and merchandising rights to the long-running fantasy series Elfquest, which had previously been self-published by its creators Wendy and Richard Pini under the Warp Graphics banner. In 2004 it established the CMX line to reprint translated manga volumes (an already-booming market at the time), and temporarily acquired the North American publishing rights to graphic novels from European publishers 2000 AD and Humanoids. It also rebranded its titles for younger children with the mascot Johnny DC. Starting in 2004, DC's began laying groundwork for a "sequel" to Crisis on Infinite Earths, promising substantial changes to the DCU to come out of it. In 2005 they published several limited series establishing increasing conflicts between the heroes of the DCU, which are expected to come to a climax in the limited series Infinite Crisis. At the conclusion of that series in 2006, all of DC's ongoing series will skip to "one year later", showing the medium-term consequences of that crisis and continuing from there. In 2005 DC Comics launched an "All-Star" line, featuring some of DC's most famous characters, written and illustrated by popular creators. These series were intended to appeal to more casual readers, featuring familiar versions of the characters without tight continuity with the main line of books. All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder was launched in July 2005, with All-Star Superman begining in November 2005.

Logo history

November 2005 DC's first logo appeared on the March 1940 issues of their titles. The letters "DC" stood for Detective Comics, the name the company used at the time. The logo was small and did not have a background. It simply said, "A DC Publication". The November 1941 DC titles introduced an updated DC logo. This version was almost twice the size of the first one, and also was the first version with a white background. The name of Superman was added to "A DC Publication", effectively acknowledging both Superman (the company's flagship character) and Batman (star of Detective Comics). This logo was also the first version to occupy the top left corner of the cover, where the logo has usually resided ever since. In November 1949, the logo was modified, incorporating the company's current name (National Comics Publications) into the logo. This logo would also serve as the round body of Johnny DC, DC's mascot in the 1960s. In October 1970, the circular logo was briefly retired in favor of a simple "DC" in a rectangle with the name of the title, or the star of the book (i.e. many issues of Action Comics said "DC Superman"). An image of the lead character either appeared above or below the rectangle. For books that did not have a single star, such as House of Mystery or Justice League of America, the title and "DC" appeared in a stylized logo, such as a bat for House of Mystery. This use of characters as logos helped to establish the likenesses as trademarks, and was similar to Marvel's contemporaneous use of characters as part of their cover branding. DC's "100 Page Super-Spectacular" titles and later 100-page and "Giant" issues published from 1972 to 1974 featured a logo that was exclusive to these editions, the letters "DC" in a simple sans serif font, in a circle. (A variant had the letters in a square.) The July 1972 DC titles featured a new circular logo. The letters "DC" were rendered in a block-like font that would remain through later logo revisions until 2005. The title of the book usually appeared inside the circle, either above or below the letters. In December 1973, the logo was modified, adding the words "The Line of DC Super-Stars" and the star motif that would continue in later logos. This logo was placed in the top center of the cover from August 1975 to October 1976. When Jenette Kahn became DC's publisher in late 1976, she commissioned graphic designer Milton Glaser to design a new logo. Popularly referred to as the "DC bullet", the logo first appeared on the February 1977 DC titles. Although it varied in size and color and was at times cropped by the edges of the cover, or briefly rotated 45 degrees, it remained essentially unchanged for nearly three decades. On May 8, 2005, a new logo was unveiled, debuting on DC titles starting in June 2005 with DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #1 and the rest of the titles the following week. In addition to comics, it was designed for DC properties in other media, such as Batman Begins, Smallville, Justice League Unlimited, collectibles, and other merchandise. The logo, which some have dubbed the "DC spin", was designed by Josh Beatman of Brainchild Studios.

Noteworthy creators

- Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
- Bob Kane and Bill Finger
- William Moulton Marston
- Jack Kirby
- Julius Schwartz
- Gardner Fox
- Jerry Robinson
- Dick Sprang
- Wayne Boring
- Mort Weisinger
- Gil Kane
- John Broome
- Steve Ditko
- Carmine Infantino
- Joe Kubert
- Curt Swan
- Neal Adams
- Dennis O'Neil
- Dick Giordano
- Archie Goodwin
- Paul Levitz
- Keith Giffen
- Marv Wolfman
- George Pérez
- Doug Moench
- Alan Moore
- Frank Miller
- John Byrne
- Jerry Ordway
- Dan Jurgens
- Roger Stern
- Mike W. Barr
- Chuck Dixon
- Barbara Kesel
- Karl Kesel
- Neil Gaiman
- Grant Morrison
- Mark Waid
- Alex Ross
- James Robinson
- Devin Grayson
- Geoff Johns
- Jeph Loeb
- Greg Rucka
- Jim Lee
- Murphy Anderson
- Gail Simone

Imprints

- Current
- All Star
- America's Best Comics
- CMX
- DC Archive Editions
- Johnny DC
- Humanoids
- Vertigo
- Wildstorm
- Defunct
- DC Focus
- Helix
- Impact
- Milestone
- Paradox Press
- Piranha Press

References

- [http://www.dccomics.com/ DC Comics official site]
- [http://www.comics-db.com/DC_Comics/index.html Big Comic Book DataBase: DC Comics]
- [http://braveandthebold.net/ Brave and the Bold]
- [http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/features/106143682856239.htm Interview with DC publisher Paul Levitz]
- [http://collectedcomicslibrary.blogspot.com/ Collected Comics Library]
- Goulart, Ron, Ron Goulart's Great History of Comics Books (Contemporary Press, Chicago, 1986) ISBN 0809250454 Category:Comic book publishers (companies)
- Category:Time Warner subsidiaries ja:DCコミック simple:DC Comics

Colorist

A colorist is a visual arts professional - one of a variety of kinds - whose work involves adding or adjusting color in a collaborative work.

Comics

In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black and white line art. Originally, this was done by cutting out films of various densities in the appropriate shapes to be used in producing color-separated printing plates. More recently, colorists have worked in transparent media such as watercolors or airbrush, which is then photographed, allowing more subtle and painterly effects. Most contemporary colorists work in digital media using tools such as Adobe Photoshop. Colorists may be work directly for comics publishers (either as employees or freelancers), or they may work for coloring studios which offer their services to publishers. American Color is a company notable in this field within the comic strip industry.

Cinema

A colorist is also an electronic artist who adjusts color and mood during the [http://tig.colorist.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page telecine] film transfer process or video tape-to-tape color timing process. They have replaced a lot of older style film timers in making color adjustments to feature films. Most commercials, music videos, serials, m.o.w.'s and feature films have been adjusted by a colorist, sometimes to a very large extent. They match scenes shot at differing times and locations, set the mood, create a style or usually all of the above. A music video or commercial is the most obvious place this can be seen. Often the scene was very bland and boring when shot, but can be morphed into a visually exciting product. It is similar to Photoshop, but at real time on moving images. The equipment needed is usually very expensive (millions of dollars). The colorist is usually a large part of the television or film post-production process. Category:Art and design workers Category:Comic book terminology Category:Comics creators

Archie Comics

rightArchie Comics is an American comic book publisher known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Forsythe "Jughead" Jones. Archie's first appearance, in Pep Comics 22, December 1941, was drawn by Bob Montana, and written by Vic Bloom. Archie was conceived by John L. Goldwater, who some believe was influenced by the Andy Hardy movies starring Mickey Rooney.

History

Archie Comics started out in 1939 as MLJ Comics, named after the first initials of its three founders Morris Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John L. Goldwater. Early MLJ titles featured generic superheroes, remembered in the lore of comic collector's trivia. The Shield was the first flag-themed superhero, a year before Captain America. The Comet was the first superhero killed in the line of duty. The Hangman (the Comet's younger brother) might be the most brutal superhero of the '40s. Roy the Superboy preceded Superboy by a decade, and Steel Sterling was dubbed "the Man of Steel" before Superman. None remained popular. Archie began as a back-up feature replacing Madam Satan, and within a year was a hit. So much so that by 1946, MLJ changed its name to Archie Comics. In 60 years Archie still hasn't graduated from high school. Over the years Archie Comics has published innumerable Archie spin-offs and variant series. Some of the odder series feature Archie and his friends cast as superhero versions of themselves or playing spies in a parody of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. In addition, some series such as Life With Archie and Archie at Riverdale High which featured straight adventure and/or mystery stories. In addition in the 1970s and 1980s, the Archie characters were authorized for use in a series of Christian comic books written and drawn by Al Hartley for Spire Christian Comics. The comics were noted that for while they preached the Gospel, they accepted that the characters were teenagers with typical interests and appetites and refused to flatly condemn them like similar comics did. Several attempts have been made to revive MLJ's original superhero line, without success. Today Archie Comics would rather forget its superheroes, but occasionally some appear in their comics, if only for the sake of maintaining a trademark. Archie Comics sued The Veronicas in 2005, stating that they had broken copyright laws because of the name of their band.

Archie universe characters

- Archibald "Archie" Andrews, Main character, like a typical teenage boy with a great interest in dating.
- Elizabeth "Betty" Cooper, the girl-next-door, very sweet.
- Veronica "Ronnie" Lodge, the rich, sometimes nice and sometimes snobbish girl.
- Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones, the witty, food-obsessed boy. He is not romantically interested in girls, but he is neither homosexual nor misogynistic. He is Archie's best friend.
- Reginald "Reggie" Mantle, the conceited practical joker. He occasionally dates Veronica and sometimes, although very rarely, goes on dates with Betty.
- Ethel "Big Ethel" Muggs (earlier Ethel Dinklehof), a tall, stringy teenager who always tries to win over Jughead, albeit unsuccessfully.
- Dilton Donald "Dilly" Doiley, the very intelligent nerd.
- Moose Mason (earlier Moose McGee), a muscular athlete who is not so good in his studies and is possessive about his girlfriend.
- Midge Klump, Moose's girlfriend.
- Chuck Clayton, an athlete, and an artist.
- Cricket O'Dell, a teenage girl with a great nose for money, appearing occasionally.
- Miss Beazley, the cook in the school cafeteria.
- Mr. Waldo Weatherbee, the school principal, popularly referred to as 'The Bee'.
- Ms. Geraldine Grundy, a teacher.
- Mrs. Hagley, a teacher.
- Mr. Svenson, school custodian.
- Ms. Phlips (pronounced "flips"), Mr. Weatherbee's assistant.
- Mr. Hiram Lodge, Veronica's rich father.
- Mrs. Hermione Lodge, Veronica's mother.
- Professor Flutesnoot, teacher.
- Nancy Harris, Chuck's girlfriend.
- Pop Tate, owner of the Choklit Shoppe where Archie and his friends frequently hang out.
- Cheryl Blossom, A rich yuppie love interest of Archie, debuted in 1982.
- Jason Blossom, Cheryl's arrogant brother and a rival of Archie's. Interested in Betty but hindered by his clique's disdain for "townies".
- Coach Kleats, a physical education teacher.
- Coach Clayton, Chuck's dad, also a physical education teacher.
- All of the teenagers' parents. Aside from very basic characteristics, many of the characters' traits and even personalities change from strip to strip, usually depending on the writer. Characters will often have traits, characteristics, mannerisms, interests, or talents that can change from strip to strip. For example, usually Archie is very good at any given sport but sometimes he is the worst player on the team. In one strip, Jughead has a very strong interest in anime, which helps him meet a girl who becomes his friend. Jughead's anime obsession and new friend, however, are gone in all subsequent strips. In certain strips, Betty does not mind being Archie's second choice as long as she gets a date with him sometimes, but in other strips she is insulted when Archie considers her a second choice and responds with either anger or sadness. In addition, sometimes it's depicted that Veronica dominates Archie's love interests and Betty plays a distant second fiddle, while other times both girls seem to have Archie split 50/50 in a heated love triangle. Reggie is usually portrayed as being part of the gang (as a character that's sometimes mean and rude, but deep down is really a good person), but in many other strips he is depicted as an outsider and is an antagonist of Archie and the gang. Even though Archie's main love interests are Veronica and Betty, he often goes on dates with many other girls, the vast majority if not all only appearing once and never again. Veronica and Betty also often go on dates with other boys that only appear once. Each character must have dozens of relatives that have appeared once and never again. In Archie's Double Digest #165, Archie states that it takes a half-hour to drive from his house to Veronica's, which greatly contradicts the numerous previous implications in other strips that Veronica's mansion is only a few miles away from Archie's house. The complete abscence of established canon is an often noted aspect of Archie Comics and may be a turn-off to fans from other comics who are accustomed to an established comic universe with strict canon. See also:
- Minor characters in Archie Comics
- Alternate Universes in Archie Comics

Common themes in Archie Comics

The following are stories or story elements that often come up in Archie comics.
- The prom is coming up and Archie cannot decide on who his date will be.
- Archie accidentally invited two girls to the same date at the same time, which he usually does not realize until the last minute. He tries to run between one date and the other without getting caught by either. Sometimes he is caught, sometimes he gets away with it.
- Moose is jealous because Reggie is talking to his girlfriend, Midge. Moose beats up Reggie. Sometimes, Reggie has a plan that he thinks will help him get past Moose, but it backfires.
- Archie and his friends help Pop Tate get more business, or they prevent a greedy businessman from shutting him down.
- Archie is late for school, accidentally breaks something, or disrupts class.
- The boys challenge the girls to game in various types of sports. The boys think it will be an easy win, but they end up getting defeated.
- Archie is at Veronica's house and ends up breaking countless priceless heirlooms. Mr. Lodge angrily kicks him out of the house.
- An assortment of characters go to the beach. While there, Archie and Reggie love to look at the scantily clad women.
- Archie is a lifeguard. He has many adventures while saving drowning people and he also flirts with the women on the beach. Sometimes, Reggie is the lifeguard.
- Jughead eats an amazing amount of food. People watching him are amazed.
- Veronica sees Betty and Archie together and develops a plan to separate them. The plan usually backfires on herself.

Super heroes

The Archie Comics line published the occasional dramatic action-adventure superhero comic. ;1940s
- Black Hood
- Black Jack
- Bob Phantom
- Captain Flag
- The Comet
- Fireball
- Firefly
- The Fox
- Hangman
- Mr. Justice
- Mr. Mystic
- Mister Satan
- Red Rube
- The Scarlet Avenger
- The Shield
- Dusty (Shield's Sidekick)
- Steel Sterling
- The Web
- The Wizard
- Roy the Superboy (Wizard's sidekick) ;1960s (published as Archie Adventure Comics, Radio Comics, and Mighty Comics)
- Black Hood
- The Comet
- The Fly (later called Fly-Man)
- Flygirl
- The Jaguar
- Pow Girl
- Lancelot Strong: Shield II
- Shield III (son of original Shield)
- The Web II (son of original Web)
- The Shadow (Hangman and The Wizard become villains during that period) ;1980s (published as Red Circle Comics)
- Black Hood II (nephew of original Black Hood)
- The Comet
- Darkling
- The Fly
- Flygirl
- The Fox II (son of original Fox)
- Hangman II (son of original Hangman)
- The Jaguar
- Mr. Justice
- Lancelot Strong: Shield II (soon killed off)
- Shield III (son of original Shield)
- Steel Sterling
- The Web II (son of original Web) Archie would later license their superheroes to DC Comics for use on the !mpact imprint in the 90s.

Direct spin-offs

# Sabrina, the Teenage Witch # Josie and the Pussycats

Other series published by Archie

# Sonic the Hedgehog # Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles # Katy Keene # Nights: Into Dreams

Archie comics in technology

The Archie search engine and Veronica search engine were named after the characters Archie and Veronica, while the Jonzy's Universal Gopher Hierarchy Excavation and Display is named after Jughead.

External links

- [http://www.archiecomics.com Official web page]
- [http://www.creators.com/comics_show.cfm?comicname=arc Archie comic strip]
- [http://www.comics-db.com/Other_Publishers/A/Archie_Publications/index.html Big Comic Book DataBase: Archie]
- [http://www.toonopedia.com/archie.htm Toonopedia: Archie]
- [http://www.toonopedia.com/mlj_arch.htm Toonopedia: MLJ/Archie Comics]
- [http://www.geocities.com/jughead_p_jones_12/history.htm A detailed history of Archie Comics] Category:Comic book publishers Category:Archie Comics

List of cartoonists

:See also list of comic strips.

Notable cartoonists

Notable cartoonists include:
- Pete Abrams, Sluggy Freelance
- Charles Addams, macabre cartoons featured in The New Yorker and elsewhere
- Murray Ball, Footrot Flats
- Darrin Bell, Candorville and Rudy Park
- Oscar Berger, Aesop's Foibles (1947); active 1920s - 1960s
- Ed Brubaker
- Max Cannon, Red Meat Contemporary American
- Chester Commodore, African American political cartoonist
- Robert Crumb, Mr. Natural, Fritz the Cat, Keep on Truckin
- Jack Davis
- Will Eisner, The Spirit
- Lyonel Feininger, rare fine artist who did strips, Kin-der Kids and Wee Willie Winkie's World
- André Franquin, Spirou, Gaston Lagaffe
- Brian Giovannini, Postage Due
- John Glashan, Genius
- Rube Goldberg, Cartoons of complex and convoluted machines doing very simple tasks.
- Larry Gonick, The Cartoon History of the Universe series, Kokopelli & Company
- René Goscinny, Asterix
- Doug Davis, [Just One of Those Days,and Small World]]
- Matt Groening, Life in Hell, The Simpsons,