Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Chris Ware

Quote by Chris Ware

“I don't think that people are necessarily going to films simply because they were adapted from comics, though I could be wrong. Comics aren't really misunderstood either, they've just been mostly silly for the past century, and those genre-centered stories have found their way into the movie theaters over the past couple of decades because a generation who grew up reading them has, well, grown up.”

Quote by Chris Ware

Create image

Author

Chris Ware
Chris Ware

Chris Ware, born on December 28, 1967, is a renowned American cartoonist and illustrator. His works are known for their intricate line work, complex narrative structures, and profound thematic explorations, making him a representative figure in contemporary cartoon art. more

You May Also Like

“A comic is a way of literally experiencing someone else's vision with a purity that I don't think any other medium offers; there are no technical, electronic or financial limitations; one only has to work harder to improve. Lately I think a new attitude has prevailed that comics aren't inherently an Art form, but that some cartoonists are genuinely artists.”

ThinkingArtArtistAttitudeVisionHard WorkFinancialComicLimitationPurityWork HarderCartoonist
Author:Chris Ware
Create image

“I do worry that beginning cartoonists could feel somewhat strangled by the increasing critical seriousness comics has received of late and feel, like younger writers, that they have to have something to "say" before they set pen to paper. Many cartoonists feel even more passionate about this idea than I do, vehemently insisting that comics are inherently "non-art" and poop humor or whatever it is they think it is, but that attitude is a little like insisting that all modern writing should always take the form of The Canterbury Tales.”

ThinkingWritingAttitudeWorryModernLike YouPassionatePensSeriousnessCartoonistCanterbury Tales
Author:Chris Ware
Create image

“When we get this health care done, America, we're going to be able to have regulations on how heavy you can be. And we're going to be able to set up various tax penalties, for example, if you weigh more than we think you should or we just may not let you get on that airplane because your carbon footprint, you're gonna waste so much jet fuel, we may not let you get on that bus, we may not let you drive your car, we may not build a bigger doorway for you to get through, may not give you a bigger toilet.'”

ThinkingGivingDoneCareCarTaxesVariousHealth CareBusAirplaneJetFootprint
Author:Rush Limbaugh
Create image

“Comics are not illustration, any more than fiction is copywriting. Illustration is essentially the application of artistic technique or style to suit a commercial or ancillary purpose; not that cartooning can't be this (see any restaurant giveaway comic book or superhero media property as an example), but comics written and produced by a cartoonist sitting alone by him- or herself are not illustrations. They don't illustrate anything at all, they literally tell a story.”

BookPurposeStylePropertyComicArtisticApplicationComic BookSuperheroCartoonist
Author:Chris Ware
Create image

“I guess I consider myself a cartoonist first, though I was "trained" as a painter/printmaker/sculptor. If there's still any resistance to cartooning in the nuts-and-bolts world of acquiring the means of survival, it's probably mostly on the pay scale. If graphic novels are selling really well and are "growing the book market" or whatever it is a businessman would say about them, I don't see it in the remuneration offered by some of the publishers.”

WorldMeanBookNovelSurvivalSellingPainterBusinessmanGraphicCartoonist
Author:Chris Ware
Create image

“Storytelling is one of comics' esthetic hurdles at the moment, which was the novelist's problem 150 years ago: namely, to take comics from storytelling into that of "writing," the major distinction between the two to me being that the former gives one the facts, but the latter tries to recreate the sensation and complexities of life within the fluidity of consciousness and experience. As far as I'm concerned, that's really all I've been trying to do formally for the past decade or more with comics, and it's certainly time-consuming, since it has to be done with drawings, not words.”

GivingWritingTryingDoneMomentsProblemPastConsciousnessConcernedStorytellingComplexityHurdle
Author:Chris Ware
Create image

“I lose faith every time I have to start a new page, and this is no joke. I've occasionally been criticized over the past couple of years for publicly "complaining" about how difficult drawing comics is, yet I've only mentioned it so that the younger cartoonists who are trying it out and finding it difficult and painful realize that they're not alone. There's not really any set way of learning how to do this, and it's always a struggle to improve, and, more importantly, see accurately whether or not one's work is communicating any shred of feeling or truth at all.”

TryingFeelingsPastDifficultRealizingStruggleCoupleJokesPainfulCommunicateComplainingNot AloneOver The PastCartoonist
Author:Chris Ware
Create image

“Drawing the kind of comics that I do takes so long that to specifically address something as transitory as a political matter in it would be about as effective as composing a symphony with hopes that it would depose a despot. On top of that, I personally don't think that my version of art is the best way to deal with political issues at all, or, more specifically, the place to make a point. Not that art can't, but it's the rare art that still creates something lasting if its main aim was purely to change a particular unfair social structure.”

ThinkingKindLongArtPoliticalArt IsAimUnfair
Author:Chris Ware
Create image