Michael Bierut, Jessica Helfand|Audio
June 8, 2017
Episode 58: The Family Circus
Comic strips are often a way artists discover the world and their calling. Indie comix artist Lynda Barry loved the Family Circus growing up, and she recently appeared in a Family Circus strip.
Jessica remembers tracing pictures out of Thomas Craven’s 1945 book Cartoon Cavalcade, and in particular Winsor McCay’s surreal Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend. And Michael loved Mad magazine so much he tried making his own version:
I think it was called Sick or Nauseous. I knew that the magazine had to have this combination of drawings and typesetting. Of course, I had no idea where typesetting was from, so I would actually do the drawings, and then put these drawn pages that I would draw with a Bic ballpoint pen into a manual typewriter and then type upon the drawn pages.
Also mentioned:
Subscribe to The Observatory on iTunes or your favorite podcast app, or follow Design Observer on Soundcloud.
Observed
View all
Observed
By Michael Bierut & Jessica Helfand
Related Posts
Design of Business | Business of Design
Ellen McGirt|Audio
S11E10: Activism in AI with Google’s Ovetta Sampson
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio
But Joy Cometh ft. L’Oreal Thompson Payton, Maya Wiley, & the DNC
Design of Business | Business of Design
Jessica Helfand|Audio
S11E9: What’s Love Got to do with Business with Jorge Fontanez
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio
She the People with Aimee Allison, a new podcast from Design Observer
Related Posts
Design of Business | Business of Design
Ellen McGirt|Audio
S11E10: Activism in AI with Google’s Ovetta Sampson
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio
But Joy Cometh ft. L’Oreal Thompson Payton, Maya Wiley, & the DNC
Design of Business | Business of Design
Jessica Helfand|Audio
S11E9: What’s Love Got to do with Business with Jorge Fontanez
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio