Saturday, August 8, 2009

Seth's own words about his influences: Moebius

The text below is an excerpt from Seth's earliest website on Geocities, before he got his own web address. That puts it before 1999. It is also before Happydale, which was his first comic book.
These two images at the top are Moebius in two different moods.

"My Senpais

"Senpai is the Japanese word for your senior (in age or experience), especially when they work in the same field, or help guide you. Naturally, every artist needs to find his own style to express himself, but the value of learning from others should not be underestimated. Recently "Geoff Darrow" has been the first word I hear at critiques from comic types. I suppose it's because we both have a high tolerance for straining our eyes and putting in hordes of detail but, and I assure you this is true, Geoff still draws about fifty percent more stuff than I do and about 200 percent more carefully. Honestly, Darrow is stunning, if only for his patience. The irony is however, that although I really enjoy his work, I don't think I was ever really influenced by him and I certainly didn't try to cultivate a Darrow feel in my art.
"Moebius has been the biggest influence on my art since before college. Moebius' work taught me that I don't have to make perfect sense with all my art and that I can use it to play with my own subconscious. I imagine he taught me to really enjoy the process of drawing instead of just the finished piece. Naturally I envy his beautiful line work, but what is really amazing to me is the variety with which he attacks his subject matter."
The bottom two black and white images are Seth in two different styles. I think he learned the lesson about variety quite well.

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