But, really, this is one of the best interviews with one of the greatest cartoonists and well worth the time to take in.
Above: Matt Diffee, Sam Gross and Ken Krimstein at the June 24, 2010 Bunny Bash.
Veteran cartoonist Sam Gross gives a career-spanning interview to Richard Gehr at TCJ.com.
Below are just 2 of the many informative questions and answers from the piece:
Above: an early wordless Sam Gross cartoon.
RICHARD GEHR You seem very organized. What’s your working process? How many cartoons do you generate per week?
SAM GROSS Every Wednesday I just clear everything, sit down, and trip. I don’t draw for markets like The New Yorker at all. I just trip. I’m still doing stuff as if National Lampoon still existed. This week I got sixteen or seventeen drawings. I number and date all my drawings. First they get photocopied on forty-four-pound stock paper. Then I punch three holes and they go into loose-leaf books like the black books back there and in the kitchen. And I think I got 27,592 cartoons now.
Above: Another early Gross cartoon.
GEHR: What’s your equipment?
GROSS: Number 1 and 2 ½ Rapidograph pens. That’s it. And a pad of cheap-shit paper. This is twenty-four-pound stock scratch and for finishes I have two-ply vellum.
Related:
1987 S. Gross Interview
Sam's famous "frog legs" cartoon on eBay
Some of Sam's early cartoons from the book TABOO edited by Charles Preston (1966): Parts one and two.
And it's true what Sam says: Bill Woodman is one great cartoonist.
Sam has always been on my tops on the list of great cartoonists.
ReplyDeleteSam was kind enough to do the foreword for my first book, THE TOILET ZONE, and he was kind enough to welcome me at my New Yorker magazine visit. It was a real treat to meet him in person and over the years we've spoken a number of times on the phone. He's a lot like his cartoons...funny and to the point.
I remember the first time I ever "got" gag cartoons I was reading his book, I Am Blind and My Dog is Dead. THere's no doubt Sam Gross had a serious impact on the work I do and the humor I employ.
I like how Sam thinks.
I like Sam
I like his gags...
funnier than ham and green eggs.
I would like them here or there.
I would like them anywhere.
I do like great gags from Sam.
I like them Sam I Am.