Writing
I do a lot of thinking about comics and how narrative structures work. Some of the results emerge in strips, and some of it is commentary: essays, articles and reviews. There is a book slowly coming together, applying lots of my thoughts and explorations in this area to an examination of what makes comic strips unlike any other medium. It will be published by Myriad Editions.
I’m a contributing reviewer at the Slings and Arrows website. You can read my graphic novel reviews here.
I made something for the Foundling Museum in 2022, and I wrote about it for the exhibition catalogue, which you can read here.
Pretty much all my writing for publications including Bookforum, Clutter, Rotocasted, Ether, InTouch and others is inaccessible. But there is one thing you can read. I contributed an essay called Corporeality to PREPARE FOR PICTOPIA, which is a catalogue of the Pictopia exhibition at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in spring 2009, organised by Pictoplasma.
It’s about the aesthetic principle of reduction and abstraction in the design of anthropomorphic characters. Who wouldn’t be interested in that? It’s essentially the thinking behind Plastic Culture. The book Prepare for Pictopia is published by Pictoplasma, and is out of print now. However, you can read the essay below. Just click.
I teach about comics, design and illustration as a visiting lecturer at the University of Middlesex. I’m responsible for the comics half of the MA in Children’s Book Illustration and Graphic Novels. I also do guest lectures, talks and workshops at other universities and schools both in the UK and abroad. If you’d like me to talk to your class, conduct a workshop or lead a teaching session, contact me.
As for writing about me rather than by me:
Creative Review.
Paul Gravett.