|
Jeff Smith (born February 27, 1960)〔 is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the self-published comic book series ''Bone''. ==Early life== Jeff Smith was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania〔 to William Earl Smith and Barbara Goodsell.〔Smith, Jeff (2006). ''Bone: Eyes of the Storm''. Graphix/Scholastic Books.〕 He grew up in Columbus, Ohio.〔Szadkowski, Joseph; Smith, Jeff (June 16, 2007). ("Mix of tradition, fantasy comics pays off for artist" ). ''The Washington Times''.〕 Smith learned about cartooning from comic strips, comic books, and animated TV shows.〔("About Jeff Smith" ). Boneville. Retrieved July 23, 2013.〕 The strip he found to be the most entertaining was Charles M. Schulz's ''Peanuts'', which he had his father read to him every Sunday, and which inspired him to learn to read.〔Lucy Shelton Caswell and David Filipi, ''Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond'' (Columbus, O.: The Ohio State University, Wexner Center for the Arts, 2008), ISBN 978-1-881390-46-6, pp. 7, 17.〕 Smith was also inspired by Scrooge McDuck creator Carl Barks, whom Smith calls a "natural comic genius" for his ability to move characters effectively from panel to panel, and for their expressiveness. Alluding to the influence of Barks' influence on ''Bone'', Smith commented, "I always wanted Uncle Scrooge to go on a longer adventure. I thought, 'Man, if you could just get a comic book of that quality, the length of say, ''War and Peace'', or ''The Odyssey'' or something, that would be something I would love to read, and even as a kid I looked everywhere for that book, that Uncle Scrooge story that was 1,100 pages long."〔 Another seminal influence began when Smith was nine, and he saw ''The Pogo Special Birthday Special'' on TV, which was created by Walt Kelly and Chuck Jones, whom he would later call "two of my most favorite people". The day after that program aired, a girl brought her father's ''Pogo'' book to school and gave it to Smith, who says it "changed comics" for him. Smith keeps that book on a table next to his drawing board today,〔〔("Jeff Smith's 'Bone' Goes From Comic Book to Gallery Wall" ). ''The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer''. July 21, 2008. Retrieved January 27, 2009.〕 and refers to Kelly as his "biggest influence in writing comics".〔 Smith has cited ''Moby Dick'' as his favorite book, citing its multi-layered narrative and symbolism, and placed numerous references to it in ''Bone''. He has also cited ''Huckleberry Finn'' as a story after which he attempted to pattern ''Bone'' structurally, explaining, "the kinds of stories I’m drawn to, like ''Huckleberry Finn'', are the ones that start off very simple, almost like children’s stories...but as it goes on, it gets a little darker, and the themes become a little more sophisticated and more complex—and those are really the kinds of stories that just get me going." Other influences in this regard include the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' and the classic fairy tales and mythologies that inspired those works.〔 Smith says the earliest forerunner drawings of what later became Bone and his cousins occurred when he was about five, and sitting in his living room drawing, and he drew what looked like an old C-shaped telephone handset receiver, which emerged as a frowning character with its mouth wide open. Elements of that character and its demeanor found their way into the character Phoney Bone, the upset cousin to Bone. His name is derived from Fonebone, the generic surname that Don Martin gave to many of the characters that appeared in his ''Mad'' magazine strips.〔 Smith began to create comics with the ''Bone'' characters as early as 1970, when he was about 9 years old.〔Jeff Smith, ''The Art of Bone'' (Milwaukie, Oregon: Dark Horse Books, 2007), ISBN 978-1-59307-441-8, p.19.〕 Smith graduated in 1978 from Worthington High School in Worthington, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, where he was a classmate of Jim Kammerud. Later on, in 1986, Smith and Kammerud would co-found Character Builders, an animation studio in Columbus where Smith worked until 1992.〔〔("Distinguished Alumni Award of Worthington Schools" ). Worthington City Schools. Retrieved July 23, 2013.〕 After high school, Smith attended the Ohio State University, and while there he created a comic strip called "Thorn" for the student newspaper, ''The Lantern'', which included some of the characters who later featured in the ''Bone'' series.〔French, Kristin M. (October 2, 2001). ("Comic man returns to roots" ). ''The Lantern''. Retrieved January 27, 2009.〕〔Eichenberger, Bill (May 4, 2008). ("Bone and beyond...Award-winning cartoonist Jeff Smith given his due with talks, exhibits at OSU" ). ''Columbus Dispatch''.〕 He also studied animation.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jeff Smith (cartoonist)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|