Women's Comics

I thought the Women in the Comics week was pretty interesting because it touched on a lot of material, which I had been unfamiliar with in the past. It is also very intriguing to see the relationships that women had getting into the comics industry along with other various industry's, whether it be business or artistic related.  I remember discussing the difficulties women had getting into the field of animation back in the day.  Women were rarely taken seriously as artists who could compete with men and produce work that could inspire the masses. A great example of this comes from a rejection letter sent from the Walt Disney company to a Miss Ford detailing that women are not part of any of the creative work connected with the cartoons: Women Not Allowed.

However, I think it is great to see the number of female artists involved in the advertising industry and the comics medium, whether they were isolated from the men or not.  I was really impressed with the work of Nell Brinkley. She was an amazing artist who had the ability to draw better than many of the male artists I've seen in that early period. Her line and ink work were stupendous and you can see the direct relationships from the art nouveau movement.  She also has a very interesting female aesthetic which cannot be seen from the work of the men.  It is interesting to contemplate how much better off companies would have been had they allowed actual women to help in the production of certain movies, which contained numerous scenes of cute, feminine material.

Another really interesting component of female cartoonists work that can be seen throughout all of the artists discussed in class, but very apparent in the work of Edwina Dumm is the ability for the female artist to incorporate very interesting and stylistic dress into their work.  The costumes and attention to the characters dress can rarely be scene in the work of their male counterparts. This helps to add a strong sense of fashion and visual interest to the characters in their work, along with creating a more realistic representation of who they people were and what it is they were doing.

In conclusion female artists are extremely important to the comic medium, whether they get the attention they deserve or not. All too often the influence of female artists and representation of their skills go unnoticed. This is extremely true in the Comics industry. However, this is also bull shit, because the work the female cartoonists were producing is extremely invigorating and appealing tot he reader.