Endlessly fascinating

no.

A different Ware. Must read for anyone interested in Ware's work.

Find someone who loves you as much as Chris Ware hates himself.

The first thing I noticed about this facsimile book is that the author's name only appears in very tiny letters on the back cover in "about the artist." This book is very personal, and not to have the author's name seems like an act of courage. When you see this book on a shelf in a bookstore, do you automatically know it is by Chris Ware?

This is a wonderfully revealing sketchbook. Another way of looking at how people think, especially when words are not adequate or appropriate. I wish my aged eyes were more keen at seeing tiny details, as I'm sure there is lot which was overlooked.

There was a moment of synchronicity in seeing a reference to filmmaker Dick Myers, and his film, "37-73." Probably one of those obscure note to most people, but fraught with meaning to me. And I especially appreciated the drawing of "Joseph Cornell just shortly before his death --this expression is IMPOSSIBLE to draw!"

The paper quality of this book should be noted. It is a pleasure to turn each page.

The Datebook collects many of Chris Ware's sketchpads. Don't go thinking you'll get much out of it, except that Chris Ware is a master of mediums. My mom opened Datebook up to a random page once and saw a man's penis. She's no graphic connoisseur, but if she can get something out of this book, then maybe you can too.

Fans of the reclusive Chris Ware will rejoice at the visual wealth of information collected here. Datebook lays out the history of Ware's creative progression (ironically without dates) from the early days up to the design of the cover of Datebook itself. A personal sketchbook, it reveals the true talents of this acclaimed artist.
Recommended by Amy

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio...

My... that's an uncomfortable amount of masturbation. Literally.

A great book.

A peek into the early sketch books of Mr. Ware.

Watch the development of some of his characters.

Sit, uncomfortably, on Ware's ottoman of the mind. All the while, leafing through collections of Victorian adverts and rag time sheet music.

chris ware's early sketchbooks. interesting look into a super productive and ingenious creator.

This admittedly has additional stars from me simply because I harbor an aching love for Franklin C. Ware, and paging through his sketchbooks feeds that aching love of mine by giving me a look into his creative process. Seeing both familiar and unfamiliar strips and characters in their gestational stages and watching Ware develop them in different directions, getting a looksee at his simple sketching practice, seeing him copy other cartoonists - Rube Goldberg, R. Crumb - and try out cartoon styles he never uses in finished work... There are many treasures here. One of the special features unique to the two Acme Novelty Datebooks (as far as I'm aware) is the plethora of more realistic figure drawings in various styles and media, including graphite, pen, and amazingly free and loose brushwork. I admire him all the more for his exceedingly tight work knowing that he is not chained to it - knowing that he can also be gestural, and can attain beautiful results in so doing.

It is also wonderful to be able to read his pages of miniscule notes, recounting dreams and experiences, outlining strip ideas, trying out layouts, and first developing the stories and characters that I have come to love so much. Many drawings have written criticisms beside them; many others have written griping: creative block, headaches, obsessions, sexual frustrations. Many of the same concerns that are so artfully laid out in the finished Acme Novelty Library editions are more directly and personally dealt with here: images of sexual frustration that are more direct and Crumbian than I'm used to from Ware are common.

This also makes Chris Ware more accessible and less intimidating to me as a fellow artist, and is inspiring in pushing me to pay more attention to my own sketching process and generally sketch more. Seeing this work seems to be the nudge I need to respect sketchbooks and take them more seriously as brewing pots for ideas.

That being said, much of the above is probably a bit obvious; if you're not a drooling fan like I am, you may well not care about the contents of the Datebook a whole lot.

The book is as beautifully designed and built as one would expect a Chris Ware book to be, and is done up in what I would call a mainstay Ware style. The main goody he's hidden in plain sight is a small circular timeline of his life on the front cover, which is exploded with added detail on the back.

I love this guy. Have you noticed?