View source for Jim Woodring

{{short description|American cartoonist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2011}}
{{Infobox person
| image         = JimWoodringDrawing.jpg
| caption       = 
| alt           = 
| birth_name    = James William Woodring
| birth_date    = {{Birth date and age|1952|10|11}}
| birth_place   = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| death_date    =
| death_place   =
| spouse        = Mary Woodring
| children      = <!-- he has one son, Max Badger-->
| occupation    = [[Cartoonist]], [[fine art]]ist, writer, toy designer
| alias         =
| signature     =
| notable_works = ''[[Jim (comics)|Jim]]''<br />''[[Frank (comics)|Frank]]''<br />[[Microsoft Comic Chat]]
| awards        =
| website       = {{URL|jimwoodring.com}}
}}

'''James William Woodring''' (born October 11, 1952) is an [[People of the United States|American]] [[cartoonist]], [[fine art]]ist, writer and toy designer.  He is best known for the dream-based comics he published in his magazine ''[[Jim (comics)|Jim]]'', and as the creator of the [[anthropomorphic]] [[cartoon]] character [[Frank (comics)|Frank]], who has appeared in a number of short comics and [[graphic novel]]s.

Since he was a child, Woodring has experienced [[Hallucination|hallucinatory]] "apparitions", which have inspired much of his [[Surrealism|surreal]] work.  He keeps an "autojournal" of his dreams, some of which have formed the basis of some of his comics.  His most famous creation is fictional—the pantomime comics set in the universe he calls the Unifactor, usually featuring Frank.  These stories incorporate a highly personal symbolism largely inspired by Woodring's belief in [[Vedanta]] from [[Hindu philosophy]].  He also does a large amount of surrealist painting, and has been the writer on a number of comics from licensed franchises published by [[Dark Horse Comics|Dark Horse]] and others.

Woodring identified ''[[Bimbo's Initiation]]'' as "one of the things that laid the foundation for my life's philosophy."<ref>Groth, Gary. "Jim Woodring Interview". ''The Comics Journal'' #164 (December 1993), p. 83.</ref>

Woodring has won or been nominated for a number of awards. He placed twice on ''[[The Comics Journal]]'''s list of the [[Comics Journal#Top 100 Comics list|100 best comics of the century]], with the ''[[Frank (comics)|Frank]]'' stories ranked #55, and ''[[The Book of Jim]]'' ranked #71.

==Biography==
The elder of two children, Woodring was born in Los Angeles. He suffered from [[hallucination]]s (which he called "apparitions") of floating, gibbering faces over his bed (among other visions) when he was a child, and "was obsessed with death at a tender age"<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" /> and was afraid his parents would come into his bedroom and kill him. He had behavioral problems, finding himself unable to stop himself from doing things he knew he should not be doing, which he says he did not bring in line until he got married. Woodring has also been diagnosed with [[prosopagnosia]].<ref name="lambiek.net 1952">{{cite web | title=Jim Woodring | website=lambiek.net | date=1952-10-11 | url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/w/woodring.htm | access-date=2020-03-01}}</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdJ5LPa-Skc Jim Woodring speech Making Light VASD Program, around the 32:00 mark. 24 March 2016.</ref>

He graduated from high school in 1970 and went to [[Glendale Junior College]] for about two months.  While there,{{Blockquote|
"I had the most significant hallucination of my life in this art history class. I took it as an omen that I should just get the hell [[Dropping out|out of school]] and stay out! [Laughs.] This hallucination was so much more interesting than the class — it seemed to have forced its way into the classroom and jumped out of the screen where these slides were being projected in order to tell me that I should be somewhere else. I felt that this image had gone to a lot of work to get into the building and get into that room and wait for the screen to turn blank and then appear at me to honk at me to go. So I did."
|Jim Woodring<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" />}}

Woodring [[Dropping out|dropped out]] of college and spent the next year and a half as a [[Waste collector|garbage man]].<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" /> During this time he developed a serious [[alcoholism|drinking problem]], which lasted about eight years. He eventually quit drinking because he felt it was interfering with his growth as an artist.

===Animation industry===
In 1979<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" /> he was persuaded by his best friend<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://jimwoodring.blogspot.com/2011/01/john.html|first=Jim|last=Woodring|title=JOHN|date=January 29, 2011|access-date=April 6, 2011}} Blog post reminiscing about John Dorman upon his death</ref> John Dorman to take work as an artist with the [[Ruby-Spears]] animation studio. He did "[s]toryboards during the production season and presentation work during the off-season."  He did work for the cartoon shows ''[[Mister T (TV series)|Mister T]]'', ''[[Rubik the Amazing Cube]]'', and ''[[Turbo Teen]]'', and he has often said that these were the worst cartoons ever produced. At that time, he formed friendships with and was somewhat mentored by celebrated comic book artists [[Gil Kane]] and [[Jack Kirby]], who were both disgruntled with the comics business and were working in animation at the time.

===Comics===
While working at [[Ruby-Spears]] he began self-publishing ''[[Jim (comics)|Jim]]'', an anthology of comics, [[dream art]] and free-form writing which he described as an "autojournal". In 1986, Woodring was introduced by [[Gil Kane]] to [[Gary Groth]] of [[Fantagraphics Books]].  ''Jim'' was published as a regular series by Fantagraphics starting in 1986, to critical acclaim if less than spectacular sales, and Woodring became a full-time cartoonist. ''[[Frank (comics)|Frank]]'', a wordless [[surrealism|surrealist]] series which began as an occasional feature within ''Jim'', became his best-known work, eventually spinning off into its own series in 1996.  Most of the content of the first of the two volumes of ''Jim'' were collected as ''[[The Book of Jim]]'' in 1993, which was subsequently ranked as #71 on [[The Comics Journal]]'s[[Comics Journal#Top 100 Comics list|100 best comics of the century]] list.

{{quote box
|quote  = "There are a lot of elements in the stories that mean something to me that shouldn't mean anything to anybody else, though of course I hope they do. I use these radially symmetrical shapes and bilateral symmetrical shapes and those have both got a different import to me. They stand for different specific qualities. So if Frank cracks open a jar and a bilat comes out, that means one thing. If he cracks it open and a [[jiva]] comes out, that means something else. It's like saying a stench came out or a mouse came out. I have this symbolic language worked out."
|source = Jim Woodring, 2002<ref name="tcjGrothInterview2002" />
|width  = 325px}}

Woodring created a short-lived comics series for children, ''[[Tantalizing Stories]]'', with [[Mark Martin (cartoonist)|Mark Martin]]. This was the place in which his character, Frank, first featured prominently, in stories that "have a dreamlike flow and an internal logic to them"<ref name="tcjGrothInterview2002" /> written in a "symbolic visual language"<ref name="tcjGrothInterview2002" /> that is "defined by thick, unforgiving cartoon lines that marry Walt Kelly with Salvador Dalí."
<ref>{{cite web
|first=Brian
|last=Heater
|url=http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2008/09/16/the-portable-frank-by-jim-woodring/
|title=The Portable Frank by Jim Woodring |publisher=The Daily Crosshatch
|date=September 16, 2008
|access-date=April 5, 2011 }}</ref>
Most of the Frank stories have been done in black and white, but a number are notable for being in (usually painted) full color. In particular, Woodring was nominated for "Best Colorist" at the 1993 [[Eisner Award]]s for the story ''[[Frank in the River]]''. ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' ranked the ''Frank'' stories #55 in its list of the [[The Comics Journal#Top 100 Comics list|100 best comics of the century]].

He has also worked as a freelance illustrator and comics writer, adapting the film ''[[Freaks (1932 film)|Freaks]]'' with [[Francisco Solano López (comics)|F. Solano Lopez]] for [[Fantagraphics Books|Fantagraphics]] and writing comics based on ''[[Alien (film)|Aliens]]'' and ''[[Star Wars]]'' for [[Dark Horse Comics|Dark Horse]].

Woodring produced a new ''Frank'' book in 2005 (''The Lute String'') and in 2010 his first [[graphic novel]]-length ''Frank'' book, ''[[Weathercraft]]'', which found itself on a number of "Best of 2010" lists.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://events.latimes.com/bookprizes/ |title=The 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes ceremony honors the best books of 2010 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=April 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170610035033/http://events.latimes.com/bookprizes/ |archive-date=June 10, 2017 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by%2Dtopic/book%2Dnews/awards%2Dand%2Dprizes/article/45070%2Dbest%2Dbooks%2Dof%2D2010.html?page=3 |title=Best Books of 2010 |magazine=[[Publishers Weekly]] |date=November 8, 2010 |access-date=April 4, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|first=Douglas |last=Wolk |url=https://techland.time.com/time_slide/10-how-to-understand-israel-in-60-days-or-less/slide/6-weathercraft/ |title=The Best Graphic Novels of 2010 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=December 20, 2010 |access-date=April 4, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501054840/http://techland.time.com/10-how-to-understand-israel-in-60-days-or-less/6-weathercraft/ |archive-date=May 1, 2011 }}</ref> This was followed up with another, ''[[Congress of the Animals]]'', in May 2011.  Woodring says that, while he had been away from comics, he built up a backlog of new stories, and he intends to complete a total of four 100-page books like ''[[Weathercraft]]'' and ''[[Congress of the Animals]]'', and then return to the types of stories he had done in ''[[Jim (comics)|Jim]]''.<ref name="CBRinterview" />

===Other projects===
In June 2010, Scott Eder Gallery<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scottedergallery.com|title=scott eder gallery :: 18 bridge st. DUMBO :: comic book art|work=scottedergallery.com}}</ref> in Brooklyn featured a solo show of Jim's ''Weathercraft'' art.<ref>ScottEderGallery.com</ref>

A 48-minute DVD called ''Visions of Frank: Short Films by Japan's Most Audacious Animators'' was released by Japan's PressPop Music in 2005. It is a collection of nine animated shorts created between 2000 and 2005, each produced by a different artist or team interpreting a different ''Frank'' work. Aside from designing the packaging, Woodring had no input into the production of these films, leaving their interpretation entirely up to the animators.<ref name="IllustFridayInterview" />

In 2010, a 93-minute documentary was released entitled ''The Lobster and the Liver: The Unique World of Jim Woodring'',<ref name="imdbLobsterAndLiver" /> directed by Jonathan Howells.

As of April 2011, Woodring keeps an infrequently updated blog,<ref name="jimwoodring.blogspot.com">{{cite web|url=http://jimwoodring.blogspot.com/|title=The Woodring Monitor|work=jimwoodring.blogspot.com}}</ref> where he sometimes posts panels from works-in-progress, including ''[[Weathercraft]]'' and ''[[Congress of the Animals]]'', as well as other projects, such as new paintings and the construction and demonstration of a working seven-foot [[dip pen]].

Woodring and his wife, Mary, have a son named Maxfield, who has published a graphic novel of his own titled ''OAK'', printed with a grant from the [[Xeric Foundation]], a page<ref>{{cite web|url=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z70jEDvjtVQ/UKkvkbezp6I/AAAAAAAABOc/mM6uDPBuNLQ/s1600/010.jpg |title=Comic |publisher=3.bp.blogspot.com |access-date=2020-03-01}}</ref> from which was featured on November 18, 2012 as an entry for Woodring's blog.<ref name="jimwoodring.blogspot.com"/>

In October, 2022 woodring released his  400 page comics odyssey entitled ''One Beautiful Spring Day'', featuring eccentric woodcut-style panels with clean black outlines and hatched shadows.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Thielman |first=Sam |date=2022-08-09 |title=The Cute and Horrifying World of Jim Woodring |language=en-US |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-cute-and-horrifying-world-of-jim-woodring |access-date=2023-07-25 |issn=0028-792X}}</ref>

==Recurring characters==
=== ''Frank'' characters ===
{{Main|Frank (comics)#Characters}}
The stories involving these characters occur in the [[surrealism|surreal]] world Woodring calls the '''Unifactor'''.
;[[Frank (comics)|Frank]]:A bipedal, bucktoothed animal of uncertain species with a short tail, described by Woodring as a "generic [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorph]]" and "naive but not innocent", "completely naive, capable of sinning by virtue of not knowing what he's really about."<ref name="NicePaperInterview" /> The character design is reminiscent of old American animated shorts from the 1920s and 1930s, such as from [[Fleischer Studios]]. Usually he appears in black and white, but when he appears in colour his fur is purple.

=== Others ===
;Jim: The artist himself featured prominently in most of his early dream comics.
;Pulque:A perpetually drunken, man-sized, Spanish-speaking frog-creature.  Pulque inexplicably hangs around with a group of suburban American children, despite the fact that he and the children cannot understand each other and are drawn in markedly different styles.
;Chip and Monk:Boyhood friends.
;Big Red:A large street cat who hunts and kills with an appropriately cat-like gusto. This is made chilling by Red's dialogue with his prey: "I'll kill you," shrieks a terrified possum, "I killed the old owl!" Red mutters an amused response, "That's nice," as he moves in for the kill.

==Themes and motifs==
;[[Dream]]s: Woodring keeps a dream journal<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" /> and has turned several of these dreams into comics, which he "tr[ies] to make it as verbatim as possible."<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" />  Most of these were published in ''[[Jim (comics)|Jim]]''.  Since the mid-1990s he has turned away from stories explicitly based on real dreams, later saying: "I got sick of drawing myself. I don't ever want to draw myself again.".<ref name="tcjGrothInterview2002" /> He has since focused primarily on stories based in the '''[[Frank (comics)|Unifactor]]''', the [[surrealism|surreal]] ''[[Frank (comics)|Frank]]'' universe.

{{quote box|
quote   = "It's tough to beat a frog for animal [[symbol]]ism. When they're still, they're completely motionless, sometimes for hours. When they jump, they fly like greased lightning. They [[metamorphosis|metamorphose]], and ultimately live in two worlds. They are weirdly [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]], and of course they are beautiful to look at and fun to draw. I'll never tire of or be ambivalent toward frogs."
|source = Woodring, 2010<ref name="CBRinterview" />
|width  = 250px}}

;Frogs : feature prominently in Woodring's comics, and their [[symbol]]ism seems to change from story to story. Often they are spiritually-minded but rather pompous creatures, but they can sometimes be sinister and alien. At other times, they are "average joes", struggling to protect their homes or their families from predators.  A giant cartoon painting of a frog leaning against a wall made up the cover of the first issue of ''[[Jim (comics)|Jim]]'' in 1986, and frogs framed the cover of ''[[Weathercraft]]'' in 2010.

;[[Jiva]]s : appear frequently in Woodring's autobiographical dream comics and in ''[[Frank (comics)|Frank]],'' where they appear as floating, flexible, colorful, occasionally radiant bulbous spindles resembling children's [[Spinning top|top]]s, and are both cognizant and motile, and neither vaporous nor altogether benevolent. Woodring has occasionally referred to them as "[[angel]]s" and "conditioned [[soul]]s".<ref name="IllustFridayInterview" /> In some ''Jim'' stories the Jivas can speak, and in one he accidentally pierces one's skin and it deflates like a [[balloon]].

;The '''Unifactor''' : The world in which [[Frank (comics)|Frank]] and associated characters appear, "a world where concepts like justice and logic read as alien",<ref name="DescMyth" /> "a picturesque but occasionally sinister world inhabited by alien plantlife and mischievous creatures, dream-logic and unknowable forces".<ref name="CBRinterview" /><br />The '''Unifactor''' functions under its own internal logic; death, destruction and mutilation in one story do not necessarily have any bearing on subsequent stories{{emdash}}[[Manhog]] removes the skin from his own leg in ''Manhog Beyond the Face'',<ref>Woodring, Jim. ''[[Jim (comics)|Jim]]'' Volume II, #1. [[Fantagraphics Books]] (December 1993 issue)</ref> which seems to leave no mark on him in other stories; and in a single issue of ''[[Jim (comics)|Jim]]'', he has all his limbs, skin, and most of his facial features removed, becoming a mutilated [[jiva]]-like figure in one story, only to reappear later on in a separate story, apparently "normal", only to be killed, stuffed and sewn back up again.<ref>Woodring, Jim. ''[[Jim (comics)|Jim]]'' Volume II, #4. [[Fantagraphics Books]] (December 1994 issue, printed November 1994)</ref> On the positive side, however, Manhog, due to a chain of events started by a Jerry-Chicken, becomes civilized, cultured and the owner of a stately manor. This has no effect on his savage bestial nature in following stories.

==Other work==
As a comics historian, Woodring has written about [[T. S. Sullivant]] and other classic cartoonists for ''The Comics Journal''. He also interviewed cartoonist [[Jack Davis (cartoonist)|Jack Davis]] for the publication.

Woodring illustrated [[Microsoft]]'s [[Comic Chat]] program, an [[IRC client]] previously packaged with multiple versions of Internet Explorer.

He illustrated the cover of [[Grifters (band)|The Grifters]]' 1996 album ''[[Ain't My Lookout]]''. He also illustrated the front cover, endpapers and the song "Toy Boy" in singer-songwriter [[Mika (singer)|Mika]]'s 2009 [[Extended play|EP]] ''[[Songs for Sorrow]]''.<ref name="lambiek.net 1952"/><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdJ5LPa-Skc Jim Woodring speech Making Light VASD Program, around the 32:00 mark. 24 March 2016.]</ref>

For years, Woodring ran ads for "Jimland Novelties" in the back of his comics. These toys, books and oddities included a kit to make a frog's (severed) legs swim by hooking them up to a little motor, and another kit for leaving Woodring's own fingerprints around your home. For a time, Woodring was sending his readers free drawings, his "[[jiva]] portraits" of what he imagined their souls looked like.  A sample of the "Jimland Novelties" pages can be glimpsed in the back of ''[[The Book of Jim]]''.

===Collaborations===
In 1991 and 1992, Woodring illustrated the [[Harvey Pekar]] stories ''Snake'', ''Watching the Media Watchers'' and ''Sheiboneth Beis Hamikdosh'' for ''[[American Splendor]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://joshcomix.home.mindspring.com/and/pekar_artists/ |title=Josh Neufeld Comix and Stories: And...: Harvey Pekar's Artists |access-date=2010-02-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213004654/http://joshcomix.home.mindspring.com/and/pekar_artists/ |archive-date=February 13, 2010 }}</ref> and for ''Introducing [[Dennis Eichhorn]]'', which appeared in ''Real Stuff'' #1.

Woodring did the artwork for Dennis Eichhorn's ''The Meaning of Life'' in ''Real Stuff'' #3, and contributed the cover to issue #8.

Woodring wrote the scripts for the comic-book adaptation of ''[[Freaks (1932 film)|Freaks]]'', illustrated by Francisco Solano Lopez and colored by Mary Woodring.

In the 1990s, Woodring wrote a number of stories for [[Dark Horse Comics]] that were based on the ''[[Aliens (film)|Aliens]]'' franchise.  The stories were illustrated by Kilian Plunkett, Jason Green and Francisco Solano Lopez, and have been collected as ''Aliens: Labyrinth'' in 1997 and ''Aliens: Kidnapped'' in 1999.

Released in November 2013, Woodring created an interpretative story based on artwork from [[Yo La Tengo]]'s album ''Fade''. The resultant product is a set of three soft vinyl figurines (sculpted by Tomohiro Yasui) representing the band members; they come with a DVD featuring an animated short (5:20 minutes) called ''The Tree'', featuring music by Yo La Tengo (plus a "bonus comic" from Woodring is included with the rest).

===Toys===
Woodring's strange toy creations have been sold in vending machines in Japan and are available in American [[Direct market|comics shop]]s. In a 2002 interview with ''[[The Comics Journal]]'', Woodring said that he was gradually leaving comics behind because they simply were not lucrative enough, and he was increasingly concentrating on individual paintings. He made his return to comics at the turn of the decade, however, producing two new [[graphic novel]]s.

==Style==
===Stories===
{{Expand section|date=April 2011}}
Woodring's work often has a [[nightmare|nightmarish]] [[Surrealism|surreal]] quality. Woodring told ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' that under the right circumstances he is capable of "[[hallucination|hallucinating]] like mad."<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" /> The desire to draw something that "wasn't there" was always of "paramount importance" to Woodring.

===Artwork===
{{Expand section|date=April 2011}}
Woodring's drawing [[style (visual arts)|style]] in the [[black-and-white]] ''[[Frank (comics)|Frank]]'' stories has often been mistaken for brushwork due to the greatly varying thickness of the linework typical of brush cartooning, but he has insisted,<ref group="note" name="BrunettiFanLetter">"...I could never, ever, in a trillion years do what you do with a brush and paper. (''Pen{{emdash}}J.W.'')".<br />Letter from [[Ivan Brunetti]] in ''[[Jim (comics)|Jim]]'' Vol. II, #5, pg 18 (May 1995). [[Fantagraphics Books]]</ref> and indeed demonstrated{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}, that it is done with a Brause #29 Index Finger [[dip pen]].<ref>https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11230770/ {{User-generated source|date=May 2022}}</ref>  He has said, "[[Pen|pen and ink]] for me is the ''[[ne plus ultra]]'' of drawing."<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" />

In his ''[[Frank (comics)|Frank]]'' stories, Woodring employed a style that combined 1920s–30s [[Fleischer Studios]]-like character designs with an Eastern architectural and design flavor.  He also makes heavy use of a distinctive controlled wavy line that adds contour and texture to the backgrounds, which has become his trademark.

Woodring also works in [[Charcoal#Art|charcoal]] and [[painting|paint]] (mostly in [[watercolour painting|watercolor]]).  A selection of these works (mostly charcoal) appeared in the collection ''Seeing Things'' in 2005.

==Beliefs==
Woodring is a follower of [[Vedanta]], and aspects of this philosophy often appear in his stories.  He says, "[[Meditation]] is the uber-skill. It ought to be taught in elementary school."<ref name="IllustFridayInterview" />

==Artistic influences==
===Cartooning===
Woodring singles out for praise the cartoon work of [[Mark Martin (cartoonist)|Mark Martin]], [[Justin Green (cartoonist)|Justin Green]], [[Rachel Bell]], John Dorman, [[Mark Newgarden]], [[Roy Thomkins]], [[Peter Bagge]], [[Terry LaBan]], [[Chester Brown]], [[Seth (cartoonist)|Seth]], [[Joe Matt]], [[Robert Crumb]], [[Charles Burns (cartoonist)|Charles Burns]], [[Gilbert Hernandez]], [[Jaime Hernandez]], [[Lat (cartoonist)|Lat]],<ref name="NicePaperInterview" /> [[Gil Kane]] and [[Jack Kirby]] (Woodring inked and colored Kirby's designs during his time at [[Ruby-Spears]]).  He considers [[Kim Deitch]] to be "the most under-appreciated comic artist working today."<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/blogs/afterword/archive/2010/05/07/toronto-comic-arts-festival-2010-jim-woodring.aspx
|title=Toronto Comics Art Festival 2010: Jim Woodring
|newspaper=[[National Post]]
|date=May 7, 2010
|access-date=April 5, 2011
}}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

===Art===
[[Harry McNaught]],<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" /><ref name="NicePaperInterview" /> [[Boris Artzybasheff]],<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" /> [[Dutch Golden Age painting|17th Century Dutch painting]],<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" /> [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres|Ingres]],<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" /> [[Salvador Dalí]]

===Literature===
Woodring has read widely in literature. ''[[Under the Volcano]]''<ref name="tcjGrothInterview2002" /> by [[Malcolm Lowry]] and ''[[Les Misérables]]'' by [[Victor Hugo]] are two works that he has mentioned more than once in interviews.

===Music===
Woodring frequently mentions [[Captain Beefheart]], [[Bill Frisell]] as musical favorites, but also "schmaltzy, potent, cheap pop music with strings from the late 50s and early 60s, the [[Theme from A Summer Place|Theme from ''A Summer Place'']], [[Holiday for Strings (song)|Holiday for Strings]], the [[Everybody's Talkin'|theme from Midnight Cowboy]]...that sort of dreck."<ref name="IllustFridayInterview" />  He also listens to a lot of classical music{{emdash}}his brother, with whom he's close, is a classical musician and has introduced him to much of what he listens to.<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993" /><ref name="IllustFridayInterview" />

==Critical reception==
Reaction amongst critics and fellow artists has generally been quite positive, despite low sales.<ref group="note" name="lowSales">"But I read recently that only about 3000 copies of his comics are sold..."<br />[http://www.zompist.com/bob23.html Bob's Comic Reviews], February 1999</ref>

{{quote box|quote="''Frank'', and I say this without a shred of hyperbole, is a work of true genius by one of the all-time greats."|source=[[Daniel Clowes]], 2008<ref>[[Daniel Clowes]], from the back cover of ''The Portable Frank''. [[Fantagraphics Books]]. 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-56097-978-4}}</ref>|width=325px}}

===Awards===
In December 2006, he became one of the first group of [[United States Artists]] Fellows. His work was featured prominently at the Centre National de la Bande Dessinée et de l’Image in [[Angoulême]], France as part of the [[Angoulême International Comics Festival|international comics festival]] held there in January 2007. The following year, Woodring received an [[Inkpot Award]] at the 2008 [[San Diego Comic-Con]], and he was awarded an [[Artist Trust]]/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship in the fall of 2008. In November 2014 he received the Lynd Ward Prize from the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, for his graphic novel ''Fran''.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Organisation
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Award To
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Award
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Result
|-
|rowspan="4"|1993
|rowspan="2"|[[Harvey Award]]s<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.tcj.com/3_online/f_l_harveys.html|title=Harvey Awards|publisher=[[Fantagraphics Books]]/[[The Comics Journal]]|access-date=April 19, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324102423/http://archives.tcj.com/3_online/f_l_harveys.html|archive-date=March 24, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
|Woodring
|Best Colorist
|{{won}}
|-
|''[[Frank in the River|Tantalizing Stories Presents Frank in the River]]''
|Best Single Issue or Story
|{{won}}
|-
|rowspan="4"|[[Eisner Award]]s<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/eisner93.php|title=1993 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners|access-date=April 19, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/eisner96.php|title=1996 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners|access-date=April 19, 2011}}</ref>
|rowspan="2"|''[[Frank in the River]]''
|Best Short Story
|{{nom}}
|-
|Best Colorist
|{{nom}}
|-
|rowspan="2"|1996
|rowspan="2"|''[[Jim (comics)|Jim]]''
|Best Cover Artist
|{{nom}}
|-
|Best Writer/Artist, Humor
|{{nom}}
|-
|1998
|[[Ignatz Award]]s<ref name="Hahn1998Ignatz" />
|''Frank Vol. 2''
|Outstanding Graphic Novel or Collection
|{{nom}}
|-
|rowspan="2"|2003
|[[Ignatz Award]]s
|''The Frank Book''
|Outstanding Graphic Novel or Collection<ref name="Hahn2003Ignatz" />
|{{nom}}
|-
|[[Artist Trust]]
|Woodring
|Gap Award
|{{won}}
|-
|2006
|[[United States Artists]]
|Woodring and [[Bill Frisell]]
|rowspan="2"|Fellowship
|{{won}}
|-
|rowspan="2"|2008
|[[Artist Trust]]
|Woodring
|{{won}}
|-
|[[Inkpot Awards]]
|Woodring
|Comic Arts
|{{won}}
|-
|rowspan="2"|2010
|Rasmuson Foundation and [[Artist Trust]]
|Woodring
|one month residency in [[Homer, Alaska]]
|{{won}}
|-
|[[The Stranger (newspaper)|The Stranger]]
|Woodring
|''Genius of Literature''
|{{won}}
|-
|rowspan="2"|2014
|Pennsylvania Center for the Book
|Woodring
|Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize
|{{won}}
|}

==Collected works==
Woodring has published a large number of short works in diverse periodicals and anthologies.  Below is a list of collections of some of those works, but a large amount has yet to be collected in book form.  As of April 2011, many of these works are out of print.

===Solo===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Publisher
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | ISBN
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes
|-
|1993
|''[[The Book of Jim]]''
|rowspan="5"|[[Fantagraphics Books]]
|{{ISBNT|1-141-29836-8}}
|foreword by [[Mark Martin (cartoonist)|Mark Martin]]
|-
|1994
|''Frank Vol. 1''
|{{ISBNT|978-1-560-97153-5}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|1997
|''Frank Vol. 2''
|{{ISBNT|978-1-56097-279-2}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|2002
|''Trosper''<br />(with music by [[Bill Frisell]])
|{{ISBNT|1-56097-426-5}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|rowspan="2"|2003
|''The Frank Book''
|{{ISBNT|1-56097-534-2}}
|foreword by [[Francis Ford Coppola]]
|-
|''Oneiric Diary''
|[[Dark Horse Comics]]
|{{ISBNT|1-59307-002-0}}
|notebook with blank pages
|-
|2004
|''Pupshaw and Pushpaw''
|Press Pop
|{{ISBNT|4-9900812-9-3}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|rowspan="2"|2005
|''Seeing Things''
|[[Fantagraphics Books]]
|{{ISBNT|1-56097-648-9}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|''The Lute String''<br />''リュートの弦''
|rowspan="3"|Presspop Gallery
|{{ISBNT|978-4-90309-003-0}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|2006
|''The Frank color stories''
|{{ISBNT|978-4-90309-006-1}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|rowspan="2"|2008
|''The Museum of Love and Mystery''
|{{ISBNT|978-4-903090-14-6}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|''The Portable Frank''
|rowspan="7"|[[Fantagraphics Books]]
|{{ISBNT|978-1-56097-978-4}}
|foreword by [[Justin Green (cartoonist)|Justin Green]]
|-
|2010
|''[[Weathercraft]]''
|{{ISBNT|978-1-60699-340-8}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|2011
|''[[Congress of the Animals]]''
|{{ISBNT|978-1-60699-437-5}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|2012
|''Problematic: Sketchbook Drawings 2004–2012''
|{{ISBNT|978-1-60699-594-5}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|2013
|''[[Fran (comics)|''Fran'']]''
|{{ISBNT|978-1-60699-661-4}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|2018
|''[[Fran (comics)|''Poochytown'']]''
|{{ISBNT|978-1-68396-119-2}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|2020
|''And Now Sir, Is This Your Missing Gonad?''
|{{ISBNT|978-1-68396-326-4}}
| <!-- no note -->
|-
|2022
|''One Beautiful Spring Day''
|[[Fantagraphics Books]]
|{{ISBNT|978-1-68396-555-8}}
|a compilation of ''Congress of the Animals'', ''Fran'' and ''Poochytown'', along with 100 pages never before published
|}

===As writer===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Collaborator(s)
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Publisher
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | ISBN
|-
|1997
|''[[Aliens (Dark Horse Comics publications)|Aliens]]: Labyrinth''
|Kilian Plunkett<br />(Illustrator)
|rowspan="3"|[[Dark Horse Comics]]
|{{ISBNT|1-56971-245-X}}
|-
|1998
|''[[Star Wars]]: Jabba the Hutt: Art of the Deal'' 
|Art Wetherell<br />Monty Sheldon<br />(Illustrators)
|{{ISBNT|978-1569713105}}
|-
|1999
|''[[Aliens (Dark Horse Comics publications)|Aliens]]: Kidnapped''
|Jason Green,<br />Francisco Solano Lopez<br />(Illustrators)
|{{ISBNT|978-1569713723}}
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Comics}}
*[[Alternative comics]]
*[[Dream journal]]
*[[Mark Martin (cartoonist)|Mark Martin]]
*[[Sri Ramakrishna]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist
|group = note
|colwidth=
}}

==References==
{{Reflist
|refs=

<ref name="tcjGrothInterview1993">1993 [http://www.fantagraphics.com/images/stories/artists/interviews/Woodring_Interview_TCJ164-revised.pdf interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924010516/http://www.fantagraphics.com/images/stories/artists/interviews/Woodring_Interview_TCJ164-revised.pdf |date=September 24, 2015 }} with [[Gary Groth]] from [[The Comics Journal]]</ref>

<ref name="imdbLobsterAndLiver">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1648192/ |website=[[IMDb]] |title=listing for ''The Lobster and the Liver''}}</ref>

<ref name="tcjGrothInterview2002">interview with [[Gary Groth]] in [[the Comics Journal]] Special Edition Summer 2002 ([http://archives.tcj.com/s02sum/i_woodring.html excerpt] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710154538/http://archives.tcj.com/s02sum/i_woodring.html |date=July 10, 2011 }})</ref>

<ref name="IllustFridayInterview">{{cite web
 |url=http://illustrationfriday.com/blog/2010/10/01/the-words-and-worlds-of-jim-woodring/ 
 |access-date=April 12, 2010 
 |date=October 1, 2010 
 |title=The Words and Worlds of Jim Woodring 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101004204735/http://illustrationfriday.com/blog/2010/10/01/the-words-and-worlds-of-jim-woodring/ 
 |archive-date=October 4, 2010 
}}</ref>

<ref name="NicePaperInterview">{{cite web
|url       = http://www.tcj.com/guttergeek/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Pages-from-NicePaperInterviews.jpg
|first     = Chris
|last      = Reilly
|title     = Jim Woodring: From Tantalus to Revelations?
|date      = March 25–31, 1993
|access-date =April 12, 2011}}</ref>

<ref name="DescMyth">{{cite web
 |url=http://www.comixology.com/articles/384/Description-Is-a-Myth-i-Weathercraft-i- 
 |title=Description is a Myth 
 |work=comixology.com
 |first=Tucker 
 |last=Stone 
 |date=June 1, 2010 
 |access-date=April 14, 2010 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100605090049/http://www.comixology.com/articles/384/Description-Is-a-Myth-i-Weathercraft-i- 
 |archive-date=June 5, 2010 
}}</ref>

<ref name="CBRinterview">{{cite web
|url        = http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=25633
|first      = Shaun
|last       = Manning
|title      = Woodring Practices "Weathercraft" (interview)
|website  = Comic Book Resources
|date       = April 9, 2010
|access-date =April 15, 2011}}</ref>

<ref name="Hahn1998Ignatz">{{cite web
|url        = http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/ignatz98.php
|title      = 1998 Ignatz Award Nominees and Winners
|access-date =May 2, 2011
|first      = Joel
|last       = Hahn}}</ref>

<ref name="Hahn2003Ignatz">{{cite web
|url        = http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/ignatz03.php
|title      = 2003 Ignatz Award Nominees and Winners
|access-date =May 2, 2011
|first      = Joel
|last       = Hahn}}</ref>
|2}}

===Sources===
*[http://www.lambiek.net/woodring_exhibition/begin_frank.htm Lambiek: Jim Woodring]
*{{gcdb|type=credit|search=Jim+Woodring|title=Jim Woodring}}
*{{comicbookdb|type=creator|id=1465|title=Jim Woodring}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal
|last        = Bonar
|first       = Hugh
|title       = Screechy Peachy is Screaming
|journal     = [[The Comics Journal]]
|date        = December 1993
|issue       = 164
|pages       = 44–46
|publisher   = [[Fantagraphics Books]]
|issn        = 0194-7869
}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|http://www.jimwoodring.com}}
*[http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2011/01/09/seattle-artist-unveils-7-foot-pen-and-yes-it-works/ Demonstration of 7-foot pen] (2011)
*[[Close reading]] of one [[panel (comics)|panel]] of Woodring's work: {{cite web
 |url          = http://thepanelists.org/2011/01/holy-terror/
 |last         = Hatfield
 |first        = Charles
 |title        = One-Panel Criticism: Holy Terror
 |access-date   = April 12, 2011
 |date         = January 8, 2011
 |work         = thepanelists.org
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110726105535/http://thepanelists.org/2011/01/holy-terror/
 |archive-date = July 26, 2011
 |url-status     = dead
 |df           = mdy-all
}}
*[https://archive.today/20130203034002/http://www.strangeco.com/Features/woodring.html Biography at Strangeco]
*[http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jim_woodring.html Brainyquote]

===Interviews===
*Rudick, Nicole. "The Mind of a Worldly Man Is Like a Fly": A Jim Woodring Interview part [http://www.tcj.com/the-mind-of-a-worldly-man-is-like-a-fly-a-jim-woodring-interview/ 1] [http://www.tcj.com/the-mind-of-a-worldly-man-is-like-a-fly-a-jim-woodring-interview/2/ 2] [http://www.tcj.com/the-mind-of-a-worldly-man-is-like-a-fly-a-jim-woodring-interview/3/ 3] [http://www.tcj.com/the-mind-of-a-worldly-man-is-like-a-fly-a-jim-woodring-interview/4/ 4].  ''[[The Comics Journal]]''. June 27, 2011.  Retrieved 2011-06-28
*2018 {{cite web
 |url=https://www.tcj.com/lit-by-an-invisible-source-briefly-with-jim-woodring/
 |access-date=August 5, 2024
 |date=September 17, 2018
 |title=Lit By an Invisible Source: Briefly, with Jim Woodring
 |last=McCulloch
 |first=Joe
 |website=[[The Comics Journal]]
}}
*2011 {{YouTube|9yo0_7tgxdE|Video interview}}. [[Seattle Channel]]. 2011-03-25. retrieved 2011-04-12
*2010 [http://vimeo.com/12875658 Video Interview] on ''The Dusty Wright Show'' (22 minutes)
*2010 {{cite web
 |url=http://illustrationfriday.com/blog/2010/10/01/the-words-and-worlds-of-jim-woodring/ 
 |access-date=April 12, 2010 
 |date=October 1, 2010 
 |title=The Words and Worlds of Jim Woodring 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101004204735/http://illustrationfriday.com/blog/2010/10/01/the-words-and-worlds-of-jim-woodring/ 
 |archive-date=October 4, 2010 
}}
*2010 {{cite news
|url       = https://www.avclub.com/jim-woodring-1798221175
|newspaper = [[The A.V. Club]]
|first     = Jason
|last      = Heller
|title     = Interview: Jim Woodring
|access-date =April 12, 2011
|date      = July 8, 2010}}
<!-- dead link -->
<!-- *[http://www.seattlepi.com/visualart/155658_woodring08.html interview] at SeattlePI -->
<!-- dead link -->
<!-- *[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/books/review/Wolk-t.html] at [[The New York Times]] -->
<!-- dead link -->
<!-- *[http://www.newsarama.com/comics/fantagraphics-weathercraft-interview-100707.html/ interview] at [[newsarama.com]] -->
*2007 Heater, Brian (March 27, 2007). ''Interview: Jim Woodring'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20070320160506/https://thedailycrosshatch.com/2007/03/14/interview-jim-woodring-pt-1-of-2/ Pt. 1] [http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2007/03/14/interview-jim-woodring-pt-2-of-2/ Pt. 2].{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Retrieved August 5, 2024.
* {{cite web
 |year         = 1993
 |url          = http://www.fantagraphics.com/images/stories/artists/interviews/Woodring_Interview_TCJ164-revised.pdf
 |title        = The Comics Journal #164 interview
 |publisher    = [[Fantagraphics Books|Fantagraphics]]
 |access-date  = April 12, 2011
 |last         = Groth
 |first        = Gary
 |archive-date = September 24, 2015
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150924010516/http://www.fantagraphics.com/images/stories/artists/interviews/Woodring_Interview_TCJ164-revised.pdf
 |url-status   = dead
}}
* [https://www.lambiek.net/artists/w/woodring.htm Lambiek Comiclopedia article.]

{{Jim Woodring}}
{{Inkpot Award 2000s}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodring, Jim}}
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:Alternative cartoonists]]
[[Category:American cartoonists]]
[[Category:American comics artists]]
[[Category:American surrealist artists]]
[[Category:American male writers]]
[[Category:Harvey Award winners for Best Colorist]]
[[Category:Inkpot Award winners]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Vashon, Washington]]
[[Category:American album-cover and concert-poster artists]]