The comic creation process always tests the mettle and knack for creativity of the artist. Sure, you might have a few original ideas when you start, but as you keep making them, the well of ideas runs dry, and you have to make stuff up out of seemingly nothing. Ironically, most comic artists draw inspiration from mundane, regular life stuff, a place which most of us try to get out of by consuming these same comics, which is even doubly ironic.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Today's comics are by Matt Reuter, and as the previous paragraph might suggest, they mostly stem from insights about regular day-to-day life. The cartoonist, designer and illustrator from Brooklyn, NY might be considered a classical comic artist, a cartoonist, and his style supports this: a single image that acts as a setup, and a description that acts as a punchline. They look as if they came out straight out of a newspaper!
More info: Instagram | mattreuter.com | mattreuter.tumblr.com
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Each panel of Reuter's comics can stand on its own, and there's no need to sum up Matt's comics into a singular theme or a topic or explain them, but if someone actually had to, Matt's work could be summarized as an attempt to capture the zeitgeist of the modern times. If you didn't know, zeitgeist, or a spirit of the age, is a set of invisible influences and value systems that give unique characteristics to a certain era in world history.
So, we've stated that Matt Reuter is very sensitive to the zeitgeist of our era, but what does it actually mean in concrete examples? If you scroll through the comics, you'll notice that all of the sets and pieces of our age are there: technology, social media platforms, online behavior—all of these topics are extensively covered and commented on by Matt Reuter's comics, and in a very witty way, if I might add. Conspiracy theorists, social media shenanigans, adventures on the internet, the curiosities of modern life and its adventures—all of these things seem like the main source of inspiration for the artist.
Another one of the more frequent topics that Matt likes to explore is daily life, though it's much less noticeable than technological novelties, and it's very interesting why: we don't notice the things that we're used to; the usual things of our everyday seem uninteresting and mundane, and often we have to work real hard to make our routine seem even remotely interesting. However, for Matt, the topics of everyday life, the spirit of our age, and the witty commentary all go hand in hand and work together to make for an interesting comic.
Recently, Bored Panda has been blessed by a slew of new and old comics, and we've published 10 comics just for today! If you're a fan of comics, without a doubt this is great news. Let us offer you some. These witty comics about everyday life show how artists can have completely different approaches to the same topic that we're covering here today. Dennis Goris draws comics in a single-panel style, much like Matt often does. And here's some comics by WTFrame that will show you everyday life stuff from a completely new and hilarious perspective. So check them all out, and make sure you don't forget to support Matt Reuter and other artists by following them on their social media.
Dude, you need like a hundred shots to get rid of the crap that you just had in there...or just one in the right place :-)
Too bad the color image doesn't work (I get all of these tests - great color vision).
Great job. These are all really funny. Thank you for sharing.
Great job. These are all really funny. Thank you for sharing.