Jim
Woodring was born in Los Angeles in 1952 and enjoyed a childhood made
interesting by frequent hallucinations, apparitions, disembodied voices
and other psychological malfunctions.
Despite the generally frightening nature of his delusions he learned to
accept them as part of life and was accordingly a reasonably cheerful
and good-natured lad.
After barely
graduating from high school Woodring got a job as a garbage man and lived
in picturesque squalor as he set about the task of capturing his inner
life in words and pictures. Some of these fledgling efforts were printed
in various “underground” publications of the day: Two-Bit Comics
(a weekly tabloid), the Los Angeles Free Press, and an early effort at
self-publishing, The Little Swimmer.
Gradually
he developed a number of serviceable drawing styles and became a full-time
freelance cartoonist, doing work primarily for advertising agencies and
public relations companies but also working on whatever projects came
his way, such as student films and other collaborative art.
Eventually
Woodring landed a salaried job in an L.A. animation studio where he worked
on some of the worst cartoons this degraded planet has ever seen. In 1980
he self-published the first issue of his “illustrated autojournal”,
JIM, containing comics, drawings and stories drawn from his indelible
childhood experiences.
Eventually
Woodring landed a salaried job in an L.A. animation studio where he worked
on some of the worst cartoons this degraded planet has ever seen.
During
the 80’s and 90’s his work has been featured in many publications
that deal with comics and culture, from the high-brow Kenyon Review and
World Art Magazine to Francis Coppola's Zoetrope, as well as the Frank
comics JIM was subsequently published as a 32-page magazine by Fantagraphics
Books. Response was good enough to persuade Woodring to leave animation
and embark on a career as a full-time cartoon artiste.
At present
he is working on the fourth issue of "Frank", which will contain
thesecond installment of a book-length epic (which will be published,
when finished, as a black and white comic with color illustrations). He
lives in Seattle with his family and residual phenomena.
