okay guys, if the concept is similar to gary larson comic then it is news to me. when i originally posted this to be judged weeks ago, one person actually left a comment to that effect. just to be safe, i checked to the best of my ability (on the internet) and found nothing. and even after these comments, i still haven't. all i can say is that, truely, the idea for his design came from within. i would never, ever, knowingly rip off another artist. in fact, to be honest, i have never really read gary larson comics, so i can't even say that i might have been influenced by it. i don't think there is anyway that could have even seen it. outside of the push/pull genius school comic that was (ironically) on a shirt in the 90's, i have little knowledge of his work... other than i think he used cows a lot. if anyone does have access to a picture of this comic please post it here. i want to see it, and see how similar it really is.
regardless, i felt i should respond. i guess all i can tell you is how the idea for my shirt came to be. it evolved from the idea of using those plywood paintings with the heads cut out of them that you find at carnivals. you know, take a picture of yourself as a strong man... that kind of thing. so i tossed the idea around and i drew a few sketches. at first it was using large monsters like king kong and godzilla sticking their heads through billboards and taking pictures of each other... but it just seemed like too much going on for a shirt. then i had two cut outs next to a bean bag toss game at a carnival... you know, the ones with the clown face. a clown sticks his head through the cutout next to the game, gets pelted with bean bags. it wasn't working... but that's when i realized how much i hate clowns. anyway, i started thinking... people stick their heads through cut outs.. what else do they stick their head through? guillotines. i hate clowns. it seemed natural. i tied it together in my mind with the idea that the executioner probably gets rather bored with his job... you know.. the same thing everyday... so he tried to make his job a little more fun. as an executioner, you'd probably have a dark sense of humor. hence the title.
anyway, i hope that clears things up a bit... i do apologize if this is similar to another artists concept. as strange as it seems it's all coincidence. again, if you have a picture, please post. i'm as curious as you are. thanks.
It sound to me like he merely found out what most artists and comedians discover in life... great minds think alike (oh wait, did I copy that line from somewhere?). I just signed up this week to start submitting, and I've already had to scratch 3 of my "original" ideas after noticing similar shirt ideas while grading & shopping. It comes with the territory. Comedy at its funniest isn't usually going to pop into the head of only one person out of six billion, especially THIS brand of comedy where connecting 2 'common but unrelated' items creates the funniest gags. Besides, designers would be crazy to purposely plagiarize well-known art on such a public forum anyway. Seems like an honest coincidence, and a $5 one too!
The truth is that it is very hard to come up with something COMPLETELY and utterly original in terms of concept, but you can come up with something original in terms of how you put your spin on it, or how you go about creating that concept.
So why don't we all just relax, have a beer, and make some awesome designs.
i cant find the exact comic on the web but i own the complete farside and this comic is in it. if u dont believe me contact gary larsen and ask him yourself.
Unfortunately no Far Sides really exist online because Gary Larson has been really diligent in making sure they get taken down (and really polite). Basically, anytime someone has posted a Far Side they get a letter that has been widely circulated, so you won't be able to prove it, electronically at least.
i have every single far side book printed at home...i think i will go through all of them and if i find something matching this i will take a pic and post it
Jan 15 '08 by
viralVISUAL on Jan 15 '08 at 9:51pm
