Q: What do all these have in common?
>Maurice Sendak, The Beatles, MAD Magazine, Sergio Aragones, Johnny Rotten, Sex Pistols, Terry Gilliam, Gun Club, Richard Corben, EC Comix, Alfred Hitchcock, John Wayne, Batman, R, Crumb, Hank Williams, Ramones,Wire, Peter Jackson, The Wipers, The Cramps, The Stooges, Bette Davis,The Velvet Underground, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, Saint Vitus, Stanley Kubrick, Frank Sinatra, King Kong, Mudhoney, H.R. Giger, George A. Romero, Harvey Keitel, Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch, Beasts of Bourbon, The Coen Brothers, Jack Nicholson, Monster Magnet, Tim Roth, Type O Negative, Moebius, Roadrunner, Edgar Allan Poe, Johnny Cash, Quentin Tarantino, Deadwood, The Sopranos, Siouxsie & the Banshees, James Dean, Young Gods, The Simpsons,The Twilight Zone, Ray Bradbury, Charles Bukowski, Mark Lanegan, Harry Houdini, Marilyn Monroe, Prong, Pippi Longstocking, M.C. Escher, The Meteors, Dahiell Hammett, Motorhead, Freddy Krueger, Roman Polanski, Nosferatu, Donald Duck, The Fuzztones, Marlon Brando,Nina Hagen, Luis Buñuel, Steve Buscemi, Klaus Kinski, The Damned, Max Schreck, Sham 69, Christopher Walken, Gary Larson, Bad Brains, Scorn, Foetus, 999, Portishead, Windsor McCay, Chris Ware, Danzig, Al Pacino, Steven King, The Jesus and Mary Chain,James Gandolfini, Alan Vega, Suicide, Humphrey Bogart, Bram Stoker, Bettie Page, Francis Ford Coppola, The Shining, Buster Keaton, Joy Division, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Ennio Morricone, Christopher Lee, Bugs Bunny, Bollock Bros., Elvis, L7, Sepultura, Carnival of Souls, Twin Peaks, Sonic Youth, Tim Burton, Ed Wood, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Undertones, Dorian Gray, House of Pain, Jane Birkin, Tom+Jerry, Massive Attack, Blade Runner, Groundhog Day, Speedy Gonzales, Frankenstein, Sergio Leone, Dead Kennedy's, PJ Harvey, Dennis Hopper, Mark Ryden, Fassbinder, Jim Jarmusch, Will Eisner, Orson Welles, The Muppet Show, Marlene Dietrich, Adam West, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Watchmen, Cypress Hill, Lee Hazlewood, The Munsters, Clint Eastwood.....
A: They are all influences of Thomas Ott (aka T.O.T.T.) Who is Thomas Ott? Only one of the best modern
adult graphic novelists/comic artists! His style is very dark, macabre, twisted, surreal, intelligent, and at times humorous. This is reflected in the scope of influences listed above (and these are just a fraction, there are so many more!) Notable books by him include 'Cinema Panopticum', 'Dead End', 'Greetings from Hellville', 'Tales of Error', 'Breakdown', and 'Exit'. On top of that, he has illustrated for random publications and magazines, done filmwork (including 'Fleisch', 'La Grande Illusion', and 'Nocturne'), and has rocked out in different raunchy bands (Beezlebub, The Playboys, Lawmaker..).
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| Thomas busy at work corrupting our youth...note his awesome jagged lightning 'powerburns' (sideburns) |
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| Thomas with a friend gaining some form of 'inspiration'... |
You might find a lot of sites relating to Thomas and his work are in something like German.
This is because he's Swiss born (year '66) and is very active more so in Europe than other places (as far as I can tell). One prominent aspect of Thomas's method is the use of the 'scratchboard' technique. Another main part of his style is to almost never use dialogue or words in his books, the visuals (including the people's expressions) tell the story in itself (much like silent film in book form). Like the one Zen proverb goes: 'Say one word with your mouth shut'. If a picture is worth a thousand words, Thomas manages to say many words with his mouth shut. I'll let his pictures speak for themselves from this point here:
Thomas Ott's official site can be found at: http://www.tott.ch/
*Special note: I have disabled right clicking on my blog as of now (you can't save images from a menu) in order to help protect the artist's work according to their wishes. Certain artists (like Thomas Ott) have some of their work unsaveable as a way to keep if from wantonly being used for the 'wrong purposes'. There are many loopholes around this nonetheless, but if the artists prefer it that way and it gives them more peace of mind, so be it.
