Archival photographs from the Charles M, Schultz museum show original art and rare, never before scenes pieces of work from Schulz, Wonderful glimpses of the artist's work and life beyond the strip as well ancillary products like board games and advertisements,
Bad: I know much has been written about Schulz and his seminal comic strip, but I would have liked even more context related to the strips and artwork the book shares.
Also, for some reason much of this is collected in only rough chronological form, making it difficult to track the evolution of the art and characters.
Ugly: Nothing ugly here, Beautiful book. A hefty, solid and gorgeously laid out piece that deserves a permanent home in any collection, Bought as a gift , looked amazing, recipient was delighted and ha sinced praised it highly, Perfekte Aufmachung, perfekte Strips nuff said! What an amazing collection of sketches and souvenirs from our favorite characters! Well displayed look into the origins and evolution of Peanuts characters through strips, associated sketches, doodles, and promotional paraphernalia.
Perhaps some behind the scenes stories in place of few of the many whole page strips would've made the book feel a bit more wholesome, but overall a very nice spread of unedited Schulz art.
Charles M. Schulzbelieved that the key to cartooning was to take out the extraneous details and leave in only whats necessary, Foryears, from October,, to February,, Schulz wrote and illustrated Peanuts, the single most popular and influential comic strip in the world.
In all,,strips were published, making it “arguably the longest story ever told by one human being,” according to Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University.
For Only Whats Necessary: Charles M, Schulz and the Art of Peanuts, renowned designer Chip Kidd was granted unprecedented access to the extraordinary archives of the Charles M.
Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California, Reproducing the best of the Peanuts newspaper strip,all shot from the original art by awardwinning photographer Geoff Spear, Only Whats Necessary also features exclusive, rare, and unpublished original art and developmental workmuch of which has never been seen before.
Excellent book with rare gems sketches, family pictures and even a Braille Peanuts book! How cool is that!!! hilarious strips some I'd seen before but loved seeing them again, pictures, letters from fans The ones about the "Franklin" character are particularly interesting, and just a lot of fun! I loved it! It's a must for those of us who love Peanuts! The ending of the book is a little sad, but it's so worth the read! Chip Kidds wonderful collection of Charles Schultzs Peanuts, “Only Whats Necessary,” is a wonderful tribute to the artist and his unprecedented comic strip work.
This book is neither exhaustive or deep, but it provides a unique look at the work of the artist who has connected with generations through his drawing.
Many details are omitted in this book, but the perspective of Schultz as an artist is a unique one, and Kidd does a great job in letting his design showcase the depth, original art and quality of Schultzs linework.
Geoff Spears photography really shines in this volume, as he scrapes light across the dozens of original strips in his photography, That quality comes across gorgeously and intimately in this nice book,
Wonderful book that would be a great read for hardcore Peanuts fans and an intriguing introduction for those less familiar, Recommended. As collections of Schulz's legacy go, this one is neither as comprehensive or as consistent as others, but it is hard to resist such a handsomely designed volume as this, and even more difficult not to blurp out joyful exclamations at the photos of the lovingly preserved artifacts here, taken from the Charles M.
Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California, There are numerous examples of Schulz's original artparticularly of the strips themselves, naturally enoughwhich makes this volume look a lot like one of the hundreds of strip collections published during Schulz's lifetime and, hence, somewhat redundant.
But there are also photos of board games, early advertisements, notes sent to friends and colleagues, and other paraphernalia, that will keep the Schulz fan occupied for some time.
There is sadly not much text here, though the intent of the book is perhaps more of an art book than a biography.
This makes the book more of a coffeetable volume, as does its bulky size, The book is not wellfitted for laps or for holding long, But the artifacts are carefully photographed and presented in a size that makes them generally readable, with the exception of some textual pieces, including a chapter Schulz wrote on cartooning for an art school textbook.
The overall effect is not unlike digging through random files, as the artifacts are not presented in strict chronological or even thematic order.
This may give more of a sense of discovery while reading the book,
but does not help scholarship,
Again, it is hard to be overly critical of a book that was clearly a labor of love, One may quibble about the presentation, but it is better to have this book than not, An absolute delightful read with a clearer knowledge of how Charles Schultz drawings evolved over his lifetime, I love reading the history of it and his perspectives, and why he did what he did!
It's my rainy day, chill out day and laze around day book to read.
Vintage Schulz. Contains many breathtakingly beautiful reprints of drawings, sketches, photos, rough samples, unpublished works of creations of Charles Schulz, perfectly arranged in chronological order.
This book will show hundreds of intimate insights about Schulz's creation process, MustRead if you are a Peanuts fan, Deserves./. Really interesting look into the work and life of Charles M, Schulz with beautiful prints of his work, A really great read if this is something you are interested in! I love Chip Kidd's design work, In this case I wish he had included more behindthescenes information and fewer doublesized comic strips, It's a great book to have, The cover of my copy of Only What's Necessary had a sticker on it saying that it had neverbeforeseen, unavailableanywhereelse art inside, and it did! The author worked with the director of the Charles M.
Schulz museum in California and got access to stuff in the archives that very, very few people had ever seen before, and got permission to publish some of that stuff here.
Only What's Necessary has forewords by the author, the director of the Charles M, Schulz museum, and Schulz's widow, They're not long, but they're the lengthiest text in the whole big book! The book is organized to give a half page to a page worth of background on an aspect on Charles M.
Schulz's life or career, then follow that with aboutpages of art and comic strips that illustrate the background info, I thought it was really interesting to learn more about where Charles M, Schulz was coming from when he created Peanuts, One of the things you get to see in the book that you wouldn't otherwise ever see: envelopes donated to his archives from an old Army buddy.
While they were serving together in WWII, Charles M, Schulz would do little drawings on the envelopes of the letters that his buddy was sending home, illustrating daily Army life, At the very end of the book you also get to read an entry by the director of his museum, telling about which strips were his favorite after all those years.
I highly recommend! Especially to Peanuts fans, of course, but also to folks interested in biographies or art, It was on sale and I wanted a light read and that's Peanuts, There were some interesting bits but not as many as I hoped, It's all taken from the Charles Schultz Museum, created by Charles Schultz, The only bits in there not authorized by him are crumpled bits of discarded halfdrawn or unfunny or illegible panels which an employee removed from his garbage and saved.
They're in bad shape and stand out as in bad taste, which Schultz never was, He was just a regular, somewhat boring man who drew a simple strip that became the most successful of all time, made of kids he imbued with qualities of people he knew, in simple situations.
His evolving technique and characters are interesting to read about, beginning with comics he drew on letters a buddy serving in France with him during World War II sent home to his wife, through early comics and then Peanuts.
Charlie Brown was not initially the focus of Peanuts it was Shermie, who I barely remember, Lucy was not in it at the beginning, Snoopy was Peppermint Patty's dog ! and his appearance underwent the most changes, Certainly it didn't seem this would become the most popular comic strip of all time in the United States and some other countries too.
My favorite part, and it's just a few pages, was Franklin's evolution story, It began when Schultz received a letter from a white Los Angeles housewife a few days after the assassination of Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr. asking him to create a black character, His response was to write her back telling her he drew what he knew and he wasn't going to create a black Peanuts character as a token.
I just went to the Museum website to link to what followed but it's not there, In a letter to her he said he'd invite correspondence from black people she knew,
A strong, persuasive letter was received and Franklin was born, not used often but neither were other characters, I wanted to link to the man's letter but unfortunately the Museum's website displays an exhibition dedicated to the housewife as hero, and reproduces her letters but not the gentleman's.
Waa waa waaaaa which, for those who don't know, comes to us from Peanuts specials, in which adult voices are replaced by trombones.
Chip Kidd has done a very good job presenting the material, for me it's that some of the material was of scant interest to me, including the ads and board games and figurines.
Before reading this I didn't know the Met Life ads were the first to feature comic strip characters but that didn't translate to wanting to look at Met Life ads.
I wished there'd been more about the specials, especially since watching A Charlie Brown Christmas is what motivated me to buy the book on sale.
Four because the Peanuts strips and mention of the specials must have put me in a sentimental mood as did watching A Charlie Brown Christmas for what a fourth time shortly before I rated this aha! on Christmas Eve day.
Chip Kidd makes design look easy, It doesn't seem to matter what he's writing about the book is guaranteed to look gorgeous and make you seem smart and perceptive for reading it.
This book is no exception, Charles Schulz' art has never looked better, Kidd had access to a treasure trove of originals, sketches, rarities, nonPeanuts work, and more, Some of this material will be familiar to Peanuts fans, but even they have probably never seen it looking this good, I got this from the library after Chip Kidd was on Gilbert Gottfried as podcast recently, I didnt read the strips in here, since I would have already read them in the Complete Peanuts books, but I did have fun looking at the rough drawings and other things enclosed.
Kind of magical seeing how it changed over time, What a perfectly lovely book to page through on a cold, sunny afternoon! This oversized collection is a mustsee/ mustread for Peanuts fans.
It's just gorgeous.
Chipp Kidd and co, used photographs taken of Schultz's work at the Charles M, Schultz museum in Santa Rosa, California to assemble a visual timeline of his artistic career, The strips they chose and the accompanying photos and text all came together to create a moving portrait of a man doing what he loved and leaving an unforgettable mark on the world.
There's a quote at the end of the book from Schultz:
I would be satisfied if they wrote on my tombstone, "He made people happy.
"
Well, I've certainly gotten a lot of joy from Peanuts, and I learned several new things about Charles M, Schultz from this book.
I advise getting your hands on a copy, finding something to prop it on, and losing yourself in it until you're finished.
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