The Daily Cartoonist

Industry news for the professional cartoonist

Stacy Curtis on Richard Thompson’s decision to retire Cul de Sac

Alan Gardner72 mins

Stacy Curtis took over inking Richard Thompson?s Cul de Sac in March, so he had a first hand look at what went into Richard?s process for creating the strip and the factors in Richard?s decision to retire the strip.

Regarding his short-run experience as the Cul de Sac inker, Stacy writes::

As you may know, earlier this year, Richard asked me to help him with the inking of Cul de Sac.

I never felt inking Cul de Sac for Richard worked. It was like going into a theater to see Jerry Seinfeld do stand-up and watching Steve Martin deliver his lines.
And that’s what it felt like. Every time I sat down at my drawing table to ink Cul de Sac, I could hear a narrator’s voice say, “For tonight’s performance, the part of Richard Thompson will be played by his understudy, Stacy Curtis.”

It was tricky to ink Cul de Sac without imitating Richard’s drawing style. Make it look like Cul de Sac without trying to draw like Richard Thompson. (Yeah, my brain still hurts from trying to figure that out.)

7 thoughts on “Stacy Curtis on Richard Thompson’s decision to retire Cul de Sac”

  1. The link for Stacy’s remarks turns out to be a link for the news that he started inking in March.

  3. I think Richard’s first comment on Stacy’s blog – under the article – speaks volumes about the awesome personality, heart, and humor of Richard Thompson:

    “Thanks for the part about me not being dead yet, Stacy! People need to be reminded of this. Especially me.
    August 20, 2012 11:32 AM “

  4. Stacy was that tracer right?
    Stacy thank you for everything. I have never met Stacy but we have had such wonderful conversations and I know how much he admires and loves RT. You ROCK!

  5. For me, there were two great things about Stacy inking the strip. It allowed us to enjoy Cul de Sac just a wee bit longer and it introduced people (like me) to Stacy’s work.

    For that matter, Cul de Sac introduced me to Richard Thompson’s work. The strip ends with me following two great artists.

  6. Either decision would probably have worked with the fans, but seems like a good choice. I wish the all the best to both Richard and Stacy on into the future!

  7. I agree with S.B. that Stacy’s great effort gave us Cul de Sac for just a bit longer, if only to prepare us for what we knew was coming. Thanks also to Stacy for a nicely written piece.

Comments are closed.

Top