Chris Ware's Artistic Journey: Drawing Strangers and Embracing Parenthood

Every month, The Verge’s designers, photographers, and illustrators gather to share the work of artists who inspire us. Now, we’re turning our Art Club into an interview series in which we catch up with the artists and designers we admire and find out what drives them.

Cartoonist Chris Ware’s work is so precise that you might assume it was illustrated digitally — but it’s all drawn on paper. One of America’s most celebrated graphic artists, Ware’s lines are so meticulous and the geometry is so exacting that it seems impossible a human hand made them. His latest book, the third and final installment of his Acme Novelty Datebook series, collects a wide range of drawing styles. Spanning 2002 to 2023, the book is filled with illustrations of his daughter as she grows from infancy to college age, sketches of subway riders, renderings of children’s toys and stately foyers, pandemic musings, concepts for New Yorker covers, watercolor experiments, intricate schematics, and several notes about his own hopelessness.

The cartoonist’s range is as impressive as it is irritating (how can one person draw perfectly in so many different styles?), and much of his lettering requires a magnifying glass to parse without squinting. Comics are a medium that can often be read quickly, but Ware forces us to slow down.

I spoke with Ware via email at his request, and his answers resemble short essays that bear all the hallmarks of his cartooning: exacting, tender, vulnerable, and punctuated with his trademark self-deprecation.

Approaching Different Drawing Styles

Someone familiar with your books like Jimmy Corrigan or Building Stories may be surprised to see the range of drawing styles in this collection. How do you decide the way you’ll approach a specific drawing? Do you have a “default” mode that comes out most often?

Ware explains that drawing for comics (aka “cartooning”) is different from drawing for a story; such drawings are completely synthetic, designed to be transparent and clear, almost like typography. Conversely, everything in his sketchbooks actually happened to him, so those drawings are meant for looking more than reading. He goes out of his way to avoid “crosshatching” and uses all his lines to communicate shadow and texture.

Most of the figure drawings in this book are people he’s seen on public transportation, who, especially since the advent of the iPhone, make perfect subjects. Ware shares a tip for those staring at people on public transportation: if your subject becomes suspicious and suddenly looks at you, simply look at someone else with an expression of intense concentration until the original subject looks away.

The Impact of Parenthood on Art

Did parenthood change the way you make art?

Since he was the stay-at-home parent, Ware spent most days with his daughter Clara from birth until she went to school. He found those years to be a miraculous anthropological study and fun, albeit exhausting. He realized the value of every second during those years, leading to increased productivity.

The Role of Self-Deprecation in His Work

Can you talk about the role of self-deprecation in your comics? Is it a primary motivation in creating or an obstacle?

Ware reflects on his struggles with despair and doubt, noting that self-doubt is not a put-on. He makes a pact with his despair, which has helped him navigate his feelings. He emphasizes that what matters is the emotion put into the work itself, regardless of how the artist feels.

Managing Anxiety and Maintaining Archives

Where does anxiety come in?

Ware humorously describes his anxiety manifesting physically and recounts a time when low-dose anesthesia provided him the best sleep he’d had in decades.

What does your personal archive look like? How do you maintain it?

His archive consists of books, notebooks, and original pages, which he manages carefully to avoid leaving a mess for his daughter after he’s gone. He reflects on how his experiences in art school influenced his approach to art and storage.

Image: Drawn & Quarterly
Image: Drawn & Quarterly
Image: Drawn & Quarterly
Image: Drawn & Quarterly