365 Days: A Diary by Julie Doucet (Hardcover)

~ Julie Doucet (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Julie Doucet:
“Julie Doucet is a conceptual artist trapped in a cartoonist’s body . . . finding fresh ways to channel her creative eruptions onto paper.” —The Village Voice
“Like many of her alt-comics contemporaries, Doucet eradicates any uppity delineation between art and comics.” —Bust

Product Description

A year in the life of a world-renowned artist
Despite Julie Doucet’s renunciation of her comics-centric lifestyle more than five years ago, 365 Days is imbued with the iconic talent and studied aesthetic of her seminal comic book series Dirty Plotte, which catapulted her into being one of the world’s greatest cartoonists. This visual journal, starting in late 2002, is an idiosyncratic collision of her various creative interests, wherein personal narrative, collage, and drawing begin to tell the story of her pursuits into printmaking and beyond, chronicling her maturation as a mid-career artist and her fluid extension into a broader arts community.
Now exhibiting internationally, Doucet blurs the boundaries between high art, illustration, craft, and comics: where panel borders once divided pages, collage creeps in; events and doodles merge; recollection and narrative blend with the abstract. The surreal neurosis of her comics has subsided to reveal a more relaxed creativity that is unrestricted by form or definition and is as engaging as ever.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly (January 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189729915X
• ISBN-13: 978-1897299159
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #936,235 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #94 in

  Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Drawn and Quarterly

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Daily fix, January 28, 2008

By	fireflyhill (Milford, ON Canada) - See all my reviews

This is a deeply engrossing read and a well-crafted visual representation of the daily thoughts and worklife of a fascinating artist.

A pastiche of comic book, collage and diary, "365 Days" covers the span of about a year in the life of the artist. Not only does this work provide an insight into the fascinating world-view of the author/artist, it is also laced with keen observations of human behavior (other friends and artists as well as members of her own family), assessments of media (the news coverage leading up to and into the invasion of and war in Iraq as well as descriptions of movies or books that Ms. Doucet encounters). Doucet takes you inside her head where you learn that, even though she is a prolific artist, she constantly worries about not getting enough done, about the logistics of collaborating with other artists, and how to make enough money to live and eat. Although her insights into other people are fascinating, at all times the star of "365 Days" is Doucet herself.

The art of the last century was collage and pastiche, while the diaristic impulse has defined the start of this century (Blogs, YouTube, comic books, the popularity in the publishing world of diaries and memoirs, etc.). This book combines these two forms in new and unique ways.

Julie Doucet came to prominence as a comic book artist over the early 1990s with a dark and unique sense of humor who was willing to expose her own quirks and proclivities (see her New York Diaries for instance) in almost excruciating detail. After having "given up" being a comic book artist, she has instead concentrated on linocut, silkscreening and collage. In this book she combines her drawings with cutout words and images and also describes her daily practice as an artist working on her silkscreening and linocut prints.

This is an ambitious, yet highly personal work that will inspire and intrigue. In the end it leaves you wanting more.

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars snooooooooooooooooozer, February 17, 2008

By	Emer Foley "Emer Foley" (California) - See all my reviews

the squiggle and cartoons are cute but it is really like reading someone's very boring diary. Her life is dull in this year. Painful.