A Hunger Artist By Robert Crumb

Artists and photographers have been creating images for thousands of years. These images or drawings have demonstrated stories as well as beauty in them. While the picture cannot speak to you, there are thousands of words that can be said about it. Stories like “A Hunger Artist” by Robert Crumb or a simple poem like “Cloud Painter” by Jane Flanders display how a picture or pictures can influence the reader. These 2 works of literature use images to cultivate the reader as well as display different ways to use images, whether it be tying the picture to his words or giving a step-by-step reenactment of the events in the story. “A Hunger Artist” is a comic made to involve a new generation of readers. Mr. Crumb used text boxes to describe the progression

Additionally, using images removes the need to say who said what, due to providing speech bubbles to the characters and the narrator. With the addition of words to the images, Crumb was able to guide the reader through the story and give them the ability to see what is going on. Images have always been used to capture a single moment. Even though it is a single frame at a time, Crumb managed to add many extra details that are sometimes left out in normal stories. For example, on page 138 of “The Hunger Artist”, you can see the expressions on everyone’s faces. The hunger star strikes and life less, while a wealthy gentleman tries to force feed him with a smile. Furthermore, you can see people in the background visibly disgusted with what is happening. These intricate details in the images were not mentioned in the text, but shows some people’s reaction to a fasting man being spoon-fed food by a rich man. Jane Flanders had a different approach to using an image. Instead of using the image to show what was being said or hidden details in the story, he used it as a setting. Flanders based his poem, “Cloud Painter”, off the work of John Constable’s