Better late than never. This was drawn in November, 2014. It is one of my favorite time-change cartoons. This cartoon is notable in another way: it employs a benday pattern, the dots that produce the large uniform gray areas in panels one and three. For more than a century, newspapers printed with only one color, black. Any white was the color of the newsprint itself. All between shades of gray (and gray is all there would be) were created by breaking down areas of black with the use of dots which would vary in size and pattern. This is the benday pattern, named for its 19th-century inventor, illustrator Benjamin Henry Day Jr. Benday patterns have been integral to printing ever since, including the printing of color images, a varying but similar process. I say it is notable in this case, because I seldom have used shading to achieve gray in Arlo & Janis. Usually, it’s just black and white.
219 responses to “Gray Area”
Or in Ludwig lavender purple to denote a gray cat.
My friend whose last name is Gray owns a gray cat named drumroll here, Gray Cat . Gray Cat now has a Facebook page.
Jimmy – interesting lesson on Benday; I appreciate the education. Also, a great comic that I somehow missed first time around. Thanks.
Yes, that too. I love candles but the only time I was allowed to burn them was last panel.
Hey, it is only getting into 50s here today! Gotta put on a sweater.
We had a small table lamp on a nearby bureau. Still there.
50s? Brrrrr! Here’s yesterday’s next to last post from ‘Next’.
Willmar is about an hour SSW of here. If ‘everything happens for a reason’, PETA would argue that Elohim are telling this guy he’s in the wrong business:
http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/region/4161607-deer-wanders-mn-business-headbutts-owner-makes-mischief
We got 3” last night, it’s still snowing and drifting, and not supposed to rise above 32 F for the next few days. Astronomical and climatological winters are two different things. Forgot to buy a zucchini Wed.; will do without till we’re plowed out.
I started my posts earlier in the day and just completed it. Of course we go to a new thread! I did enjoy today’s strip. I was hoping that it would turn out that way.
The gocomics archived version has been colorized and the benday effect is lost in my opinion. Sometimes just black and white is best.
Steve, I bet you saw it at the Main Art Theater in RO. What a great place!
Jimmy, I like when you share behind-the-scenes knowledge.
I’ve been trying to write something moving or profound about Giovanni, the boy in this video. I got nuthin’. The video says it all. http://video.genfb.com/1486350124739174
As a faithful A&J follower I was interested in Jimmy’s explanation of the Benday process but as a former printer I realized he was only explaining the process from an illustrators position. The use of dots to break up photos and illustrations goes back much farther and is called “Halftone”. Wikipedia explains it much better than I can. Benday allowed illustrators an easy way to add shading without going through the more complicated halftone process.
Speaking of gray areas, has everyone gotten their flu shot already? I am going to county to get mine done this afternoon before my surgery on 30th.
If you haven’t done so, go now!
Jackie:
Thanks for the reminder. Got mine, free, earlier on. Best shot I’ve ever had; actually did not feel the needle go in, nor the pressure from the liquid. One of the tangible benefits of volunteering at the hospital.
The others = free lunch when on duty, free use of the gym 24/7, free outdoor feed for volunteers each summer, and a Holiday gift card that came in today’s mail, good for a ham, a frozen turkey, or a fruit basket at a local grocery. Doesn’t have my name on it, so will give it to the local food shelf. Intangibles are actually better.
Will have TG, if the roads are clear, at my older son’s home and his UMC in Deerwood, and Christmas dinner at whatever local church is doing the Community Holiday Meal on Christmas Day.
Peace,
I don’t know about anybody else, but until I read the commentary, I thought it was about a power outage.
Life can always use more gray areas.
“All cats are gray in the dark”, a quote attributed to Ben Franklin about taking an older woman to bed. Also attributed to a book of proverbs from 1546 that involved candles.
Smigz:
Back then the Royal Oak Main was showing first run movies. Today they show more “art” movies and I think the last movie I saw there was Home Alone 2. My wife’s best friend’s son produced a movie and had a World Premiere there, but my wife went and I stayed home. The first run theater in Royal Oak is The Emagine, with lazy boy seating and even a bowling alley
I actually saw Casablanca in Burton MI (right next to Flint)at the 1000 seat Courtland Center theater in 1982. The person behind kept saying the lines moments before they were said on the screen. Of course I had heard of the lines before and now do the same…except in the privacy of my home. They have since remodeled and about 6-7 theaters there now. I have not been to Flint in 15 years at least. However I know that Courtland Center is still there.
Jackie, I’ve heard another version of the sentiment expressed by Mr. Franklin, but even the New York Times would not print it.
I thought I was familiar with the Bedday pattern as I used it a lot on my joints as I got older. I guess Jimmy is much smarter than I am.
Do not leave candles unattended!
Steve from RO wrote, “I thought I was familiar with the Bedday pattern as I used it a lot on my joints as I got older.” Is he younger now than before? Messages from the beyond? 😉
The wine must have been very good, because I notice that Arlo and Janice are both smiling broadly in the fourth panel, even though they have forgone their traditional sides of the bed! 🙂
Splitting hairs, Sand. I used to use (pun intended) the stuff, don’t need it now.
Charlotte, help us out here. What is bedday a reference to?
Its inventor’s name, I think.
‘their traditional sides of the bed’. Does it matter, since it seems likely they’ve not finished moving around. My guess is this is not the first reversal JJ has pictured.
We got at least another dense inch, and the private snowplows have already been here, after dark. Shovelers [at least, that’s how ducks spell it] for walks will likely come tomorrow.
Peace,
If you’re paying attention, you should be getting a little bit of an idea what we, as a country, have done. They say there are no atheists in a foxhole. God help us.
Here’s what I found:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Day_dots
Peace,
Jerry: You’ve combined both politics and religion, but I cannot blame you. One Villager does that repeatedly. Attorney General, no less.