Forbidden Art: The Look of FORBIDDEN LINES, Part 1

Read on!

It was essential to the format of FORBIDDEN LINES that the magazine look as experimental as the text. The earliest issues relied heavily on clip art by Charles Overbeck and myself. Clip art was very much de rigueur in those days. It was cheap, it was weird, and it was a quick and dirty way to illustrate a zine.

From FL #5: "Diane Sawyer and the Space 

Aliens," an experimental short-short by

Ron Massa. Clip art by me.

We had a few artistically inclined people in the Writers' Group even when we did the anthology. Yeaton Clifton, then a undergraduate Physics major, did a couple of illustrations (and poems) for the anthology. He also contributed to the magazine. His style was distinctive. He used dabs of paint on paper or poster board. They were in color, but we were only able to reproduce them in black & white. I called his style Cartoon Impressionism:

From FL #3: "I Remember the Name of the

Moon," by Tony Realini. Illustration by

Yeaton Clifton.

Before long we secured the services of Cindy Holtslag, also an undergrad at the University of North Carolina (I think she joined us while just a freshman). Cindy had a charming, relaxed style that might seem at odds with the edgy, creepy tone of the magazine, but her humor and humanism were an invaluable asset to FORBIDDEN LINES.

From FL #11: "The Torcher," by Calvin Clawson.

Illustration by Cindy Holtslag.

An ironic story in the noir manner.

The bartender is not Mikhail Gorbachev.

Back cover, FL #5, by Cindy Holtslag.

Just for fun. The gag line reads:

"By the year 2000--

64% of the solar system will be colonized

Books and magazines will be obsolete

Everyone will drink freeze-dried orange juice."

Notice the little girl is reading 

FORBIDDEN LINES #2!

Bad parents! Bad!

Also in FL #5 (busy woman!) Cindy rendered her own

six-page version of "The Blue Light," by the Brothers

Grimm. This is page 5 of 6. 

I love the girl's expression in the last panel!

And . . . in FL #5, "Ice Skimmer," by

Paul C. Schuytema. Cindy could do nicely

evocative images as well as comic ones.

There is much more of Cindy's work in FORBIDDEN LINES. Her work is featured in most every issue after the first, tapering off in later issues as we broadened our artists base and Cindy discovered the rigors of college life. More from Cindy Holtslag later.

Another student artist who worked for FORBIDDEN LINES was Alex DeGrand. As I recall he knew Charles Overbeck, perhaps through Charles' work on THE PHOENIX campus news magazine, or through the daily newspaper, THE DAILY TAR HEEL. Alex's work debuted grandly (pun intended) in issue 3 with his "A Rock and Roll Fairy Tale."

From FL #3: A Rock and Roll Fairy Tale," 

written and illustrated by Alex DeGrand. 

This was a 26-page satire about breaking

into the music business. This is my favorite 

panel. "The Clugg" is the name of DeGrand's 

fictional band.

Alex illustrated other stories for us later. 

From FL #9: "Small Sacrifices," by 

M. Leigh Martin. Illustrated by Alex DeGrand.

Alex had a talent for drawing furious females.

Because we printed so many strange, often horror-themed stories, having artists who could render the bizarre visible was a must. Another talented, frequent contributor was John Sowder.

From FL #9: "Rocket City," by John Riley.

Illustrated by John Sowder.

I am always struck by this image and how

much it reminds me of those old Laser Books

covers from the 1970s. For example:

Every Laser Books cover had the same 

format, an outsized face on the cover.

(Did you spot the author's name?

"Augustine Funnell?")

John's artwork is better.

John Sowder's technique worked really well in FORBIDDEN LINES. He could do cosmic, horror, and humorous images equally well.

From FL #7: "Ghost Witch & Brute Doctor," 

by Lawrence Barker.

Illustrated by John Sowder.

FL's answer to Virgil Finlay?

From FL #11: "Melvin Moon and the Hairball,"

by Michael Burris. Illustrated by John Sowder.

(Where's punk Waldo?)

Besides illustrators, FORBIDDEN LINES attracted some pure, abstract art. It didn't get any more abstract than Blair Wilson.

From FL #9: "My Presidential Teeth," by

Blair Wilson. 

From FL #11: Random artwork by Blair. 

He called his style "Squigglism."

Blair was very much a creature of the zine scene. Charles would ask him for work, and Blair would send an envelope of bizarre, wonderful, and unique images. They weren't usually illustrations per se. They were strange tales told in a single intricate drawing.

Here's another:

Back cover, FL #11. Never mind the finger; 

we loved our readers.

Next: Art for Art's Sake; Weird for Weird's Sake: Art from FORBIDDEN LINES, Part 2.