Death of the Artist

Jun 15, 2025 4:23 PM

Author:Karrie Fransman

Death of the Artist

Five Artists. Five Styles. All Written by One Author

On 13 August 2013 graphic novelist Karrie Fransman invited four old friends from university to an isolated cottage on the misty moors of the Peak District to join her for a week of hedonism and creativity. Like Shelley and Byron before them, they would use the retreat to tell stories. Except these would be comics, collected together in this very book. The theme? The Death of the Artist.

None of the five friends realised how appropriate this theme would become.

The book weaves a single narrative across watercolour, digital art, photography, collage and illustration, exploring the themes of creation, destruction, and how we kill our inner artists as we grow up. It takes the graphic novel into entirely new realms.

Reviews

A playful metatextual layering

—— Paul Gravett , The Times Literary Supplement

'Blown away by Death of the Artist by Karrie Fransman. A unique work of art - [a] sublimely funny and moving graphic novel.

—— Sam Bain

Genre-busting.

—— Rachel Cooke , Observer

You may have to push this book away for fear you'll hurt yourself laughing, but its wisdom and humanity – no hyperbole here – are too magnetic to keep at bay for long

—— Mary Pols , People Magazine

Honest, poignant and ridiculously silly in all the best ways and I'm better for having read it. Plus, doggies!

—— Jenny Lawson, The Bloggess

One of the funniest sites on the Internet

—— salon.com

Hilarious and poignant and brilliantly illustrated. Check it out. The whole blog is inspired.”

—— Daily Dish

“Once I started reading Hyperbole and a Half, I found myself unable to stop—except to laugh uproariously.

—— boingboing.com

“Here’s a rough analogy: David Sedaris sets out to write a graphic memoir, but decides to use the MS Paint application on his computer rather than hire an artist. . . . [Brosh’s] naïve art plays brilliantly against dark comic themes.”

—— True/Slant

One of 2013’s biggest publishing successes … Quirky and captivating

—— Observer

Very funny, occasionally incredibly insightful (when [Brosh] chooses to be in that mood), and a brilliant dip-in-and-dip-out-of book

—— Stuck in a Book

Brosh's naive but surprisingly affecting illustrations have gained her blog, Hyperbole and a Half, a cult following... I defy anyone who has suffered from depression not to cry at her stark account of suffering from the illness

—— Sharon Wheeler , Times Higher Education

Hilarious… I love the intersection of things that are as dark as they can be and as funny

—— Elizabeth McCracken , Boston Globe Sunday

It’s impossible not to warm to cartoonist and blogger Allie. If she doesn’t get to you with her funny childhood anecdotes (eating an entire birthday cake) then her honest reflections on depression will

—— Grazia

Brosh fills her comics with heart, boldly tackling subjects as different as dog-ownership and depression

—— Guardian, *Top 10 Funny Comic Books*

A playful yet wise graphic novel.

—— Paul Gravett , ArtReview

The storyline is exciting and well thought out to give a wide overview of the suffrage movement. I was very pleasantly surprised.

—— Lattice , Guardian

A seamless blend of historical fact and fiction ... The illustrations are full of energy and expression.

—— Jacqui Agate , Independent

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