Tableau Terrible is a web comic created by graphic designer Paul Salamone (at right) in October, 2007 over a 24-hour period. Each single-panel episode makes use of the mass-production techniques of Adobe Illustrator to tell a series of disjointed narratives set in a vaguely distopian cityscape of the future. Main characters include a troll, a man with a “beer belly”, a hovering sphere with giant teeth, sentient commuter trains, and a grinning TV tower. The graphic style is willfully bold (if not “ugly”), making use of strong patterns and stark colors previously unavailable to the makers of print comics. Comic influences include: Gary Larson, Bill Watterson, Charles Schultz, Trey Parker & Matt Stone, Red Meat. Design influences: Wolfgang Weingardt, Francois Chalet, Vier 5, Elliot Peter Earls, Emigre, Rick Valicenti.

More about Paul:

In 2003, Paul somehow found himself as editor-in-chief and art director of the Buffalo BEAST newspaper. After 6 months, he moved to Boulder, where he got mixed up with Ken Wilber’s Integral Naked, wrote for Knot Magazine, launched a webzine called The Manifest, and started the design company Plunge Artist with fellow artist and designer Gwen Bell.

Paul currently resides in Berlin, Germany, where he is taking a break from American life to focus on his art. He currently writes under the rubric Foreignerd, and can be found on Flickr posting various photos and experiments in picture-making.

View current design portfolio.

Contact:

Email: psalamone — at— gmail — dot— com