Farel Dalrymple is focus of Norman comics art show

NORMAN — A new art gallery focusing on comic book art will launch an exhibit featuring “Omega the Unknown” artist and former Oklahoman Farel Dalrymple on Friday night.

The gallery, Milk Tree, at 1005 N Flood, Suite 108, is the brainchild of comic book artist Joey Belden.

“It’s more of a salon setting,” Belden said. “You can stand there and stare at a lot of different comic things.”

Belden hopes the gallery can open people’s eyes to what goes on behind the scenes in the creation of a comic book.

“You have a lot of fans of the people who work in the medium,” he said. “But not that many people have ever seen original art and understand the difference between digital inks, pencils, all that kind of stuff.”

Belden said one of the challenges in getting people to fully appreciate comic book art is getting them to understand how each page works as part of a narrative.

“It’s part of a story — and obviously a lot of the stories are not fully represented,” he said. “But you still get to talk about how compositions work, how a certain page flows.”

Belden has pages on display from some of comics’ most-respected artists, including Seth and Jordan Crane.

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