Gerhard is the professional name of a Canadian artist known for the elaborately detailed background illustrations in the

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

series ''

Cerebus the Aardvark ''Cerebus'' (; also ''Cerebus the Aardvark'') is a comic book series created by Canadian cartoonist Dave Sim, which ran from December 1977 until March 2004. The title character of the 300-issue series is an anthropomorphic aardvark who takes on ...

''.

Biography

Gerhard was born on April 14, 1959, in Edmonton. His association with

Dave Sim Dave Sim (born 17 May 1956) is a Canadian cartoonist and publisher, best known for his comic book ''Cerebus'', his artistic experimentation, his advocacy of self-publishing and creators' rights, and his controversial political and philosophical b ...

's ''Cerebus'' began with issue #65 (August 1984), and continued through its conclusion in issue #300, in March, 2004. The series was written by Dave Sim, who also drew the foreground figures, and had worked on the self-published series largely solo for the first 64 issues. Gerhard jokingly described his job saying that he "draws tables and chairs behind an aardvark". He is also fond of

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

, later issues of the comic book have covers based on his scenic photos, and

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

. Three years after finishing his work on ''Cerebus'', Gerhard ended his professional and personal relationship with Dave Sim. Subsequently, Sim has been in the process of purchasing Gerhard's share of

Aardvark-Vanaheim Aardvark-Vanaheim is a Canadian independent comic book publisher founded in 1977 by Dave Sim and Deni Loubert and is best known for publishing Sim's ''Cerebus''. For a brief time, the company also published other titles, sometimes under the name ...

. Although most associated with ''Cerebus'', Gerhard has produced works for other publications, although mostly with Sim. In September 1994, however, he worked with Stephen R. Bissette on the cover to Bissette's ''Tyrant'' #1, and coloured Sim's back cover for

Oni Press Oni Press is an American independent comic book and graphic novel publisher based in Portland, Oregon. In 2019, it became an imprint label following the company's merger with Lion Forge Comics. The merged company, Oni–Lion Forge Publishing Grou ...

' ''Free Speeches'' #1 (August 1998).

References

External links

*
Art of Gerhard
a gallery of both Cerebus and non-Cerebus related artwork by Gerhard
Gerhard
s work on Cerebus at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful ...

1959 births Living people Artists from Edmonton Canadian comics artists {{Canadian-comics-creator-stub