'Tryskošnek'.
Dan Černý is a Czech comic artist, illustrator, animator, filmmaker and musician, also known under his YouTube nickname Černodan. Since the early 21st century, his comics have appeared in a great many indie Czech comic magazines, including his own Sorrel fanzine (2001-2007). He has additionally been a regular writer and artist for mainstream children's magazines like Bravo with the teen comic 'Jelita' (2012-2015), and Čtyřlístek with the superhero snail 'Tryskošnek' (2012- ) and the cats 'Kňour & Mník' (2018- ). A versatile and prolific artist, Černý is notably also an artist for European Disney comics magazines.
'Kňour & Mník'.
Early life and career
Dan Černý was born in 1982 in the North Bohemian city of Litoměřice, at the time situated in Czechoslovakia, nowadays part of the Czech Republic. The family later moved to the city of Ústí nad Labem. His interest in comics began at age five, when he read the 1971 comic book 'Sek a Zula' by Miloslav Švandrlík and Jiří Winter.
Between 2002 and 2004, he studied animation at the now-defunct Zlín Film School, and then further developed his skills at the Tomas Bata University in Zlín (2004-2008), studying Interactive Technology, Video Graphics and Special Effects. During his student years, Černý released 'Dotěrové' ("Intruders", 2004), his graduation project from the Zlín Film School and the first Czech film for mobile phones, starring his comic characters Šnek and Komár ("Snail" and "Mosquito"). After his university years, Černý spent some time working as a broadcaster for Hitrádio FM in North Bohemia. Since 2010, he has been active as a self-employed comic artist, eventually moving from Ústí nad Labem to the peaceful town of Cheb, Karlsbad. Since 2011, he has additionally worked as a teacher in animation at the Jára Cimrman elementary art school in the nearby city of Františkovy Lázně.
In terms of comic art, important graphic influences of Dan Černý have been Morris, Mawil and Grzegorz Rosiński, as well as the Czech artists Vladimír Jiránek, Neprakta, Karel Osoha, Nikkarin and Kateřina Čupová. Also showing an early fondness of Disney comics, Černý ranks Carl Barks, Daniel Branca, Daan Jippes, Kari Korhonen, William Van Horn, Al Taliaferro and Floyd Gottfredson among his favorite artists.
'Šnek' (Sorrel #3).This snail character was later reused by Černý as the superhero version 'Tryskošnek'.
Collaborations with Daniel Binko
Together with Daniel Binko, Černý founded a collective of amateur filmmakers, known between 1995 and 2003 under the name MATfilm and since 2003 as Levá Noha Arnošta Kunce ("Arnošt Kunce's Left Foot"). Together, the two men have been responsible for several short live-action films in genres varying from humor, musical road movie, western and mockumentary, with Binko appearing as actor and Černý serving as scriptwriter, director, camera operator and artist for the animated segments.
Between 2001 and 2007, Černý and Binko have also released issues of the amateur comic fanzine Sorrel. Besides Černý's own comics, the black-and-white xeroxed magazine largely ran submissions by amateur Czech cartoonists, among them Štěpán Kopřiva, Michal Opitz, Jiří Grus, Karel Zeman, Tomáš Prokůpek, Jan Tatarka, Kamil Tatar, Michal Kroutil, Marek Rubec and Ján Lastomírsky. The magazine proved a breeding ground for a new group of writers and artists, which the Czech comic historian Tomáš Prokůpek later dubbed "Generation Zero".
2003 comic story for the Bedeman fanzine.
In addition to films and comics, Černý and Binko have performed and recorded with their psychedelic folk group The Tačud Band. As writers, the two men released 'Pohádky Českého středohoří' (PolArt, 2010), a big book with written fairy tales from the Bohemian Central Highlands. Prior to this, in 2002, Černý had already released the book 'Velkou Knihu Velkých Povídek pro Velké Lidi o Velkém Hovně' ("Big Book of Big Stories for Big People about Big Shit"). As an illustrator, Černý has created artwork for an edition of Douglas Adams' 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'.
'Fanouš'.
Czech comics
Since the early 21st century, Dan Černý has published his comic creations in a variety of Czech indie magazines and anthologies, including Aargh!, Bedeman, Prevnost and BubbleGun, as well as comic books. His character 'Fanouš' ("Frankie", 2002- ), an eleven-year old boy hunting paranormal creatures, first appeared in the Sorrel fanzine, and has since appeared in several other publications, including book collections through Novela Bohemica. Another character, 'Mr. Klapka', appeared in a monthly video hobby magazine. For Bravo magazine, Černý has additionally written and drawn the bi-weekly teenage adventure and humor comic serial 'Jelita' (2012-2015). The comic has been collected in book format by the publishing house Paseka.
'Jelita'.
Since 2012, Černý has been a regular contributor to the popular Czech comic magazine Čtyřlístek with features like 'Tryskošnek' ("Jetsnail", 2012- ), about a superfast snail and his caterpillar friend Píďa, and the funny two-page adventures of the cats 'Kňour & Mník' (2018- ). Since 2019, Černý has also been one of several writers and artists for the magazine's title comic, originally created in 1969 by artist Jaroslav Němeček and writer Ljuba Štíplová. In 2021, Černý further created the comic book adventures of 'Matracman', about a superhero in a mattress suit, who fights against zombie cats.
Disney comics
Since 2021, Dan Černý has also been one of the few Eastern-European comic artists working on Disney comics. For the Dutch licensee DPG Media, he has drawn comic stories with Donald Duck, Daisy Duck and the other Duckburg characters. On occasion, he has also written his own scripts.
'Daisy Duck' story published in Dutch-language Donald Duck weekly #2023-14. © Disney.