Thursday, February 15, 2007

The Pocket Cartoon Course

THE POCKET CARTOON COURSE, from Snack-Pack Co. in Indianapolis, put together this 22 lesson course in 1943. Mike Rhodes, of the ComicsDC Blog, shares it with us here.

I assume this is for people who do not have the time to actually sit down at a table and draw. This is for people on the go! Heck, put it on people's phones and it would sell today.

"All you need is a pencil and a few sheets of paper!"

Hat tip to Richard Thompson. Thanks, Richard!

13 comments:

Rob Tornoe said...

Man, I love these things. It reminds me of those Jack Hamm drawing books.

DON CRESCI CARTOONS said...

looking at the pocket cartoon book, does anybody remember the cartoonist exchange cartoon course from th early 40's? When I was in grade school back then, my wonderful parents send for the course forme. Then when I got married in the 60's i took it again. Thanks, Don Cresci

Mike Lynch said...

Gee whiz, I think I have some of that Cartoonists Exchange stuff. I never knew of anyone else who had heard of it, Don! I'll have to dig some of that up and post it -- but if you have it handy, put on your blog and lemme know, OK?

DON CRESCI CARTOONS said...

Mike, Mine are long gone. I hope you can dig up some stuff. Thanks, Don

Mike Lynch said...

Don, we just moved and everything is chaos. I'll definitely keep my eye out for it and if I see it, I will scan away. I know, that's not too helpful! Sorry, Dan!

If you see anything on any other blog, let me know so I can link!

bookman said...

I have the entire Cartoonist Exchange course4 lessons. I purchased it when I was younger. Anyone interested in buying it.

Dominic said...

I know I'm late to this thread but I'm on the hunt for more info about the Cartoonist Exchange.

Does anyone have any info about the company or what happened to it?

How about an old address?

I'm curious at to what part of Ohio they operated from.

Thanks,
- Dominic
comics@academicventures.com
www.academicventures.com/comics

Gary said...

I did the Cartoonist's Exchange course in the seventies, but i lost all my books. I remembered the address and tried my luck to see if I could get all of the course materials without the grading and corrections. As luck would have it, they replied and i purchased the material for about 35 dollars. The address is:

Cartoonist's Exchange
Pleasant hill, Ohio 45359

Let me know if you have any luck.

Kadoogan said...

I used to have the Cartoonist Exchange when I was but a lad. My grandmother got it for me. One feature i kind of recall about it was some sort of gag creation tool. It would allow you to randomly match up through a series of cardboard wheels a situation, a location, and a type of character or characters. You would have to try to create a single panel cartoon based on whatever you spun up on the wheel. Not a bad idea, really...

Mike Lynch said...

Kadoogan, was it one of these?

http://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2008/09/cartoonists-exchange.html

Kadoogan said...

That's the one! I even remember that quasi-sinister shot of the Creator of the product :-)

The passing of time and my fevered brain somehow managed to substitute rotating cardboard wheels instead of the proper spinner.

Thanks for that link! Brings back a lot of memories.

Kadoogan said...

I just recalled the sample cartoon for the laugh finder - sort of - I believe it was a sailor sitting in less than 2 feet of water calling for help. Of course, my memory may have faded there too...

RinglingBook said...

Just curious about sources. Some of these remind me of my grandfather's cartoons. He was Jack Warren, cartoonist of "Pecos Bill," "Loco Luke," "Spec, Spot & Spud" in Blue Bolt, etc.