Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Henry Martin Interview


Gag cartoonist Henry Martin, who was one of the mainstays of The New Yorker, may now be better known as Ann M. Martin's Dad.

Upon the occasion of donating 700 originals to his alma mater, Princeton, Grace Kim, writing for The Daily Princetonian profiles Henry Martin's career.

"'In all my years there, I don’t think I ever sold more than 35 cartoons a year,' he explained. 'But you have to remember that The New Yorker received about 2,000 cartoons a week and would buy about 20–22 cartoons a week,' Martin said. Martin would then try to sell the remaining cartoons to other publications, such as Punch and The Saturday Evening Post."

Henry Martin is one of those cartoonists I have always wanted to meet. I admire his style and I have been told that he drew every day, like clockwork, producing five good finished cartoons per day. His daughter, Ann, was inspired by his relentless drive, and used it as a template to overcome rejection back when she was launching her BABYSITTER'S CLUB books.

Hat tip to Comics Reporter!

2 comments:

Today's Cartoon by Randy Glasbergen said...

Henry Martin is my cartoon hero! His cartoons were in all the magazines when I was starting out. I've often cited him as a big influence on my own cartoons, mostly the ideas.

Unknown said...

likewise, i always admired martin. i had a buddy who lived in princeton and used to see him. he said martin had some kind of suspended studio in the backyard that swung around to catch the light. i haven't read the article yet, but i'm curious about this. whether it's true or not, it has always been a dream image of mine! i have levinger lap desk and a shabby chic (emphasis shabby) couch.