Draw 160

A comic book artist friend of mine, when looking at comic art by Wally Wood (Wally Wood being the best artist ever, in his opinion), would point to Mr. Wood's art and always say, "Look at the knowledge!"

And that's what drawing is all about; acquiring the knowledge of how to draw. How do you draw a fish? A bird? a cool car? a poodle?

Sure, when you read those words you get a visual in your mind -- but how to train your hand to draw what you imagine?

By drawing a lot.

How do you get to be a better cartoonist?

There is the old piece of advice: take a stack of paper the same height that you are. Draw on every one. When you get to the bottom, you've gotten a lot of the bad drawings out of your system and you're a better artist.


I teach cartoon classes in New England and New York. One of the things we do is the "cartoon grid," a series of empty boxes on a page with a word under each panel. Above is one of the cartoon grids, all filled out by last Friday's class.

There are 10 kids in the class, all of them in the upper grades at the local elementary school. All of them are fearless drawing machines!

Here are some details:


Above: 4 of one page's 16 panels. The sleepy monster is one of my favorites.



The chef is crying! The student cartoonist added the emotion herself. What's the story? Cutting onions? Did the souffle fall? Did Gordon Ramsey yell?


This is the most devilly devil have ever seen!



I like the addition of "Yo! Yo!!"




Yes, that IS a big nose!


It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Captain Underpants!


Look at that breathy exhaust! Great!


This does not look like a nice robot.


I couldn't draw a pencil better myself.

The class of 10 drew 160 images in about 25 minutes. How it works: you would get the cartoon grid and read all 16 of the boxes. Pick your favorite to draw and then, when finished drawing, pass it to the left, to the next student cartoonist. The 10 pieces of paper went around the circle of hardworking cartoonists until all of the grids were filled in.

Here is the rest of the results (click on them to supersize):









Just look at all that knowledge! And look at all of the personal, artistic touches: those steam lines coming out of that hot cup of coffee, the girl dancing with the "TAP TAP" sound effect, the mountain climber with all of his gear. I could go on and on, but pictures are worth a thousand words. And there are 160 pictures to look at, so take a moment to look above, and see this next generation of talent.


It worked out to be about 6.4 drawings per minute. All together it looked like this:

A lot of pages! It's not a pile of paper as high as I am, but it's a darn good bit of drawing by a classful of talent for sure!

See You Soon

I'm either on the other line or away from my blog ....

I'll be back later this week.

Please feel free to apply for the position of "blog-sitter." I need a blog-sitter. The emergency numbers are by the phone, make sure that the cats are in bed by 9, and you can eat one Popsicle from the freezer. And no boyfriends/girlfriends allowed over. OK? OK!

James Stevenson: Lost and Found in New York: The Lyceum

James Stevenson contributes another in his continuing Lost and Found series for the New York Times. I enjoy these stories he tells about the history of New York City and it's my fond wish that they be collected sometime soon.

This time he writes about William Saroyan and his play "The Beautiful People," which opened in The Lyceum on 45th Street in 1945. Saroyan gave away tickets for the previews -- James, being only 11 years old, could not stand in the 1000+ person line down 45th Street to get one. But James' friend and neighbor and fellow 11 year old, David, optimistically composed and mailed Mr. Saroyan a letter asking for two of free seats. One for him and one for his friend, Jim Stevenson. Did Mr. Saroyan respond to David? Did Jimmy and David get to see their first Broadway play? Read it all here.

Business Cartoons

On Monday I posted 10 business cartoons and let you know that some of them sold and some did not.

Here are the ones that sold:

"Thank goodness I died on Hawaiian Shirt Day, huh?"

"Oh, vowels are so 2006!"

"You traded the Harris account for two magic WHAT?"

"Oh, it's a great place to work, but the ergonomics are crap."

Four cartoons out of the batch of 10 were bought. The two of the cartoons that were sold more than one time are "Oh, vowels are so 2006!" and "Thank goodness I died on Hawaiian Shirt Day, huh?"

Mattias Adolfsson: The Loop of Death

A wonderful tale of going skiing, full of scary evil squirrels, with little inky images from Mattias Adolfsson's moleskin pad, blown up and shared for our enjoyment.

Big hat tip to my friend Brian Moore.

Ronald Searle

British cartoonist Ronald Searle turned 90 this week.

Paul Giambarba, at his 100 Years of Illustration blog, proffers a video interview with the legendary illustrator, as well samples of his work through the years. Above: a sketch recalling Searle's days in a Japanese POW camp, when he came close to death. I agree with Paul: my favorites are his illustrated comic strip pieces for Punch.

Richard Thompson, at his Cul De Sac blog, shows a piece of Searle art that he owns, and shares with us that Searle used to ink with something like furniture stain.

The Ronald Searle Blog has a lot to say, of course. This must-bookmark site has coverage of the opening night of Searle's Cartoon Museum show, as well as a wonderful tribute to Searle's drawings by movie director Mike Leigh, who says that those inky Searle lines "taught me filmmaking."


Above: one of the drawings that inspired Mike Leigh: A bar in North Berlin, 1959.

Drawn! also has a trove of Searle, via its tireless cartoonists/fans/bloggers, my friend John Martz and Ward Jenkins.

Video: 1982 Milton Caniff Interview by Shel Dorf

Comic-Con founder Shel Dorf was lettering Steve Canyon at the time he interviewed Milt Caniff in 1982.

This section's highlights: Caniff explains why he's glad to be videotaping the interview. Caniff sees his new life mask done by Jim Fountain. They discuss two Steve Canyon characters based on actor Jackie "The Kid" Coogan who lived near Caniff in Palm Springs. Shel recounts a visit to Coogan's house and how it was like a shrine to his "The Kid" character and how Coogan still had his Uncle Fester coat. Caniff talks about Coogan's WWII service and how he was praised as being "a good soldier" by his commanding officer.



Part 2 of 11:

Shel shows his old Terry and the Pirates scrapbook to Caniff. Caniff talks about doing strips under adverse conditions and how it was hard to find an assistant during WWII as almost everyone in the army or going into it. Caniff was 4F during WWII due to phlebitis. Shel shows Caniff a couple of the Terry comics from Harvey, which were the first place Shel had a chance to read the 1936 and 1937 stories (which were reprinted therein). Shel observes that Caniff remembers everything he's done.

They discuss the differences between Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon. Caniff says it's easier to do Steve Canyon as he can go anywhere while Terry never got out of China. Why Caniff left Terry and the Pirates. Marshall Field pirating talent to form his Sun Times. Marshall Field approached Chester Gould and Harold Gray. Patterson's feelings toward Caniff after he went with Marshall Field. Tom French, who operated the video camera, gets in front of it and chats with Caniff for a bit; Shel pays tribute to Tom French for helping grow Comic-Con by his good work running the dealers's room.



Part 3 of 11:

What Caniff would have done with Terry and the Pirates had he continued with it. Was Steve Canyon a grown-up Terry? How Caniff's work on The Gay Thirties strip got him the Terry and the Pirates job. Shel tells Caniff about upcoming Steve Canyon publications he's working on with Denis Kitchen. What Caniff was getting paid in his early comic-strip days, and about moonlighting for $17 a week.





Part 4 of 11:

Caniff on a proposed Sherlock Holmes strip that Marshall Field was considering. On Caniff being a storyteller who kept readers in suspense and wondering what would happen next. On his work being fun to him. How Milt invited Shel to join him earlier in the year at Caniff's 75th birthday celebration at Ohio State University; Bob Harvey was there as well; Caniff recounts that special weekend. Shel and Milt give great praise to Lucy Caswell: Caniff curator at Ohio State University. An archivist locates a rejection slip that James Thurber had written to Caniff in 1932. Why Caniff liked to work at night.



Part 5 of 11:

Caniff exhibit put together by Lucy Caswell at Ohio State. Shel quotes Leonard Starr on Caniff. Caniff on Leonard Starr. Caniff on his English classes in middle school and high school. Caniff on why he wouldn't have been a good teacher. Milt's personal library. About a lawyer who let Milt read books from his library when he was young.



Part 6 of 11:

Caniff's dad's boss would let him read from his personal library: Sherlock Holmes, O'Henry. Caniff wanted to be a telegraph operator when young. About his boyhood job delivering telegrams for Western Union (including death notifications during the post-WWI flu epidemic). Caniff 75th-birthday week events and recognition as a noteworthy son of Ohio. On being fired from a newspaper job as a young married right out of college.



Part 7 of 11:

Caniff on artist and friend Noel "Bud" Sickles whom he calls an "amazing man" and the "greatest natural artist" he ever knew.



Part 8 of 11:

More on Noel "Bud" Sickles: working together in New York; about Sickles revolutionizing the way comic strips were done by his work on Scorchy Smith.



Part 9 of 11:

Still more on Noel "Bud" Sickles. Why it's hard to draw dead people but Sickles could do it well. Sickles' western paintings. How Sickles died "with his boots on." More on Caniff's 75th-birthday Ohio State weekend. On being interviewed by Barbara Walters. Answers question "Are you as good as people say you are?" On having dinner at the White House. On people living vicariously through his strips.



Part 10 of 11:

Caniff at celebration for 175th anniversary of his birthplace, Hillsboro, Ohio, where he was asked to join the celebration as grand marshal.



Part 11 of 11:

More on Hillsboro, Ohio 175th anniversary celebration. Caniff on artist Dick Rockwell and Dick's uncle, artist Norman Rockwell. What Dick Rockwell was doing on Steve Canyon and the Steve Canyon production workflow between Caniff, Shel Dorf, and Dick Rockwell.




Related: From 1983: Watch Caniff draw the Dragon Lady while chatting to Shel Dorf in five parts: one, two, three, four and five.

Video: Vaughn Shoemaker

Where did "John Q. Public" come from? From the pen of Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Vaughn Shoemaker!



From You’ll never become a cartoonist… by David Malone:

"At the age of 20, a storybook situation brought the first break of his life. The chief cartoonist for the News left to take a position in New York City. His assistant had gone to take another position in the same city, and the second assistant had to leave because of illness in his family.

"'You, Shoemaker!' the boss shouted. 'Draw something, anything, until I can get a cartoonist somewhere.'"

Video: Rube Goldberg-esque Music Video

The OK Go Band - This Too Shall Pass - RGM version

Directed by James Frost, OK Go and Syyn Labs. Produced by Shirley Moyers. The official video for the recorded version of "This Too Shall Pass" off of the album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky". The video was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The "machine" was designed and built by the band, along with members of Synn Labs over the course of several months.

Go to the Synn Labs link above for more information of the creation of this 4-minute long Rube Goldberg machine.

The OK Go band are the same guys who came up with that Treadmill Video, which, if you have not seen it yet, well, then, you are one of the very few. And you SHOULD go see it, for heaven's sake. You won't know what to talk about at those fancy cocktail parties, y'know? That is, if you can ever tear yourself away from the Internets.

Big hat tip to the Potrzebie blog!

Paypal Fraud

I'm simplifying this story. I actually had to call 5 different people in the Paypal office here and abroad.

So, here's what happened this morning:

I got about $200 taken from me via my Paypal debit card. The transactions were made by some Web merchant I never heard of in South Africa. I call Paypal's fraud dept. The card is canceled. I ask them how long it'll be before I get my money back. I get put on hold.

It's like they NEVER had someone ask this question.

Several minutes later ....

The fellow comes back on the line. He's nice guy, just trying to get the right answer. I'm told that I have to fill out a form and mail it (snail mail style) and, maybe, before the end of the month, I'll actually get my money back. He emails me the URL of the form.

Can't I just get it all back today? Don't you understand? It's MY money! Aren't we all just people? Help a guy out. Where's your sense of community? Can't I have my own money back NOW?

No.

So, I'm filling out my Affidavit of Disputed PayPal ATM/Debit Card Transactions and I notice the above typo on their site.

THERE'S your sense of "commmunity."

That last "M"'s for MONEY!

It was a tiny moment of levity in a morning full of agitation.

Hope you guys are having a better day.

Protest Signs

When Protest Sines Go Wrong is a collection of photos of misspelled and ill-informed protest signs via the Kontraband Web site. Worth wasting some of your valuable time clicking around the Internets.

Big hat tip to Susannah Tully!


Related: Of course, the best protest signs are the all purpose "Down With This Sort of Thing" and "Careful Now" placards that Father Ted and Father Dougal use when protesting a blasphemous film. Video here.

MISS PEACH Comic Book

The Drawn & Quarterly blog scans in a story from the 1963 one-shot MISS PEACH comic book. It was not produced by MISS PEACH creator Mell Lazarus (despite the cover signature), but by cartoonist Jack Mendelsohn, who had created the cult favorite King Features strip JACKYS DIARY.

Hat tip to Comics Reporter!

Cat Curling

I have no idea what this is. Via Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness.

Don Orehek's Earliest Cartoons

The Don Orehek Cartoons blog shows us a sampling of his CYPHERS strip. Never heard of CYPHERS? Then you weren't in the armed services. CYPHERS was a comic strip that Don drew when he was in the Navy. The lead character was in the tradition of the "bad boy" comics (THE YELLOW KID, SKIPPY, DENNIS THE MENACE, etc.) -- except that this bad boy was a bad old career sailor; an old, drunk sailor who was always getting into trouble. Don has told me about the strip, but until today I never saw samples of this, his earliest published work.

above: Don Orehek, Navy Cartoonist.

Don's wife Suzanne, who is the engine behind Don's blog, provides some background information:

"Don joined the Navy the minute he turned 17 in August 1945. He served on a couple of ships, then in January 1946 he was sent to Green Cove Springs, Florida, a Navy base on the St. Johns river, which incidentally flows north. The sailors in Green Cove worked decommissing ships after World War II. In 1947 Don began work for Public Information on the St. Johns Inlander. He created and drew a comic strip for this weekly base newspaper. The title of the strip was CYPHERS. It was about a toothless old sailor who had been in the Navy 'forever.'"

More here.

Business Cartoon Batch

"Might as well acclimate them when they're young."

I draw a lot of business cartoons because there are a lot of business cartoon markets. Here's a batch of ten for your perusal.

"Ooh! Let's go there and then Daddy will write off the family vacation."

When I say a "batch" of cartoons, I'm describing about 10 cartoons that I choose and mail (or email) to an editor for publication consideration.

"Wilson! Stop bogarting the bonuses and share the wealth!"

This is a typical batch. Some cartoons are stronger in terms of their "funniness" than others, all touch on some aspect of business.

"Thank goodness I died on Hawaiian Shirt Day, huh?"

This batch is a couple of years old. That's enough time for the cartoons to get to a lot of markets.

"He's not our founder. He just found us the most tax loopholes."

"It's not what you think. I gave the drivers a raise before we flew out."

"Oh, vowels are so 2006!"

"You traded the Harris account for two magic WHAT?"

"Oh, it's a great place to work, but the ergonomics are crap."

"After spending so much time and money on our lawsuit,
don't you think it would be a shame to go ahead and bribe me like this?"

Five of these cartoons were held, four were bought. Two of the cartoons were sold more than one time.

If you like, you can guess which ones sold. I'll let you know later ....

From 1977: 25 Years of MAD Magazine

Above: a 1963 photo of Bill Gaines entering the MAD offices. Poking their heads out of the door are (from top to bottom): Nick Meglin, John Putnam, Al Feldstein, Leonard Brenner, Nelson Tirado, and Jerry De Fuccio.

I'm out of the office or away from the blog, so here's a rerun:

A heartfelt 1977 New York Times Magazine article about MAD's influence on R. Crumb, The Muppets, and the world at large.


From the July 31, 1977 New York Times: "THE 'MAD' GENERATION - After 25 years of perpetuating humor in the jugular vein, the magazine that wised up millions of kids is still a crazy hit" by Tony Hiss (son of Alger) and Jeff Lewis.

Below is page one, which should blow up nice and big for easy reading of the ol' pixels.



Like millions of other boys, I grew up with MAD. In the early 1970s, I distinctly recall making the decision to subscribe (when I realized I could get the mag for less than the cover price of 40 cents if I could save up the dollars), and walking down the shag-carpeted hallway to good ol' Dad, sitting in his chair in the living room, to ask him to make out a check to the good folks at E.C. Publications.


Above: a special painting by Norman Mingo done especially for the Times, so says the article. Let me know if that's not true.

I was pleased to see credit given to Harvey Kurtzman, and there is a hat tip to the circumstances of his leaving the mag after its first 22 issues.

I love the above photo, taken in 1963, of Bill Gaines, in what looks like full samba mode, and some of the MAD staff (from top to bottom in the doorway) Nick Meglin, John Putnam, Al Feldstein, Leonard Brenner, Nelson Tirado and Jerry De Fuccio.


The scan on this is not the greatest. The Times magazine, as of 31 years ago, was rather large and required multiple scans in my poky scanner.

By the way, last week, the Times cut the width of their paper by 1.5 inches. Shrinky, shrinky, shrinky! This makes the Times about the same width as the Wall Street Journal. And this is after raising its price from $1.00 to $1.25 per daily issue. My wallet is going shrinky too.

"Alfred E. Neuman was everything that parents prayed deep-down their kids wouldn't turn into -- and feared they would." Holy cow!


This article made me want to go and read a lot of old MADs.

UPDATE: Mark Evanier responds to this article here.

Serena Bramble's THE ENDLESS NIGHT

Via the Potrzebie blog:

Serena Bramble edited together a short homage to film noir on her Mac. Her

" ... short film tribute to film noir created a sensation at the Castro Theatre's 8th annual Noir City Film Festival last month. This is on several blogs, as Bramble's brilliance brings a luminosity to flickering frames in the dark balconies of memory. A 20-year-old psychology student at Santa Rosa Junior College, she created The Endless Night with iMovie on her MacBook, commenting, 'After many long hours, this is my tribute to my favorite genre, to the dark shadows and the profound despair of the soul.' The music is "Angel" by Massive Attack. (Control click heading at top for David Raksin's 'Laura.')"

I see clips like this, from these old film noir movies I've seen and some I haven't -- and I want to watch all of them.

I look at the movies that are playing now, or that are the most popular with the Netflix subscribers -- and I just am not interested. I mean, how many times can Ben Stiller go to a museum? Ugh. Give me Stanwyck and Bogie and Davis.

JET SCOTT by Sheldon Stark and Jerry Robinson

Dark Horse has collected the "lost science fiction masterwork" JET SCOTT comic strip, which was written by Sheldon Stark and with wonderful art by Jerry Robinson.

"In the 1950s, when the world was faced with strange or anomalous threats, there was one man who was called on to set the situation right -- Jet Scott of the Office of Scientifact! Whether it was tracking down deadly Banthrax germs, uncovering the source of strange ocean creatures, or discovering the cause of spontaneously combusting pipelines in Saudi Arabia, Jet Scott was the adventurer who could get to the truth!"

We live in such a time when a forgotten strip that lasted only 2 years, from 1953 to 1955, published by the New York Herald-Tribune (and seen in few markets) now sees the new light of day between hardcovers.

Allan Holtz has background and more samples at his Stripper's Guide blog.

Hat tip to Comics Reporter.

Virgil VIP Partch

Ger Apeldoorn shares some of Virgil VIP Patch's BIG GEORGE comic strips. Scroll down for a trove of VIP's gag cartoons from his tenure as cartoon editor at TRUE.

Vegetarian Recipe: Roasted Vegetables with Brown Rice

This is not cartoons. This is a recipe for Roasted Vegetables with Brown Rice, since Don and Suzanne Orehek asked about it. I took some photos of the dish thinking maybe someone else out there might be interested.

1 head cauliflower
red onion
sweet potato
3-6 cloves of garlic
1 1/3 lb. brussel sprouts (fresh, not frozen)

Cut up the cauliflower, halve the brussel sprouts, cut the potato into small sticks, spread onto a jelly roll pan. Place thinly sliced red onion and chopped fresh garlic over the top. Drizzle it with olive oil, put some salt and pepper on it. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 425 degrees or until brown on the edges. I use the center rack of the oven.

After 15 minutes, the aroma of the garlic fills the kitchen.


Above: this is a photo of the roasted vegetables just out of the oven. I scoop up maybe 2 cups of brown rice on a plate and put the vegetables on top.

Try putting a little cumin on them as well.

Steve Brodner: The Vanguard at 75

Steve Brodner shares his sketchpad doodles along with his finished color drawing celebrating 75 years of the Village Vanguard.

Gag Cartoons Circa 1839

Via Yesterday's Papers, here is a collection of gag cartoons from the humorous weekly The Odd Fellow.

Although the context is lost on me (and pretty much everyone else who can't recall the issues of 1839), this is a splendid sampling of the quality of cartoon and caricature work.

Video: New DOCTOR WHO Trailer

Via the BBC, just released this weekend. Some mild spoilers re: villains in the new series.

What are SORDID comic books doing to our children?

Via Sherm Cohen's Cartoon SNAP blog: from the April 24, 1954 Milwaukee Journal, a piece on Dr. Wertham: What are SORDID comic books doing to our children?

Jim Tierney's Book Designs

Some knock-out book designs for some of Jules Verne's great works by Jim Tierney. Jim is studying illustration at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. This is all part of his senior thesis; a competition for the William H. Ely award.

"Being equal parts book-nerd and design-nerd, I naturally decided to re-design some classic Jules Verne novels. I‘m a big Verne fan, but a chance to re-design any classic book is always exciting. Classics usually allow for a more personal interpretation, since most people are already vaguely familiar with the premise of the books, and I didn’t have to compete with one well-known cover, as I might have with a more recent book."

Jim shares a lot of his process and sketches here.

Jules Verne cover designs by Jim Tierney from Jim Tierney on Vimeo.

Hat tip to my pal Sean Kelly. Thanks, Sean!

Video: Tex Blaisdell on "To Tell the Truth"

Above: Tex Blaisdell's NCS bio.

Here's veteran cartoonist Tex Blaisdell, whose talents spanned DC Comics and many syndicated features, guesting on this 1970 episode of the To Tell the Truth game show.

At this time, Mr. Blaisdell had taken over LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE after creator Harold Gray's death in 1968.

Some members of the celebrity panel (composed of Tom Posten, Peggy Cass, Gene Rayburn and Kitty Carlisle) ham it up, reading a very early ANNIE strip aloud. Actually, one of the very earliest ANNIEs. It's the strip from August 14, 1924, the middle of the second week of the feature when Mrs. Warbucks takes Annie from the orphanage to the Warbucks estate. As Kitty Carlisle remarks, people have not heard of Mrs. Warbucks, the wife of Daddy Warbucks. The explanation offered is that she was an unsympathetic character and Mr. Gray wrote her out of the strip.

At the end of this clip, Tex live-draws a portrait of Annie.