Deep Dark Fears Tumblr

It's a wizzywig kinda thing: a Tumblr site that is full of troubling fears about life. Anyone can submit, and Fran Krause ( He is currently faculty in the Character Animation Program at CalArts.) illustrates them. Very addictive, and some are very funny.

Hat tip to Barry T. Smith!

Charles Barsotti 1933-2014

(Charles Barsotti cartoon © 2014 Condé Nast. All rights reserved.)

Cartoonist Charles Barsotti died in his Kansas City home late Monday, June 16, 2014. He was surrounded by family and friends. The cause was brain cancer. He was 80 years old.

(A column header by Charles Barsotti for The New Yorker via the My Delineated Life blog. © 2014 Condé Nast. All rights reserved.)


B. Kliban describes cartoonists as "the people Rockwell missed," but this isn't true of Mr. Barsotti. He believed in helping people. After graduating Texas State University with a social sciences degree and two year stint in the army, he worked in his home town of San Marcos, TX at the Brown School, a special needs facility, with the aim to complete a master's degree in education. He was there for six years. And he was also freelance cartooning.

By the 1960s, Barsotti had moved to Kansas City, MO to take a job with Hallmark Cards. For two years, he continued submitting cartoons. Among his clients were The New Yorker and Playboy, two of the most sought after gag cartoon markets.

After two years at Hallmark, he moved further north and east, to New York City. He became the cartoon editor for The Saturday Evening Post. In 1969, the magazine folded. With a wife and four kids, he returned to the "more manageable" locale of Kansas City and Hallmark Cards.

By the early 70s saw he became a contract cartoonist at The New Yorker. This means that The New Yorker got first look at all of his cartoons and he was paid a more substantial rate. The Magazine would buy 1,400 Barsotti cartoons. 

He also made time to propose comic strips for syndication. Here's a list of six that were syndicated from his Wikipedia page:

C. Barsotti's People
My Kind of People
P.J. McFey
Sally Bananas (1969–1973)
Funny Form (1974)
Punchline: USA (1975)
Broadsides (1975–1979)

He won his district when, in 1972, he ran for congress on an anti-Vietnam War platform. His wife, Ramoth Barsotti, said, "He hated the Vietnam War."

But he did not like campaigning. From the Kansas City Star obituary by Edward M. Eveld:

"He decided to 'stand for office but not run for it,' he said at the time. 'It was a ‘You can vote for me as a protest against the war if you want to’ kind of thing.'' He recalled getting about 30 percent of the vote."

A generous man, Barsotti would help out when asked, sending cartoon originals for fundraising efforts by public TV and others.

But there was one exception.

From The Star:

"In 1986, Barsotti told the Chicago Tribune about an incident a year earlier: Patrick Buchanan, then President Reagan’s newly named communications director, asked for an autographed original of a Barsotti New Yorker cartoon that featured Buchanan. 

"Barsotti declined, even after Buchanan wrote a letter to him on White House stationery: 'It would be much appreciated and would hang in a place of honor either at my residence or in my office — for Sam Donaldson to see. If not, thanks for — as the President might put it — making my day.' 

"But Barsotti was no fan of the conservative Buchanan and declined. 

"'Politicians don’t trust you if you give them something for nothing,' Barsotti quipped. 'They respect a trade.'"

1988 saw an award from the National Cartoonists Society for Best Magazine Gag Cartoonist. 

In 1996, he was one of five cartoonists honored in a series of postage stamps in the UK.

"'It got approved by the queen, they tell me,' Barsotti told The Star. 'I would have hated to not be approved by the queen.'"

His cartoons were described as evoking 

"… both the traditional world of a Thurber and the contemporary sensibility of a Roz Chast. With his simple repertory—including a nameless but lovable pooch and a monarch whose kingdom consists of a guard and a telephone—Barsotti manages to miraculously dissipate the clouds in people's minds with his unexpected humor." 

- from THE ESSENTIAL CHARLES BARSOTTI by Lee Lorenz

His bold line combined with a sharp, whimsical comment cannot be duplicated. It's uniquely Barsotti.

He was going to go into the social sciences. He spent 6 years in a staff position at a special needs facility in Texas. He ran for congress in 1972. He wanted to help his fellow man and he was smart. But he was also an illustrator with the pen of a poet.

Related: 

Michael Maslin remembers Barsotti

Jack Ziegler on Barsotti

New Yorker Cartoon Editor Bob Mankoff: Thank You, Charles Barsotti
New York Times Obituary

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article567945/Beloved-New-Yorker-cartoonist-Charles-Barsotti-dies-in-Kansas-City.html#storylink=cpy

New GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Trailer

From Marvel UK, brand new. New footage. More Rocket Raccoon.

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HOGAN'S ALLEY: 2014 National Cartoonists Society Reubens Photos

(Russ Heath with the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award.)

Tom Heintjes, of HOGAN'S ALLEY fame, posts photos from the 2014 National Cartoonists Society Reubens weekend that was held in San Diego, CA.

Rejection: the Key to Success

Here's my story of a crummy high school summer job to cheer you up:

When I was a kid I worked in one of those phone sale boiler rooms. We were selling Cleveland Press newspaper subscriptions. I hated it. Who wants to be one of these people who calls strangers at home to sell stuff? Who wants to be a telemarketer? It was the only job I could find and I needed the money.

There was one guy who sold a lot more than anyone else. I couldn't figure it out. He got lists of phone numbers like we did and dialed like we did -- but he sold a lot! And he was just a year older than I was. So, I asked him how he did it. He was a real nice guy (not always a plus in the telemarketing industry -- making his success more baffling) and he told me his theory. He said the reason he sold more was because he called a lot more people in an hour. If someone said no, he said "OK" and went to the next phone number. He logged almost twice as many calls as anyone else.

His theory was that you would get a certain number of sales out of 100 phone calls, and the idea was to not waste time with the people who said "no." "For every person who says no, you are that much closer to the sale." What a good attitude.

The Cleveland Press went out of business, but I bet this guy went on to big things.

Resolved: You gotta get the rejections to get the sales!

The Charles and Tee Addams House in Sagaponack

(Above: Dea Million and Scott Partlow in Addams-family inspired garb. Photo by Gordon M. Grant for The Wall Street Journal.)

Next time you're in the Hamptons, drop by the Charles and Tee Addams House in Sagaponack (which you really can do, by appointment).

This past Friday the 13th (Of course!) the Conscience Point Shellfish Hatchery hosted a benefit there. Gordon M. Grant reporting for the Wall Street Journal, describes the place as

"… a modest ranch house filled with Mr. Addams's artwork, including a shifty-eyed painting that hangs on a bookshelf and an elongated drawing of Morticia Addams. Affectionately, the home is referred to as 'the swamp,' complete with a pet cemetery."

Joe Sacco's massive WWI cartoon mural on display in Paris

From The Telegraph: 

"Sacco's mural, which goes on display on the wall of a long underground passageway at the Paris subway station of Montparnasse on July 1, is nearly 500 feet long (almost double the length of the Bayeux Tapestry) and at its centre, on the 12th of its 24 panels, features a British officer, pipe in mouth, pointing the way for his troops as they calmly make their way towards the German lines with rifles slung over their shoulders."

Video: Political Cartoonists Lampoon Eurocrats with Brushes and Mockery

"Political lampoonists cut through empty words of entrenched elite."

German cartoonists Niels Schroeder and Moritz Enders comment about how they target political figures. Peter Oliver reports for Russia Today:

The Garden As of Mid-June 2014

Two rows of peppers and (unseen, still germinating) cucumbers and yellow squash.

The box behind that: undecided.

The box behind that one: tomatoes, with 2 more boxes -- one of tomatoes and another of lettuce -- at the far end.

And now, the flower parade:

Taking Rufus To the Vet

I drew this up this morning. Micron pen on typing paper. Color via Photoshop.

Rufus is an older kitty and he's got the kidney problems starting up. He's been limping a bit the past few days, so we are off to the vet's office. Hopefully, he'll be okay for now.

We are both horrible patients.

The PEANUTS Statues by Garner Holt at Knotts Berry Farm

Above: Franklin, Sally and one or two Woodstocks, created by Garner Holt at Knotts Berry Farm.

If you are looking into animatronic characters for your amusement park, go no further than industry-leader Garner Holt. His company just unveiled 182 characters (animals, people and some PEANUTS characters) for Knotts Berry Farm. These PEANUTS characters are on-model and were created specifically to emulate the strip during its 1980s decade. More here.

Video: "Learn to Draw" with Tom Gammill Lesson #35

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Twitter: Illustrated Gerry Adams Tweets @GA_Illustrated

@GA_Illustrated is a new Twitter account that nicks actual tweets by Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams and illustrates them. The person who puts these drawings together is not identified. The Belfast Telegram's John Mulgrew has more here.

"Gerry Adams' tweets have often focused on light-hearted and frequently random day-to-day events - often written in seemingly hastily cobbled together 'text speak'. 

"His tweets prompted criticism from some, with one commentator describing his attempt to project himself as 'loveable folksy chap with a cultured hinterland' having failed."

Preview: THE ART OF RICHARD THOMPSON [EDITED]

Coming this fall from the good people at Andrews McMeel (Yes, I've been to their Kansas City HQ and they are all nice people.), the new book THE ART OF RICHARD THOMPSON with lots of art (previously published and unseen too) by the one and only Richard Thompson.

The Illustration Art blog has some great previews of Richard's art here. Go look!

EDIT: Mike Rhode has more, better information. He points out in the comments here that "much of the art in the book was published, albeit in trade journals or the Washington Post. It'll be new to most of Richard's fans though."

More here:
 

Art of Richard Thompson Facebook Page

Video: Turner Prize Nominated Artist David Shrigley and the "Sketch" Restaurant

"Sketch" is a fancy London restaurant that lets an artist come in and do whatever they would like to do  every two years. The Turner Prize nominated artist David Shrigley is the fellow who came in this year and he's the subject of this short video. Not only is his art on the walls, but he's drawn on the plates as well.

Restauranteur Mourad Mazouz deserves praise for allowing this and giving the artists carte blanche.

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Video: Army Broadcasting's Bill Mauldin Bio

Bill Mauldin is the subject of this short Army Broadcasting bio piece. SPC Andrew Vidakovicn reports for "Soldiers Update." It runs about 2 minutes.

The good thing here is that its mentioned that Mauldin's cartoons, while popular with the soldiers, were not highly thought of by the brass. Enough people in high places thought enough of his Willie and Joe characters that he was able to continue to get published during his five years in the army.  They became so iconic, that Willie was on the cover of Time Magazine in June, 1945.

And, yes, when he got the Pulitzer at the age of 23 he was the youngest recipient to date. But it's also worth noting that when he got the news, he was so new to the newspaper business that had to ask what a Pulitzer was. He would win a second one in 1959.

There are a lot of stories in his excellent autobiography THE BRASS RING, but my favorite is how he had to smear his pen against a stamp pad in able to draw a cartoon during an ink shortage. Now that shows determination!

In 2002, Mr. Maudin was declining, and it was my honor, as the National Cartoonists Society Berndt Toast Gang chair, to prepare a large "Get Well Soon, Bill Mauldin" board, full of original cartoon sketches and signatures of the members. It was mailed to his bedside in Newport Beach, CA.

After he died on January 22, 2003, one of his sons told me that the family was so touched and that they loved the oversized greeting we had sent. (It was about 2' x 4.') They had somehow (Tacks? Glue? I don't know.) adhered the Berndt Toast Gang's board on his ceiling, so it would be the first thing that Bill saw in the morning.

He was honored with a US postage stamp in 2010.

My thanks to my dad who put the book THE BRASS RING in my hand when I was eleven years old.

Frank King: "There are loads of ideas everywhere, but you must be tuned to receive them."

Above nicked from Lines and Colors.



GASOLINE ALLEY cartoonist Frank King on his process:

My Skeezix is five years too old. He is nine years of age and I have to remember back for material from that source. I also must remember a lot of things which didn't happen but which might have happened. That is one of the fortunate things about human interest stuff. You are not limited to what has happened, but you must not do things which would never happen.

Many ideas are sent in, but very few of them are usable. Many come in in some form of propaganda, which have to be weeded out carefully. A few ideas come from friends' children.

Go read the entire 1926 interview at the Stripper's Guide.

---

You guys know that I do career days in high schools. There is always a young cartoonist who loves to draw, but has a hard time coming up with ideas. Maybe in a perfect world, working artists could come in to classes and talk about how they find ideas, how they get excited about sharing them and the challenges in presenting these ideas visually.

Until then, there's this here blog.

---

Oh, yes. Frank King came to mind today because of a new GASOLINE ALLEY collection. Looking forward to picking up Drawn and Quarterly's WALT BEFORE SKEEZIX this week.

Yes, Bill Watterson Drew PEARLS BEFORE SWINE by Stephan Pastis This Week.

I did not think that Bill Watterson drew some of the panels in PEARLS BEFORE SWINE this week.

I was wrong.

Stephan Pastis tells the whole story at his blog: Ever Wished That Calvin and Hobbes Creator Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? Well, He Just Did.

It was, as he says, the hardest secret he ever had to keep. 

The whole story of how it all happened: how he approached Bill Watterson, how the strips came to be, etc. are all there.

Hat tip to Charles Brubaker for the heads up. 

Mea culpa!

Is Bill Watterson Drawing PEARLS BEFORE SWINE by Stephan Pastis This Week? EDITED

EDIT: I am wrong.

Yesterday's PEARLS BEFORE SWINE. copyright Stephan Pastis.

The Internet is abuzz with the idea that Bill Watterson is ghosting some of the panels of the syndicated PEARLS BEFORE SWINE comic strip this week.

It's a fun thing to wonder about. People who grew up the CALVIN AND HOBBES are parsing the inky lines for tell-tale signs that it's a genuine Watterson-drawn comic. If it is, it would be his first comic strip work since 1995, when C AND H folded.

I don't think it is. A good number of cartoonists I have met can ape a Watterson style. And I don't understand what Watterson's motivation would be.

But it's a fun thing to talk about, isn't it?

It motivates me to go read some old CALVIN strips tonight ….

EDIT:

The Daily Cartoonist has a poll about this. 

As of now, 62% believe it's Watterson's work.

Video: JUMBLE Creators David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek

Comic Book Cartography

John Hilgart has a great idea: Comic Book Cartography assembles maps and diagrams from various comic books (Fantastic Four, Batman, The Avengers, Little Archie) for our perusal. Above: the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building headquarters. It's by Jack Kirby (Natch!) from FF #6. I would say about half of these maps were drawn by Kirby from the 1960s and 70s.

16 Tragic Science Fiction Calendar Miscalculations

The Anorak site looks at 16 Tragic Science Fiction Calendar Miscalculations.

Case in point: BACK TO THE FUTURE II, which is set in 2015. We have one more year until hover boards. Yeah, right.

Well, we do have a lot of 3D movies ...

SPACE: 1999 got it wrong: the moon did not blast out of orbit. 

New York City has not been turned into " the world’s largest penitentiary" as ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, which was set in 1997, postulated. 

May Day, 1970: Alexander Korda's version of H.G. Wells' THINGS TO COME had Raymond Massey hop out of a futuristic plane and try and save civilization from ruin. Civilization may be getting itself ruined, but we ain't got no Massey or his "Wings Over the World" to save the day.

And on and on.

Video: Mike Lynch and Stephanie Piro Cartoon for New Hampshire Chronicle TV Show

(Mike Lynch and New Hamphsire Chronicle Host/Producer Erin Fehlau. Photo by Chris Shepherd.)

I think you remember me telling you I was on TV last week.

I was on the program, along with fellow cartoonist Stephanie Piro, in a state-wide TV magazine show, the New Hampshire Chronicle. That's all fair enough -- but, heck, if you lived anywhere else in the world, you didn't get a chance to see it.

It's online now.

So, below is the complete New Hampshire Chronicle TV show segment "NH Cartoonists" from May 28, 2014. It's © 2014 Manchester Hearst Properties Inc. on behalf of WMUR-TV.

My thanks to host and producer Erin Fehlau, and videographer and editor Chris Shepherd. My thanks also to the New Durham Public Library and the kids at the New Durham Elementary School.

Erin and Chris spent about two hours with me. Interviewing me one on one, taking video of the cartoons, and then Chris was on his feet for about 45 minutes, taping the cartoon class I taught.

This is the 30 second commercial for it:

Video: Jack Ohman: Tracking the Governor's Race

Jack Ohman, editorial cartoonist for the Sacramento Bee, cartoons what he thinks may happen in the California governor's race. Never NOT watch a cartoonist draw!

Video by Hector Amezcua.

"All For Love" from SPACE ADVENTURES #8 (September 1953)

The Saved From The Paper Drive blog gives us a complete sci fi comic book tale from Space Adventures #8 (September 1953) with art by Dick Giordano and Art Cappello. If you like spaceships, alien criminals, sexy girls and twist endings -- then this is for you.

All the Cartoons From LOOK Magazine July 15, 1969

If you just finished watching the penultimate seven MAD MEN episodes, then this is about where we left off time-wise in the series: July, 1969.

This issue of LOOK Magazine has: a review "True Grit" by Gene Shalit (Gene liked it), "How Hippies Raise Their Children," and a photo-essay on 32 year old TV interviewer Dick Cavett.

And here are all of the cartoons from the July 15, 1969 issue. It's copyright 1969 Cowles Magazines and Broadcasting, Inc.

Ton Smits:

Eldon Dedini:

Bill Hoest:

British cartoonist Francis Wilford-Smith who signed his work "Smilby:"

Ed Fisher:

Herb Goldberg:

Another one by Bill Hoest:

Can someone help me ID this one?

Related:

All the Cartoons from Look Magazine June 24, 1969

All the Cartoons from THE SATURDAY EVENING POST Dec.28, 1968 - Jan. 11 1969

All the Cartoons from LOOK Magazine June 7, 1960

CARTOON LAFFS Part One

Video: Scott McCloud and Trenton Doyle Hancock

The Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston partnered with Comicpalooza, The Texas International Comic Con, to present American cartoonist and comics theorist Scott McCloud, and Houston-based artist Trenton Doyle Hancock in conversation. The two share a deep understanding and appreciation for the comic world and joined each other onstage to discuss Hancock's artwork and the comic influences behind his practice.

Follow Comicpalooza on Twitter and Instagram at #comicpalooza.

© Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 2014.

FAWLTY TOWERS Basil Beats Car with Branch Toy

This is a real thing!

If you know your FAWLTY TOWERS, then you know this scene:



Produced by Corgi Toys to commemorate the show's 30th anniversary in 2005, these FAWLTY TOWERS car toys of Basil's detested and unreliable Austin 1100 were made exclusively as Public TV come ons for donations. First time I saw one was this morning!

Thank you to a friend on Facebook for this!

Video: 1944 Canadian Army "Maple Leaf" War Time Newspaper

This Canadian Army newsreel from 1944 highlights the newspaper The Maple Leaf, a Canadian war-time newspaper for the Canadian lads in the war. You can see the whole newsreel below, or click here to jump to that segment on The Maple Leaf paper.



Here's the mystery: who is the Canadian cartoonist drawing that explosion?

Video: Billy Ireland Honored in Stained Glass

Billy Ireland is honored at a new stained glass exhibit created by Wayne Cain and Daniel White at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum.
The magazine show Art Loft has the story at the 7:30 mark.

Video: Pat Bagley Creates 15 Foot High Mural

Salt Lake Tribune editorial cartoonist Pat Bagley creates a 15-foot high mural, while at work as the May 2014 artist in residence at The Leonardo in Salt Lake City, UT.

Music: "Little Green Theme" by Kim Simpson.

The Garden As of June 1, 2014

Here are some photos of the garden and some flowers. Spring is here and it's roared in with a lot of green leaves; the trees have all unfurled in the past couple of weeks, the perennial flower bed is ready to burst with blooms. This all happens, as it does in New England, very, very fast. But the raised beds are just getting started.

Here they are. On the right: the 2 smaller beds: tomatoes in the foreground, lettuce in the background. More tomatoes in the larger box on the left. The tomatoes were planted today.

The other boxers are not ready yet. That's weed cloth over the beds.

Here are a few shots of some of other plants and flowers ….

Baby basil plant:

The top of the rose went all woody and dead, so I clipped it back. Below is all of the new goeth. It's about a foot tall now. That yellow thing in the background is a banana peel. I put banana peels down there for fertilizer. Laugh. Go ahead! But it works.

And there's next winter's wood to chop: