For your adult nerdly pleasure via Geekologie.
Tip o' the hat to Andertoons!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Julie Larson: Making Newspaper Comics Pay
I was nodding with agreement as I read Julie Larson's (THE DINETTE SET) analysis of the newspaper comics industry ("No Laughing Matter," by Steve Tartar for today's Peoria Journal Star).
"Cartoons are directly tied to the fate of the newspaper, Larson said. When the Seattle Post-Intelligencier dropped its print edition last year to produce an online-only publication, Larson saw her compensation drop from $375 for four Sunday strips to $40.
"Larson recently decided to drop her affiliation with Creators Syndicate. Instead, she plans to market 'The Dinette Set' herself."
By taking the duties of marketing and networking THE DINETTE SET away from the syndicate, she may save the money that the syndicate was charging, but now there's that new challenge of balancing the business side of the long-running panel with the creative side.
Tartar goes on to get a few views of the state of comics today. I'm a big believer that the comics page is like TV: you don't necessarily look at everything. My "stale and recycled" poison is another person's meat.
Mike Gioia and roommate Alex Tuller,who create a Web strip APOKALIPS, are featured as part of the "new model" of cartooning, which isn't making them money -- but they still love it. And Mike can afford to love it, he splits the rent with Alex and he works fulltime for a Manhattan office of PricewaterhouseCooper. This is not a "new model" for a working cartoonist, this is cartooning as hobby.
From the article:
"'The Internet is the monster that ate reason, a thief in the night that turned loyalty to a 150-year profession into a homeless shadow of itself,' she said. 'There needs to be a way to compensate cartoonists fairly or there will be no more comics.'"
I think Julie's wrong about this. There will always be comics, but more and more of them will be drawn by people like Mike Gioia, who has the fulltime job and the health coverage that allow him the luxury of creating a cartoon for free.
Hat tip to Tom Spurgeon for this. Thanks, Tom.
Related: Mike Lynch Cartoons: Monetizing Your Cartoons.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Ebay Cartoon Book Sale
I'm trying to clear my shelves. All items start at 99 cents.
Sale includes: the first 3 GREAT CARTOONS OF THE WORLD books (HC/DJ), Ivan Brunetti's SCHIZO, Chris Ware, David Mazzucchelli's RUBBER BLANKET, Jordan Crane's UPTIGHT, Milt Gross, Kurtzman, MUTT & JEFF and more.
David Levine 1926-2009
You could spend today reading about David Levine, who passed away on the last Thursday of 2009 of prostate cancer.
Levine was one of the last -- maybe the last -- illustrators to be linked and branded with a particular publication.
He was the graphic artist of the New York Review of Books. His unique, painterly pen style defined the publication as Hirschfeld defined the NY Times Arts & Leisure section, and as Rea Irvin defined the initial New Yorker magazine look.
Levine's caricature technique was much admired. Ed Sorel, writing in Time Magazine, likened it to French cartoonist André Gill.
Tom Spurgeon has a wonderful write up on the artist's life here.
Mr. Levine was admired to the extent of other artists aping his style. Here is a small portion of an interview Gary Groth conducted:
Other tributes to David Levine include Steven Heller, David Margolick, Steve Bell, Peter Kaplan and Steve Brodner.GROTH: I think there’s a cartoonist working now who imitates you.
LEVINE: There are a number of them. Each one has something a little different. But basically, the only problem with that is generally, if somebody doesn’t use me but uses them because they’re less expensive, that kind of bothers me. And on one occasion, many years ago, there was a guy who was editor of the Atlantic Monthly, Robert Manning, and he hired somebody who did an entire issue of the magazine, full of caricatures, small drawings, but all of them total imitations. But he didn’t sign them. I have a feeling that was an editorial choice. Because I had done some work for them, I poked a little fun at them by sending the bill, as if I had done it. [Chuckle.] I never got a word back. It was a joke.
Thanks to Journalista! and the Comics Reporter for the links.
THE QUESTOR TAPES Revival
After STAR TREK was cancelled, Gene Roddenberry produced a couple of TV pilot movies in the 1970s, including THE QUESTOR TAPES. None of these were made into series, but QUESTOR came the closest.
"My father always felt that Questor was the one that got away. He believed that the show had the potential to be bigger than Star Trek." - Gene's son, Rod Roddenberry
And now, 34 years to the month after it premiered, QUESTOR is getting a new lease on life: it's being developed as a new TV series.
THE QUESTOR TAPES pilot echoed a lot of Gene Roddenberry's favorite ideas: an android trying in a Pinocchio-like way to understand what it is to be human, searching for its creator, and we even touch on a superior benevolent alien race that's attempting "to prevent Earth from destroying itself before it can mature into a peaceful society." Plus the movie has Dean Wormer (John Vernon), acting as bad guy, so it's got that going for it. Not to mention the ever-so-likable pre-M*A*S*H Mike Farrell and the commanding presence of Robert Foxworth as Questor.
The series, if it had been made, would have been a buddy show, with Mike Farrell helping Foxworth become a bit less of a fish out of water as they had a series of adventures.
The best of the post-TREK pilots, QUESTOR's themes were woven into the next 2 Roddenberry produced projects; principally the characters of V'ger from STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE and, I know you all ready know it: Data, from NEXT GENERATION.
Trekmovie has all the information on the new reboot, including the two video sequences below: the original gambling scene from QUESTOR and a similar sequence for data from a TNG episode.
Richard Colla, the director, is quoted in Retrovision Magazine's fond and thorough overview of the pilot titled "Gene Roddenberry's The Questor Tapes: The Unfulfilled Promise:"
"It was a wonderful experience for me," he says. "We were kind of reinterpreting Spock and Kirk, because that's really what it was -- the emotional side of man and the intellectual side of man and they come into conversation with each other. So what you really have is a character talking to himself, and that's delightful."
Below, the entire pilot TV movie, cut into its requisite YouTube wee chunks:
THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 1
THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 2
THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 3
THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 4
THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 5
THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 6
THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 7
THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 8
THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 9
THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 10
THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 11
THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 12
A note on the Gil Melle music that's heard at a minute plus in: yes, that theme is the same music that Melle used for the later 1970s NIGHT STALKER series. Melle was so fond of that cut, that rather than see it forgotten in this unsold pilot, he played it for STALKER's producer Dan Curtis, who agreed and used it in the main title for the short-lived series. This is all from my memory of reading TV’s Biggest Hits (Schirmer Books, 1996) by Jon Burlingame.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Fat Kids Comics
Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine showcases a couple of fat kids comics: CHUB and LITTLE LOTTA.
H/t to Comics Reporter!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Video: A Commercial for a Newspaper
From the Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat comes this commercial about newspapers and the Web, working together. It's about a minute and it's worth a look.
Bit hat tip to my friend Sean Kelly!
Bit hat tip to my friend Sean Kelly!
Military service records of VIP soldiers now available
Photo of Bill Mauldin by Fred Palumbo, Library of Congress.Via the George W. Reilly's Veterans Journal in the January 18, 2010 Providence Journal:
There are a lot of cartoonists who may be on that list."Ever wonder about the military careers of famous people such as politicians Spiro Agnew, Ronald Reagan or George Wallace? Or maybe NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong, cowboy movie hero Gene Autry or cartoonist Charles Schulz, to name a few?
"The National Personnel Records Center has released a list of some 3,000 prominent former military service men and women whose service records may now be obtained under the Freedom of Information Act"
Mort Walker (who doodled the "Kilroy Was Here" sketch above), for instance, who would become head of security for Ordnance Base #1 in Naples, overseeing 10,000 German POWs.
Here's a bit from MORT WALKER'S SCRAPBOOK 1945-46:
"So here I was, a teenage kid with no training and no one supervising me, I was dumped into these jobs. I stopped things like those that happened in Iraqi prison camps from happening. I found people beating up on people and I said, 'Stop that now, I m not going to have any of that.' They would beat up on someone and say, 'Hey, Lieutenant, it’s your turn,' and I would say, 'Stop this now, this is not the way I want to run the place.' There was no instruction, no one told me that. The tendency of a lot of people is to use power when they have it and it isn’t pretty. I feel very lucky I didn’t have to see the horrible side of war."More at the online edition of The Stamford Historical Society Presents Pride and Patriotism: Stamford’s Role in World War II.
Hat tip to Three Men in a Tub
WATER ON THE BRAIN by Virgil "VIP" Partch
The Hairy Green Eyeball blog shares more Virgil "VIP" Partch gag cartoons from the 1944 collection WATER ON THE BRAIN.
Monday, January 18, 2010
ANNIE'S LI'L ORPHANS by Bill Yates and Stan Drake
Ted Dawson, over at the Three Men in a Tub blog, shows us a rare promotional sales brochure for ANNIE'S LI'L ORPHANS, by Stan Drake and Bill Yates.
ANNIE'S LI'L ORPHANS combined Drake's Good Girl Art with Yates'-drawn little cartoon kids (as Ted points out, just like LIBERTY MEADOWS by Frank Cho did years later).
Judging by the look of the aged, yellowing Zip-a-tone, this looks like at least a 30-40 year old syndicated comic strip proposal.
THE LAST LATH by Alan Dunn
The I'm Learning to Share blog shares some Alan Dunn gag cartoons.
Dunn, born in Belmar, NJ on August 11, 1900, was a prolific New Yorker contributor whose illustrative cartoons were a mainstay in the magazine from 1926 until a year after his death, in 1976. He may have contributed the most cartoon drawings (1,906) of any cartoonist. He was married to fellow cartoonist Mary Petty.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
New Yorker Cartoonist Bows to Mainstream Media Pressure
A friend of mine who is a wonderful illustrator, as well as a New Yorker cartoonist, is giving a presentation about his career this morning at his son's elementary school.
The gig came with one caveat from the child, "Dad, you gotta draw Spongebob!"
The gig came with one caveat from the child, "Dad, you gotta draw Spongebob!"
Travels with Ink and Nib and Brush
Traveling? I don't envy you. But if you have to travel, and you are dedicated old school cartoonist who loves the old school drawing tools, then you already have a method for safely transporting your beloved art supplies through the rigors of the TSA, the baggage handlers, airplane pressure, etc.
Here's what I do:
Nibs! Those nibs that you have delicately broken in can be easily placed ...
... in a protective matchbox. When the TSA employee asks, Do you have anything that could be considered a weapon? -- Well, I have do not believe that nibs could be used as a weapon. At least, not a very effective one. Regardless, nibs get checked thru baggage. Along with the holder.
I like the ink in those squatty glass containers that are tough and ready for some travel tumbling and turbulence. (No Higgins Ink plastic containers if you please!) Wrapped in a couple layers of plastic wrap and then this baby is wrapped again in swaddling clothes (i.e., a black t-shirt),
A good brush is like your pal. Like a pen nib, it needs to be broken in and then it can last (with the proper care) for a long time. The problem is how do you protect your brush shape?
I just get a card (an index card, or piece of cardboard) and tape the brush down. And then I take another card and tape it on top, creating, for all intents and purposes, a snug brush sandwich.Confession: I usually use those Pigma permanent ink pens. Below is a drawing from last year depicting "the pens on my desk:"
Related: Some sketchbook drawings and a few more of my sketches.
Also related: Do you have too many sketchbooks?
Thursday, January 14, 2010
POGO POSSUM #12
Here are two stories from Pogo Possum #12, April-June 1953 by Walt Kelly via the Big Blog of Kids' Comics.
Hat tip to Journalista!
The Jay Kennedy Scholarship
The annual Jay Kennedy Scholarship, in memory of the late King Features editor, was funded by an initial $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation/King Features Syndicate and additional generous donations from Jerry Scott, Jim Borgman, Patrick McDonnell and many other prominent cartoonists. Submissions are adjudicated by a panel of top cartoonists and an award is given to the best college cartoonist. The recipient is feted at the annual NCS Reuben Awards Convention attended by many of the world’s leading cartoonists.
Applicants must be college students in the United States, Canada or Mexico that will be in their Junior or Senior year of college during the 2010-2011 academic year. Applicants do not have to be art majors to be eligible for this scholarship.
Along with a completed entry form, applicants are required to send 8 samples of their own cartooning artwork (copies only); noting if and where the work has been published, either in print or on the web. (See application for details.) DO NOT send original artwork.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
