Here's the "Roy Crane Scrapbook," a feature from the Cartoonist PROfiles magazine No. 38, June 1978. Click to super-size, of course. I do not recall if this was a continuing feature in Jud Hurd's great magazine, but to find this by accident the other day was very exciting.
Here's Mr. Crane:
"Almost all of the pictures on the preceding pages have these things in common which might be called 'Our Goal.'
"A pretty face ... drawn simply and with care.
"Graceful curves even to the finger tips
"Nice hair
"Interesting action to command attention
"Small waists, feet, ankles
"Simplicity
"And never mind what a girl really looks like."
This all looks like Mr. Crane himself pasted these up for the magazine.
"Pretty girl TYPES. Search for character.
"What a variety of eyes and lips! No two alike. Search for character in the eyes and lips."
"And how to make them DISTINCTIVE
"First, as with men, learn her dominant character trait.
"Is she to be bad, glad, or sad? Innocent, sophisticated, or aloof? Lively or demure? A schemer or a dreamer? Etc.
"What is to be her intended impact on the reader? Her general attitude?
"Only when you know the answer to these questions can you be expected to work out a satisfactory character."
"TYPES. As in the case with men, it's a job of fitting together a JIGSAW PUZZLE
"BEST BETS FOR GETTING INDIVIDUALITY:
"1. THE HAIR
"2. THE EYES There are innumerable shapes.
"3. THE LIPS These are but a few. Stuudy [sic] other pictures on these pages.
"4. THEIR RELATIONSHIP, ONE WITH ANOTHER For example: Is the upper lip long or short? Is the chin short, weak, rounded, pointed, cleft, etc? How long is the nose? Is the face broad, or long, and how shaped? How do they fit together?"
WOW! God love ya, Lynchy, you find the coolest stuff!
ReplyDeleteBTW, is it just me, or is the girl at the bottom of the last page Uma Thurman?
Clara Bow, Audrey Hepburn, Tillie the Toiler -- Mr. Crane runs the gamut of women!
ReplyDeleteYou are my favorite person in the world today! WOW! Thanks Mike...I am a huge Roy Crane fan, and I always marvel at the cute girls he draws. I have never seen this stuff before, and you are a true gentleman-cartoonist for sharing them.
ReplyDeleteYes, Roy Crane's Scrapbook was a feature that ran through several issues of Cartoonists profiles (I guess that was back in the 70s, maybe half a dozen issues in all)... Most of the material dealt with using the old DoubleTone Art Bristol (Doubletone was printed with crosshatch shading that you made visible by painting with a special chemical after you'd inked the linework... It was an alternative technique to Benday or the later dot & tone screens like Zipatone) Roy Crane had apparently put these pages together for training his assistants and they dealt with creating highlights and shadows with tones, plus posing characters, dramatic staging, how to keep background elements from cluttering things up and all sorts of topics... I used to have the old Mags and was wondering tonight if anyone had scanned and posted any of this material on line... Great to find this - though I really was looking for the Light & Shadow portion... Oh Well Josh Quagmire
ReplyDeleteYes, this was a regular feature in Cartoonist PROfiles. It began in issue 3, with a 10 page feature! I'm currently putting up really crappy photocopies of them in my deviantart scrapbook, the first page of which is at this link: http://jhames34.deviantart.com/art/CartoonistPROfiles-3-Roy-Crane-169063676?q=1&qo=1
ReplyDeleteAwesome stuff Mike! Thanks for scanning and posting! Big Roy Crane fan (more his Wash Tubbs era) so any 'new' Crane is great to see!
ReplyDelete