Thursday, August 09, 2007
Education: W L Evans Cartooning And Caricaturing Course Part One
This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 8 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great art instructional material.
I don't normally post twice in the same day, but today is special. Cartoonist, Marc Schirmeister stopped by to donate the granddaddy of all cartooning courses to the archive- a stack of 19 mail order cartooning lessons by W. L. Evans.
In 1913, Elzie Segar, aged 18 began a correspondence course headed up by the Cleveland Leader cartoonist, W. L. Evans. The course cost a dollar per lesson and it took Segar a year and a half to complete the 20 lessons. By 1917, he had landed a job penning the "Charlie Chaplin Comic Capers" and "Looping the Loop" strips. In the ad above, Segar is quoted as saying, "I'm getting along fine, and it's all your fault."
Decades later, Segar made mention of his early education in his strip, Thimble Theater. In 1934, his character, Sappo took the W. L. Evans Cartooning Course and delighted readers with cartoon drawings made from letters of the alphabet. Segar wasn't the only cartoonist who got his start with this course. Chester Gould of Dick Tracy fame was a graduate of the W. L. Evans course, as was Dennis the Menace creator, Hank Ketcham.Here is the first lesson that got these great cartoonists started on their career path. If there is interest, I will post more of this landmark course.
THE PLATES
STUDENTS: Print this stuff out and USE IT!
If you found this post to be interesting, see... Gene Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part One: The Men Behind The Newspaper Comics, Part Two: How To Get Ideas / Studies of Comic Strips and Part Three: Single Panel and Sports Cartoonists, Part Four: Editorial Cartoons & Comic Books, and Part Five: Sketching and Part Six: Magazine Cartooning; Nat Falk's "How To Make Animated Cartoons" Part One: The History of Animation, Part Two: The Cartoon Studios, Part Three: How Cartoons Are Made, Part Four: How To Draw Cartoons and Part Five: How To Animate. Also, see... Willard Mullen on Animals.
Labels: cartooning, cartoonist, chester gould, correspondence, course, education, segar, w l evans
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posted by Stephen Worth @ 7:47 PM
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14 Comments:
Please post more!
Amazing to think that teenaged Segar, Gould and Ketcham were all studying from this course.
Big thanks to Marc Shirmeister for donating this important piece of cartoon history!
Thanks, Steve and Marc! This is like the Rosetta Stone of classic cartooning! Thanks so much for making this available...and I appreciate the high-quality scans that make them so READABLE too!
I love how overbearingly stern W.L. Evans is with his students. He doesn't give a crap about what YOU think is the right way to do it...Can't you just hear John Houseman reciting these lines? But this is the kind of practical instruction people needed - and still need - to be a pro at this business.
When I was a student at the Kubert school in the 80's, Joe and the other old-school cartoonists drilled this same stuff into our heads day after day. We even had brush and pen exercises EXACTLY like the one shown in the scan! We knew it was boring and tedious, but we also learned how to handle our brushed and pen nibs. Now I can point to several classmates who are seasoned professional cartoonists.
Going back to the source is almost always a better idea than learning from the third or fourth generation. Material like this is what makes the Archive such a treasure. MORE! MORE!
Wow, wow, wow! Yes, Steve, please do post more of this course! Thanks for all of the great resources you make available here.
Stephen
http://meetingedges.blogspot.com
I cannot tell you how excited I was to read this, and want to see the rest. Thank you for all the time and energy you must put into it. Please post more of these!
"it's a cinch to draw with this pencil, wink!"
hahahaha
This is great!! I was bidding on this on Ebay awhile back but someone outbid me. Hopefully, more can be posted. Looking forward to it.
-David O.
Sweet, I just stumbled upon you site today, and I am glad I did. I can't wait for more
can you get the little king cartoon called the jolly good felons (1934) when he goes to a person.
Jolly Good Felon is part of our database, Nick. It can be viewed any time during office hours at the ASIFA-Hollywood office in Burbank.
Thanks
Steve
Thank you for this great posting! I have been trying to find this program for such a long time with no luck. I hope that you are planning on posting the whole series, or at least providing a link where we can download and print this great material. Thank you again for doing such a great service to the community of animators, and cartoonists.
Thanks,
Greg
Steve,
Cool post. You're doing so much for animation.
Your buddy,
Michael
Dear Steve,
Would you please post part two to this great work? I am avid follower of this blog and love all that you do. I would just love to have all of these lessons.
Thanks so much,
Greg
Hi Steve,
What a great find. I love this web site. Such a tremendous resource. Please post more of this course.
Edward
Hi Steve,
What a tremendous resource you have created. Please post more of Mr. Evans' course.
Thank you,
Edward
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