Education: Willard Mullin on Animals

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 instruction posts.


A couple of months ago, we posted a section of the Famous Artists Design Course... Chad's Design For Television. Today, we are bringing you another Famous Artists article, this time from the Cartooning Course... Willard Mullin on Animals.

Willard Mullin was a type of cartoonist that doesn't exist any more... a newspaper sports page cartoonist. In the days before high speed film and well lit night games, newspapers relied on cartoonists to illustrate the sports stories that photographers were unable to shoot. They did this by caricaturing the players and utilizing team mascots to represent who was on top and who was in the doghouse.

Mullin was not only the greatest sports cartoonist of his day, he was also one of the most talented artists ever to work in newspaper comics. His drawings are dynamic and full of energy and life. His lines flow beautifully, while still defining the solid forms that underly his drawings. When it came to drawing animals, he was unmatched. I hope you find this useful in your own work.








These pages provide just a small sample of Mullin's work. If you can, find a copy of his book, "A Hand In Sports". It's packed with wonderful sketches by this underappreciated cartoonist.

The Famous Artists school is still in operation. Visit their website at www.famous-artists-school.com.

As an added treat, here is an early Mullin piece celebrating the victory of the horse, Omaha in the 1935 Kentucky Derby. Archive supporter, Ted Watts found this treasure in a thrift store and generously allowed us to scan it for the archive. Amazing stuff!


Our friend, Will Finn has been posting some great Willard Mullin cartoons on his site... See Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four

If you enjoyed this post, see... Clair Weeks Animal Studies 1940.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

8.07.08
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