Illustration: Milo Winter's Aesop For Children

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 3 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about children's book illustrators.


Today, I am going to introduce you to another great golden age illustrator, Milo Winter. Born in 1888 in Princeton, Illinois, Winter studied at the Chicago Art Institute. He illustrated dozens of books throughout the teens, twenties and thirties. His better known books are the ones for the Windermere series... Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Three Musketeers and Alice in Wonderland. Winter also served as the art director of the Childcraft series in the late 40s and early 1950s. But his greatest work was the oversize books he illustrated for Rand McNally from the late teens like the one we are featuring today.

Winter was a master of animal drawing. Check out the amazing depictions in these pages... anatomically accurate to the last detail, yet still full of personality and life. If you like this book, let me know in the comments. I have lots more from this and other Winter books if you are interested.





















If you enjoyed this article, see also... Lorioux's Fables De La Fontaine Part One and Part Two, Felix Lorioux's Tom Thumb, Puss in Boots, Fables De La Fontaine Part One and Part Two, Le Buffon des Enfants, Mabel Lucie Attwell's Peter Pan and Wendy, Einar Norelius' Bland Tomtar Och Troll 1929 and 1934, John Bauer's Bland Tomtar Och Troll 1917, More Norelius and Bauer, Arthur Rackham's Grimm's Fairy Tales Part One and Part Two, Kay Nielsen's East of the Sun and West of the Moon and Hansel & Gretel, Dulac's H.C. Andersen Part One and Part Two, Little Verses Part One and Part Two, and Rojankovsky's Frog Went A-Courtin'.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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Biography: The Father of Cartooning- T. S. Sullivant

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 4 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great biographies of important artists.



T. S. Sullivant is one of the most important cartoonists in the history of the medium. He pioneered many of the elements of anthropomorphism that we now take for granted. The general public may not be familiar with his name, but animators sure appreciate his work. (See Eddie Fitzgerald's first article on Sullivant and his second.) The influence of Sullivant's animals (along with the work of Heinrich Kley...) can be seen in many of the Disney features.

Sullivant was born in 1854, and didn't begin cartooning professionally until the age of 32. His cartoons appeared in Life and Puck during the 1890s, and in Judge around the turn of the century. William Randolph Hearst signed him to an exclusive contract in 1904, and his mastheads populated by cartoony animals appeared on the top of the Hearst comics pages until 1907. Sullivant returned to Life magazine in 1911, and remained there until his death in 1926.

Sullivant's pen and ink style doesn't really suit itself for reproduction on a computer screen, but I have made large versions available of all of these images. Just click on the picture to see it larger.


















For more on pioneering cartoonists, see... Cliff Sterrett's Polly & her Pals Part One and Part Two; Milt Gross Sunday Pages Part One, Part Two and Part Three; Harrison Cady's Birds' Eye Views and Rube Goldberg's Side Show

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

1.21.09
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Instruction: Clair Weeks Animal Studies 1940

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.


Today, I'm proud to present more amazing treasures from the Clair Weeks collection. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Weeks was born the son of a missionary in India. At DIsney, he was often teased about his resemblence to a village parson or pilgrim. (See caricature to the right.)

Around 1940, Disney Studios was at its peak. Several animated feature films were in production at once, and the staff numbered at an all time high. Disney instituted a comprehensive training program for the artists at his studio, which included life drawing, animal studies and action analysis classes under the direction of Don Graham. Today, we scanned animal drawings by Clair Weeks from these classes.


Archive supporter, Mike Fontanelli was in last night when I was scanning these beautiful sketches, and he expressed his admiration for Weeks' skill. It's difficult to draw animals and capture any kind of natural pose because they are always moving. Weeks not only exhibited mastery of construction and posing, but also the ability to embed the spark of life that makes a drawing come alive. His technique allowed for both analytically realistic depiction and cartoony stylized caricature.

Aspiring cartoonists and animators should look over these drawings carefully and make a trip to the zoo to study the animals themselves the way the artists did at Disney in 1940.
















If you found this interesting, you'll want to check out our previous posts about material from the collection of Clair Weeks... Clair Weeks Goodbye Book and the 1938 Disney Artists Tryout Book. Also, see... Willard Mullen on Animals.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

1.14.08
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Media: 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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