Cartooning: James Montgomery Flagg's Nervy Nat

James Montgomery Flagg is best known for his iconic recruitment posters like the one above, but he was also an accomplished magazine illustrator and cartoonist as well.

In 1890 at the age of 12, James presented himself and a group of sketches at the offices of St. Nicholas Magazine, the leading illustrated children's publication of the time. He was shown to the office of one of the editors who looked at his drawings and determined that he showed promise. The editor praised the boy's work and encouraged his parents to seek out art training for him. Flagg took classes at the Art Students' League in New York, and within two years, he was a regular contributor to St. Nicholas, and Life magazine, and eventually landed a staff position at Judge. Alongside great artists like Grant Hamilton and Eugene Zimmerman, Flagg flourished, becoming one of the top illustrators of his day.


Flagg was very versatile, and his sketches of beautiful women were just as well drawn as his caricatured cartoons. He was outspoken and critical of the art community. He once said that "the difference between the artist and the illustrator is that the latter knows how to draw, eats three square meals a day, and can pay for them."

From 1903 to 1907, Flagg drew a comic strip for Judge titled, "Nervy Nat". Here are some examples of the strip from 1906 and 1907.













For more on pioneering cartoonists, see... Father of Cartooning: T. S. Sullivant, 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

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Pinups: Bill Wenzel and Stanley Rayon's Girlie Cartoons

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 9 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great pinup art.


You might remember our post a few weeks back on the girlie cartoons of Jack O'Brien and Milo Kinn from the pages of Booby Traps and Nuggets. Today, we have more fun for you.

Time is a strange thing. Some parts of history are written about and analyzed endlessly and are passed down to future generations, while other aspects are totally forgotten. Sixty years downstream from when these cartoons were created, very little information about the artists who made them has survived.

BILL WENZEL
Bill Wenzel is the best known artist in this batch, working here under the pseudonym, "Candace". Fantagraphics recently published a collection of his work, and GoofButton.com posted scans from a late sixties collection of his cartoons, titled Tender Loving Care. Here, we get a rare chance to see Wenzel's rough alongside the finished ink...












STANLEY RAYON
All I know about Stanley Rayon was that he lived and worked in New Orleans. Does anyone have any more info on him? Although his drawings are pretty primitive, they do have that spark of fun that makes post-War girlie cartoons so appealing.





Let me know in the comments if you would like to see more of these.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Jack O'Brien and Milo Kinn's Girlie Cartoons, Eldon Dedini Part One, Part Two (video interview!) and Part Three, Jack Cole And Other Great 50s Playboy Cartoonists, Jack Cole Valentine, Little Annie Fanny Takes A Trip, Kurtzman & Elder's Little Annie Fanny, More Little Annie Fannie, Biography: Jack Davis, Early Erich Sokol Cartoons, A Passel Of Sokol, and More Sokol, Doug Sneyd and Phil Interlandi, Early Interlandi Playboy Cartoons and Meet Doug Sneyd.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
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Animation Archive
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Pinups: Al Moore Girls From Esquire

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 9 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great pinup art.


Esquire magazine was one of the top publications of its time. It was to the first half of the 20th century what Playboy was to the last half. The pinups of George Petty and Alberto Vargas made the magazine famous. Al Moore painted the Esquire girls and the annual calendar in the late 40s and early 50s. I'm sorry to say, I don't know much about him. His fame has been eclipsed by his predecessors. But his wide eyed blondes have a lot of charm. Here are a couple of fold-outs from the pages of Esquire and the 1950 Esquire calendar...














And here as an added bonus is the 1946 Esquire Pocket Calendar by Alberto Varga (Before he got the "s" at the end of his name...)



If you enjoyed this post, see... Alberto Vargas in Playboy, George Petty's Ridgid Tools Calendars, Petty Girls 1947, Jack O'Brien and Milo Kinn Girlie Cartoons, Eldon Dedini Part One, Part Two (video interview!) and Part Three, Jack Cole And Other Great 50s Playboy Cartoonists, Jack Cole Valentine, Little Annie Fanny Takes A Trip, Kurtzman & Elder's Little Annie Fanny, More Little Annie Fannie, Biography: Jack Davis, Early Erich Sokol Cartoons, A Passel Of Sokol, and More Sokol, Doug Sneyd and Phil Interlandi, Early Interlandi Playboy Cartoons and Meet Doug Sneyd.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
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Animation Archive
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Pinups: Jack O'Brien and Milo Kinn's Girlie Cartoons

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 9 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great pinup art.


Sometimes I think I must have the best job in the world...

Today some nice folks who had Googled up this website stopped by to offer us some material to digitize that they had rescued from a relative's garage. They had a laundry basket full of 1940s magazines and a big stack of original inks from a 1947 girlie cartoon magazine, colorfully titled Booby Traps and Nuggets. My jaw hit the floor when I started going through the artwork. Here is a part of cartooning history that has been largely overlooked- especially by me. But not any more!

The artwork is quickly executed and sometimes a bit funky... and for good reason. On the back of each ink is the amount the cartoonist was paid for his work. The prices range from $3 to $5. You would have to work pretty doggone fast to make a living at that rate! I have to admit, I don't know much about these artists. So I'm going to present them a couple at a time with the little I do know and see if any of you readers out there can help fill in the blanks about their careers.

JACK O'BRIEN

Jack O'Brien lived in Los Angeles, and if this photograph is any indication, he was an alumni of UCLA and had a cute little daughter. In the 1960s, O'Brien drew the Sad Sack comic books, he came up with a beatnik character named "Cool Cat", and he created the G.I. Juniors line of comics for Harvey. If you know anything else about O'Brien, please post to the comments below.











MILO KINN

All I know about Milo Kinn is that he lived in Seattle, Washington. I'm guessing he was married, (based on the pretty dingle ball curtains!) and it's clear that he didn't mind drawing the exact same pretty girl profile over and over. In fact, he seems to have a lot more fun with the "broads" than he does with the "babes". Anyone have any more details on him?





Let me know in the comments if you would like to see more of these.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Eldon Dedini Part One, Part Two (video interview!) and Part Three, Jack Cole And Other Great 50s Playboy Cartoonists, Jack Cole Valentine, Little Annie Fanny Takes A Trip, Kurtzman & Elder's Little Annie Fanny, More Little Annie Fannie, Biography: Jack Davis, Early Erich Sokol Cartoons, A Passel Of Sokol, and More Sokol, Doug Sneyd and Phil Interlandi, Early Interlandi Playboy Cartoons and Meet Doug Sneyd.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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Pinups: Eldon Dedini in the 1960s

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 9 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great pinup art.


Here's another look at the artistry of Eldon Dedini from the pages of Playboy magazine. In case you missed it, check out the video interview with Dedini contributed by Archive Supporter Ken Kearney.

Dedini often did spot advertisements in Playboy. Here are a couple of great examples...



These ads redefine the term, "soft sell"! Today's batch of cartoons feature hippies, go-go dancers and gurus from the "swingin' 60s"... and of course, plenty of pretty girls.














If you enjoyed this post, see... Eldon Dedini Part One and Part Two (video interview!)

Check out these articles too... Jack Cole And Other Great 50s Playboy Cartoonists, Jack Cole Valentine, Little Annie Fanny Takes A Trip, Kurtzman & Elder's Little Annie Fanny, More Little Annie Fannie, Biography: Jack Davis, Early Erich Sokol Cartoons, A Passel Of Sokol, and More Sokol, Doug Sneyd and Phil Interlandi, Early Interlandi Playboy Cartoons and Meet Doug Sneyd.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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Illustration: Wartime Colliers Magazine

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for more jaw dropping images from classic illustrated books and magazines.


Thanks to Archive supporters Kent Butterworth and Mike Fontanelli, our database includes many great examples of classic illustration from the pages of the "Rolls Royce" of weekly publications, Colliers magazine. In the past, we've covered mid 30s Colliers illustrations, mid 30s advertisements, and late 40s Colliers illustrations. Today, we turn our attention to a very interesting time in American history, WWII. The war effort permeated everyday life throughout the nation, from the richest person all the way down to the poorest. This magazine reflects that, with feature stories, illustrations and ads that all reflect wartime themes. (For more on WWII, see Walt's War, Wartime Propaganda, Dispatch From Disney's and Artzybasheff's Diablerie.)

At the time this issue was published, circulation for Colliers was nearing 2.5 million readers. By the mid 50s, circulation would rise to 4 million copies, but it wasn't enough to save the magazine. Competition for ad revenues with television spelled doom for many of the big magazines, and Colliers was forced to go biweekly in 1953, ceasing publication altogether in 1957.

At Colliers, the illustrator was king, and many great artists filled its pages over the years, from Charles Dana Gibson, Maxfield Parrish, Arthur Szyk and F.X. Leyendecker. For more info on a couple of the incredible illustrators featured in this post, see Lawson Wood, the monkey artist and our article on magazine cartooning with Earl Oliver Hurst. If you'd like to try these techniques out for yourself, see Ink Wash Painting: In Praise of Happy Accidents Part One and Part Two.




















Thanks to Mike Fontanelli for contributing these great vintage magazines to be digitized for the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Mid 30s Colliers Illustrations, Mid 30s Advertisements, Late 40s Colliers, Lawson Wood: The Monkey Artist, Casey Strikes Out In Coronet, Bugs Bunny in Coronet Magazine December 1945, Milton Caniff in Coronet Magazine, Dispatch From Disney's Part One and Part Two, John Held Jr, Ward Kimball in Escapade, Complete Guide To Cartooning On Magazine Cartoons Part One and Part Two, and Rube Goldberg's Side Show.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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Illustration: Harper Goff in Coronet Magazine

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for more jaw dropping images from classic illustrated books and magazines.


Illustration by Harper Goff
Today, in honor of Presidents Day, we present another batch of illustration from late 40s Coronet magazines. This group of images isn't interesting so much for their style as much as their authenticity. With a clarity of staging reminiscent of production designs for classic motion pictures, these paintings vividly show the value of careful research into period costume, props and decor. The first batch is a history of medicine by Leslie Saalburg. The last is a review of classic children's literature by Douglass Crockwell. But the most interesting is the middle feature, Carl Sandberg's "Blood on the Moon" illustrated by Disney imagineer, Harper Goff.

Harper Goff was born in 1911, and studied art at Chouinard Art Institute. He was an accomplished illustrator, working for Colliers, Esquire and Coronet. Goff was employed as a set designer for Warner Bros on classic films like Sergeant York, Casablanca and Captain Blood. He met Walt Disney in a model train store in London, and was invited on the spot to join the Disney staff.


Goff's first assignment was to storyboard a True Life Adventure story dealing with undersea life, but expanded the idea into a feature film adaptation of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. Goff's designs for the submarine and its plush interiors were the most striking part of the film, resulting in an Oscar for Art Direction and Special Effects. Goff played banjo in the Disney studio Dixieland jazz band, "The Firehouse Five" and was the designer of the World Showcase at Epcot. He passed away in 1993.

MEDICINE ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
by Leslie Saalburg








SANDBURG'S BLOOD ON THE MOON
By Harper Goff









A TREASURY OF LITERARY CLASSICS
by Douglass Crockwell







Thanks to Rich Borowy for donating these great vintage magazines to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Casey Strikes Out In Coronet, Bugs Bunny in Coronet Magazine December 1945, Milton Caniff in Coronet Magazine, Dispatch From Disney's Part One and Part Two, Mid 30s Colliers Illustrations, Mid 30s Advertisements, Late 40s Colliers, Lawson Wood: The Monkey Artist, John Held Jr, Ward Kimball in Escapade, Complete Guide To Cartooning On Magazine Cartoons Part One and Part Two, and Rube Goldberg's Side Show.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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Cartoons: Casey Strikes Out In Coronet Magazine

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for more jaw dropping images from classic illustrated books and magazines.


Today, we present another batch of illustration from late 40s Coronet magazines, including work by Douglass Crockett and Vera Bock. Last time, we featured Bugs Bunny. Today, it's Casey At The Bat. Enjoy!









CASEY AT THE BAT






Thanks to Rich Borowy for donating these great vintage magazines to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Bugs Bunny in Coronet Magazine December 1945, Milton Caniff in Coronet Magazine, Dispatch From Disney's Part One and Part Two, Mid 30s Colliers Illustrations, Mid 30s Advertisements, Late 40s Colliers, Lawson Wood: The Monkey Artist, John Held Jr, Ward Kimball in Escapade, Complete Guide To Cartooning On Magazine Cartoons Part One and Part Two, and Rube Goldberg's Side Show.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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Illustration: Mid 1930s Advertisements From Colliers

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.


Here's a batch of advertisements from the mid-1930s Colliers magazines loaned to us for digitization by archive supporter Mike Fontanelli. I don't know about you, but after looking over these great magazines, I have the urge to go out and buy a 1936 Terraplane! For more wonderful illustration from Colliers see the links at the end of this post.














Thanks, Mike!

If you enjoyed this post, see... Wash Painting: In Praise of Happy Accidents Part One and Part Two, Mid 30s Colliers Illustrations, Late 40s Colliers, Lawson Wood: The Monkey Artist, John Held Jr, Coronet Magazine 1945, Ward Kimball in Escapade, Complete Guide To Cartooning On Magazine Cartoons Part One and Part Two.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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Comics: Virgil Partch's Wild, Wild Women Part Four

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.


It's been quite a while since we posted any comics from Virgil "Vip" Partch's greatest collection of cartoons, The Wild, Wild Women. If you missed our previous postings on this wonderful book, see Virgil Partch's Wild, Wild Women Part One, Part Two and Part Three.
















Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more by Vip Partch.

For more examples of Virgil Partch's genius, see Virgil Partch's Wild, Wild Women Part One, Part Two and Part Three; Here We Go Again and Man The Beast.

Also see... George Lichty's Grin and Bear It; Milt Gross Sunday Pages Part One, Part Two and Part Three; Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper; Jim Tyer Funny Animal Comics; and Milton Knight's Great Brown Pericord Motor.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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Pinups: Meet Doug Sneyd

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 9 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great pinup art.

Here's a gift that I've taken much too long to acknowledge... Last Summer, Archive supporter, Sean Worsham donated a great book of unpublished cartoons by Playboy cartoonist, Doug Sneyd. (Mr. Sneyd even autographed it for us!) It gives a fascinating glimpse at the thought process behind Sneyd's wonderful cartoons. Here are a few choice pages from the book...







I highly recommend this book. You can order an autographed copy for yourself at... www.DougSneyd.com.

I've spent the better part of this week scanning more mid 60s Playboys. Here's a gallery of Sneyd's work from that period...










As always, let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more about the great cartoonists of Playboy.

If you enjoyed this post, check out our articles on Kurtzman & Elder's Little Annie Fanny, Early Erich Sokol Cartoons and More Sokol, Jack Cole And Other Great 50s Playboy Cartoonists, Eldon Dedini Part One and Part Two (video interview!), Doug Sneyd and Phil Interlandi and Early Interlandi Playboy Cartoons.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Cartooning: Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part Seven

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 info on the history of cartooning told through the careers of great artists.

Magazine Illustration by Jan Balet (See Lief Peng's Flickr set for more images by Jan Balet.)

We continue our series of posts on Gene Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning with the second part of the section dealing with Magazine Cartooning... I'm afraid I don't have much information on these artists. If you can contribute a fact or two, please post them to the comments below.

MICHAEL BERRY
Michael Berry contributed pretty girl cartoons to Pictorial Review, Esquire, Liberty and The New Yorker.






JOHN RUGE
John Ruge's elegant girl drawings appeared in Colliers in the late 40s and Playboy in the early 50s. His comic about an Irish Setter named Clancy was also popular.




RALPH STEIN & STAN HUNT
Ralph Stein was the author of a collection of pinup girl art titled The Pinup From 1852 to Now. He wrote the Popeye newspaper comic in the 1950s, and was an avid classic car enthuiast. Stan Hunt was a regular contributor to The New Yorker. He attended the New York School of Art and apprenticed under Willard Mullin. He passed away in 2006 at the age of 77.




RICHARD SARGENT
Richard Sargent contributed images to Pictorial Review and The Saturday Evening Post.




JAN BELET
Jan Belet was a childrens book illustrator who also did artwork for several women's magazines.




RICHARD TAYLOR & FRANK OWEN
Richard Taylor was a cartoonist for The New Yorker and Playboy. Frank Owen was a cartoonist for The Saturday Evening Post He was the one who came up with the original story idea for the Disney's cartoon, Morris, the Midget Moose.



THE IMPORTANCE OF CARTOONS IN ADVERTISING
By Don Herold


A STUDY IN LAUGHS



ROY DOTY

Over the past half century, Roy Doty has been a cartoonist and illustrator with over 60 children's books to his credit. He was awarded a Reuben by the National Cartoonist Society in 2006. See RoyDoty.com to see what he's up to lately.




Many thanks to Marc Crisafulli and David King for sharing this great book with us.

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, Part Five: Sketching, and Part Six: Magazine Illustration

Also see... 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 Mullin on Animals.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Biography: Milton Caniff and Norman Rockwell in Coronet

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about comics.


The Milton Caniff Estate recently loaned the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive copies of two issues of Coronet magazine from 1942 and 1947 to digitize. Here are three articles of interest to cartoonists and illustrators...



AMERICA'S PIONEER JAP FIGHTER
By Howard Whitman








NORMAN ROCKWELL: The People's Painter
By Jack H. Pollack






CONFESSIONS OF A COMIC STRIP ARTIST
By Milton Caniff





Thanks to John Ellis and the estate of Milton Caniff for sharing this with us!

If you enjoyed this post, see... Coronet Magazine December 1945, Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon Sunday Pages, Steve Canyon Dalies, People On Paper, Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part One- Meet The Men Behind the Comics and Part Two- Studying Comic Strips, Dispatch From Disney's Part One and Part Two, Propaganda Part One and Part Two, Dan Gordon's Superkatt, Rube Goldberg's Side Show and Alex Toth Model Sheets

STEVE CANYON TV SHOW


The Steve Canyon Special Edition DVD is out now! To order it and for more info on the Steve Canyon TV show, see... www.stevecanyondvd.blogspot.com

STEVE CANYON AT AMAZON

Fantagraphics has a great book on Caniff's career, and Checker has released year by year reprints of the classic Steve Canyon strip. Caniff was a master storyteller, and the first few years of Steve Canyon are examples of his genius at the height of its powers. Click on the pictures for more info.

Stephen Worth
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Animation Archive
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Illustration: Coronet Magazine 1945

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for more jaw dropping examples of classic illustration.



Archive supporter, Rich Borowy stopped by to digitize some classic Stan Freberg radio shows for the archive database yesterday. Under his arm was a box of old Coronet and Omnibook magazines. Rich said that he was given the box at a garage sale that was closing down. I've never looked at these particular magazines, but they have wonderful illustrations and features. Here are highlights from the December, 1945 issue. Check it out. There's a big surprise at the end. Thanks for bringing these in, Rich!

Each issue opens with an inspirational message and illustration. This one is by illustrator, Vera Bock. Many issues contain the work of Arthur Szyk, whose book The New Order we featured last year. I'll be doing a whole post of Szyk illustrations from Coronet soon.


Next up is a retelling of "The Night Before Christmas" by Golden Book illustrator, Sheilah Beckett. Will Finn recently posted about her book on Gilbert & Sullivan Operettas. These pages strongly resemble the back of Little Golden Books. Do you think Sheilah Beckett designed that?




Here's a feature on the artists who created the Famous Artists Course... Stevan Dohanos, along with his illustrator friends Albert Dorne, Ben Stahl, Hardie Gramatky, Fred Ludekens and Dean Cornwall donated their services to decorate casts in the Halloran Army Hospital in New York.



And here's a feature on exotic superstitions and religious beliefs by Stevan Dohanos...



Here's a real surprise- The autobiography of Bugs Bunny! "A Hare Grows In Manhattan"...









If you enjoyed this post, check out... Little Verses Part One, Part Two and Part Three, Baby's House, Arthur Szyk's The New Order and Artzybasheff's Neurotica, Machinalia and Diablerie.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Comics: Virgil Partch's Wild, Wild Women Part Three

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.



Today, we continue with Virgil "Vip" Partch's greatest collection of cartoons, The Wild, Wild Women. Notice how clear the staging is, the beauty of the line and the strength of the posing and expressions.
















For more examples of Virgil Partch's genius, see Virgil Partch's Wild, Wild Women Part One and Part Two, Here We Go Again and Man The Beast. Also see... George Lichty's Grin and Bear It; Milt Gross Sunday Pages Part One, Part Two and Part Three; Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper; Jim Tyer Funny Animal Comics; and Milton Knight's Great Brown Pericord Motor.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Comics: Virgil Partch's Wild, Wild Women Part Two

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.



Today, we continue with Virgil "Vip" Partch's greatest collection of cartoons, The Wild, Wild Women. If you missed any of the articles linked below, make sure you check them out. They're all packed with great cartooning.

















For more examples of Virgil Partch's genius, see Virgil Partch's Wild, Wild Women Part One, Here We Go Again and Man The Beast. Also see... George Lichty's Grin and Bear It; Milt Gross Sunday Pages Part One, Part Two and Part Three; Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper; Jim Tyer Funny Animal Comics; and Milton Knight's Great Brown Pericord Motor.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Cartooning: Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part Six

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 info on the history of animation told through the careers of great animators.


Thanks to Clarke Snyder for this great Hurst ad.
We continue our series of posts on Gene Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning with the first part of the section dealing with...

MAGAZINE CARTOONING
Introduction by Charles D. Rice


PERRY BARLOW
Perry Barlow worked along side a star-studded group of cartoonists at The New Yorker which included, among others, James Thurber, Peter Arno, Gardner Rea, Charles Addams, Whitney Darrow Jr, Sam Cobean and William Steig. From its inception, The New Yorker was, as its founding editor Harold Ross described it, "a reflection in the word and picture of metropolitan life". The images were equal with the words, and this magazine contributed greatly to the development of cartooning. Here, Barlow discusses his ideating process for a Halloween cover.




WILLIAM VON RIEGEN
Von Riegen was featured in our previous post from this book, Part Four: Sketching. His gesture drawings were greatly admired.



EARL OLIVER HURST

Earl Oliver Hurst has been profiled extensively at Shane Glines' excellent Cartoon Retro site. Hurst was primarily a "pretty girl" cartoonist whose work appeared in Colliers, True and American Weekly. His ads for Jantzen are particularly popular among current cartoonists. If you would like to see more, there is a great book on Hurst at Amazon... The Art Of Earl Oliver Hurst







KURT STOESSEL
H. Kurt Stoessel was born in 1909 in Germany, and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. He was an illustrator and art director for several national magazines including The Atlantic. He lived and worked in Boulder, Colorado his entire career, and passed away on this day in 1984.






FRED COOPER
You may not know the name of Fred Cooper but you certainly have seen his work. He was a letterer, poster designer, illustrator, cartoonist, writer and teacher. Leslie Cabarga describes him as the original "clip art" artist- his "big head" cartoon characters were seen in dozens of magazines of the teens and twenties, and continue to be in use to this day. For more on this influential cartoonist, see Allan Holtz's tribute in Strippers, and Cabarga's book The Lettering and Graphic Design of F.G. Cooper



GLUYAS WILLIAMS
We mentioned Gluyas Williams in an earlier post on Collier's Magazines From the 1930s. Williams was one of the most prolific and influential cartoonists of the 1920s. His work appeared in The New Yorker, Colliers and Life. Robert Benchley wrote, "I believe that Williams' drawings will be preserved for expert contemplation both as data on the manners and customs of our day, and as graceful and important examples of its art." For more great work by cartoonist Gluyas Williams, see David King's gluyaswilliams.com



ROBERT OSBORN
Robert Osborn was a cartoonist whose style influenced the UPA artists greatly. He worked with John Hubley on the film, Flat Hatting, which is available for download at Cartoon Brew Films.



BARTOLI
Bartoli's ink drawings appeared on the covers of quite a few issues of Holiday magazine in the late 40s and 50s. I haven't been able to find out much information about him. Perhaps someone out there knows and will post some biographic info on him to the comments below.




Many thanks to Marc Crisafulli and David King for sharing this great book with us.

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

Also see... 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.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Comics: Virgil Partch's Wild, Wild Women

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.



Virgil "Vip" Partch is one of the greatest cartoonists who ever lived, but the simplicity and directness of his style belie its sophistication. Born in 1916, Partch studied under Rico LeBrun at Choiuinard Art Institute, before joining the Disney studios as a story man. His influence can be seen clearly in the Donald Duck cartoon "Duck Pimples". Partch worked at Disney for four years, until his stay there was cut short by the strike in 1941.



Out of work, Partch submitted some one panel cartoons to Colliers, and they were published. This began a fruitful career as a magazine cartoonist. Throughout the 50s, he published small collections of his cartoons, grouped by themes. "Bottle Fatigue" dealt with the spell of alcohol, "Here We Go Again" was a collection of cartoons dealing with Army life, and "Wild, Wild Women" and "Man The Beast" dealt with the battle between the sexes. Partch's cartoons are absurd, visually delightful and wicked. Most of all, they are unique.



As I said before, Vip's style is so streamlined and simple, it's easy to overlook the depth of thought beneath the surface of his cartoons. His compositions always read beautifully with clear silhouettes, appealing shapes and interesting negative spaces. The lines define a solid form and simple visual clues indicate rock-solid perspective... His drawings never seem flat, no matter how stylized they are. There's a wide variety of ways of depicting different facial expressions and expressive personality that is obviously observed from life. It doesn't get better than this!



Partch's greatest book was "Wild, Wild Women". Check out these beautiful drawings. Here's yet another example of stylized cartooning done right.















For more examples of Virgil Partch's genius, see Here We Go Again and Man The Beast. Also see... Milt Gross Sunday Pages Part One, Part Two and Part Three; Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper; Jim Tyer Funny Animal Comics; and Milton Knight's Great Brown Pericord Motor.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Illustration: The Genius of Miguel Covarrubias

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for more jaw dropping examples of classic illustration.


Miguel Covarrubias was one of the most famous artists of his day, but chances are you've never heard of him. Caricaturists know his work- Al Hirschfeld studied under Covarrubias and shared a studio with him in 1924. He spoke of Covarrubias' talent in the same breath as Daumier and Hogarth. Ethnologists and archaeologists know the name of Covarrubias as well. His analysis of pre-Columbian art and the culture of Bali led to books on the subject that have become classics. And his reputation as an anthropologist rivalled any of his peers in that field. Illustrator, caricaturist, anthropologist, author and educator... It's high time you knew about Covarrubias too!


At the age of nineteen, Miguel Covarrubias, already a renowned caricaturist in his home country of Mexico, emigrated to New York City. He was an instant sensation, and his illustrations began appearing in New Yorker and Vanity Fair. Fellow Mexican artist, Diego Rivera described his illustrations as "those caustic but implacably good-humored drawings which, fortunately for his personal safety, people have been misled into calling caricatures. In Covarrubias' art there is no vicious cruelty, it is all irony untainted with malice; a humor that is young and clean; a precise and well defined plasticity."

Most of the caricatures from Vanity Fair below depict unlikely pairs of public figures. Click on the links to the Wikipedia entries on these people and see why Covarrubias put them together.

MIGUEL COVARRUBIAS CARICATURES


Jim Londos & Herbert Hoover
(Vanity Fair, August 1932)


Senator Smith W. Brookhart & Marlene Dietrich
(Vanity Fair, September 1932)


Al Capone & Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes
(Vanity Fair, October 1932)


Clark Gable & Edward, Prince of Wales
(Vanity Fair, November 1932)


Ex-King Alfonso & James J. Walker
(Vanity Fair, December 1932)


Mrs. Ella Boole & Miss Texas Guinan
(Vanity Fair, January 1933)


Arthur Brisbane & The Sphinx
(Vanity Fair, May 1933)


Emily Post
(Vanity Fair, December 1933)


Admiral Richard E. Byrd
(Vanity Fair, December 1934)


Sally Rand & Martha Graham
(Vanity Fair, December 1934)


Dr. Samuel Johnson & Alexander Woolcott
(Vanity Fair, March 1935)


Auguste Piccard & William Beebe
(Vanity Fair, April 1935)
Covarrubias was much more than just an illustrator and caricaturist though. His books on Bali and Mexico revealed a careful analytical mind with an eye for detail. The following article from an arts magazine from 1948 encompasses the latter part of Covarrubias' career...

MIGUEL COVARRUBIAS OF MEXICO CITY
By Henry C. Pitz (January 1948)






Many thanks to the ever-faithful supporter of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, Kent Butterworth for sharing this wonderful material from his own collection with us.

If you enjoyed this post, check out... Colliers Magazine Illustrations From the Mid-1930s and the Mid-1940s and also... John Held Jr.'s Flappers, Arthur Szyk's The New Order and Artzybasheff's Neurotica, Machinalia and Diablerie.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Illustration: 1930s Colliers Illustrations

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for more jaw dropping examples of classic illustration.


Yesterday, we had a wonderful surprise. Archive supporter Kent Butterworth stopped by lugging eight huge bound volumes under his arm. They were library copies of Colliers magazine from the late 1940s and early 1950s. He donated them to our library so folks who stop by can browse the amazing illustrations and cartoons. Thanks, Kent!

Here are a few images from the June 5th, 1948 issue... Check out the amazing illustrations for mundane products like outboard motors and golf balls! Magazines today can't compare.











Here's a batch of advertisements from the mid-1930s Colliers magazines loaned to us for digitization by archive supporter Mike Fontinelli. I don't know about you, but after looking over these great magazines, I have the urge to go out and buy a 1936 Terraplane!















If you enjoyed this post, check out... John Held Jr.'s Flappers, Arthur Szyk's The New Order and Artzybasheff's Neurotica, Machinalia and Diablerie.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

3.14.09
.

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Illustration: Kent Donates Colliers

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for more jaw dropping examples of classic illustration.



Yesterday, we had a wonderful surprise. Archive supporter Kent Butterworth stopped by lugging eight huge bound volumes under his arm. They were library copies of Colliers magazine from the late 1940s and early 1950s. He donated them to our library so folks who stop by can browse the amazing illustrations and cartoons. Thanks, Kent!

Here are a few images from the June 5th, 1948 issue... Check out the amazing illustrations for mundane products like outboard motors and golf balls! Magazines today can't compare.












You'll want to make a point of stopping by the archive to check these books out.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Media: Two More Playboy Cartoonists

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 9 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great pinup art.


Roll me over, in the clover...
We continue to work on scanning cartoons from Chad Coyle's wonderful collection of vintage Playboy magazines. Previously, we featured Erich Sokol and Eldon Dedini. Today we focused on Doug Sneyd and Phil Interlandi.

While both have strong, clear compositions, their rendering styles are quite different. Sneyd used layers of watercolor washes and delicate transparancies to create depth, while Interlandi slashed out his forms and textures with a bold, confident style. When you see the cartoons interspersed in the magazine, you might not realize how different each artist is, but when you see the cartoons grouped together by artist, you can really get a feeling for their individual style.

DOUG SNEYD

Can I stay and help you clean up the mess?


You came highly recommended, but I had no idea...


And this time, be more careful!


I won't be bothering you and Pop
with any more embarassing questions!


He wants to know if we make deliveries.


PHIL INTERLANDI

We changed our minds!


He'd rather fight than switch.






You have a dirty mind. I like that in a man.


Daphne! Get your butt in here!


The starter is fresh!


All I could get out of him was name, rank and serial number...
and an ingenious American invention called a "quickie".


Pay attention, damn it, pay attention!

For more info on the great cartoonists who worked for Playboy in the 1960s, see our posts on... Erich Sokol and Eldon Dedini.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

10.13.08
.

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Media: Artzybasheff's Machinalia

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 6 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about golden age illustration.


In his introduction to the section titled "Machinalia" in his book As I See, Boris Artzybasheff says, "I am thrilled by machinery's force, precision and willingness to work at any task, no matter how arduous or monotonous it may be. I would rather watch a thousand ton dredge dig a canal than see it done by a thousand spent slaves lashed into submission. I like machines."


Making of Steel: Charging the Open Hearth


Tapping a Heat of Steel


Filling Ingot Molds


The Soaking Pit


The Blooming Pit


The Rod Mill


Hydraulic Press


Stranding of Wire Rope


Weaving of Fence Fabric


Wire Drawing Machines


Spring Forming Presses


Wire Cloth Looms


Navy's Mark III Calculator


Executive of the Future

Recently, I was asked by a visitor to the Archive what relevance half century old cartoons and magazine illustrations have to the current animation scene. Well, this question is best answered with an example... Look at these amazing designs by Boris Artzybasheff originally published in the 1950s, and look at this clip from Fleischer's Lost & Foundry.. It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to be able to picture what a sequence in a current CGI film would look like if it had designs like Artzybasheff's and animation like the Fleischers'.

Popeye in "Lost & Foundry" (Fleischer/1937)
(Quicktime 7 / 10 megs)

PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Mid 30s Colliers Illustrations, Mid 30s Advertisements, Wartime Colliers, Late 40s Colliers, Lawson Wood: The Monkey Artist, Casey Strikes Out In Coronet, Bugs Bunny in Coronet Magazine December 1945, Milton Caniff in Coronet Magazine, Dispatch From Disney's Part One and Part Two, John Held Jr, Ward Kimball in Escapade, Complete Guide To Cartooning On Magazine Cartoons Part One and Part Two, and Rube Goldberg's Side Show.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

5.28.08
.

Stumble It!

Media: Erich Sokol's Playboy Cartoons

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 9 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great pinup art.


Well, I'm glad she's finally getting interested
in something besides running around with boys.
During the 1960s, Playboy magazine employed some of the best cartoonists around at the time... Eldon Dedini, Gahan Wilson, Phil Interlandi, Jack Cole, Doug Sneyd and Erich Sokol. Archive volunteer, Chad Coyle brought a stack of 1960s Playboys by to be digitized, and there's a wealth of great stuff in them. Today, the Sokols...

Well, how do you like married life so far?


I came up to complain about the noise.


What the hell kind of pacifist are you?


Take off your clothes... take off your clothes!
My goodness, don't men ever think about anything else?




Mother will be disappointed if you don't come in for at least
a few minutes, George. She's expecting to meet you tonight.


You got the part.
Now would you care to try for an Academy Award?


You're welcome.


You were wrong.... I'm NOT old enough to take care of himself.


I believe the new nurse is going to do wonders for him.
He's already learned to count to two...




Tuck my shirt into WHAT shorts?


Why don't you bug out now and I'll call you Friday.
If you enjoyed this post, check out these articles... Early Erich Sokol Cartoons, A Passel Of Sokol, Jack Cole And Other Great 50s Playboy Cartoonists, Little Annie Fanny Takes A Trip, Kurtzman & Elder's Little Annie Fanny, More Little Annie Fannie, Kurtzman Comic Books, Biography: Jack Davis, Eldon Dedini Part One and Part Two (video interview!), Doug Sneyd and Phil Interlandi, Early Interlandi Playboy Cartoons and Meet Doug Sneyd.


Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

5.28.08
.

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