Super I.T.C.H » Contemporary Cartoonists
Get these books by
Craig Yoe:
Dan DeCarlo's Jetta The Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool KIDS KOMICS"
"Another amazing book from Craig Yoe!"
-Jerry Beck
CartoonBrew.com
Upcoming Book:
Dan DeCarlo's Jetta Felix The Cat: The Great Comic Book Tails
Dan DeCarlo's Jetta Dan DeCarlo's Jetta
"A long-forgotten comic book gem."
-Mark Frauenfelder
BoingBoing.net
Milt Gross The Complete Milt Gross Comic Books and Life Story
"Wonderful!"
-Playboy magazine
"Stunningly beautiful!"
- The Forward
"An absolute must-have."
-Jerry Beck
CartoonBrew.com
The Art of Ditko
The Art of Ditko
"Craig's book revealed to me a genius I had ignored my entire life."
-Mark Frauenfelder
BoingBoing.net
The Greatest Anti-War Cartoons
The Great Anti-War Cartoons
Introduction by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus
"Pencils for Peace!"
-The Washington Post
Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers
Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers
"Crazy, fun, absurd!"
-Mark Frauenfelder
BoingBoing.net
More books by Craig Yoe

Get these books by
Craig Yoe:
Dan DeCarlo's Jetta The Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool KIDS KOMICS"
"Another amazing book from Craig Yoe!"
-Jerry Beck
CartoonBrew.com
Upcoming Book:
Dan DeCarlo's Jetta Felix The Cat: The Great Comic Book Tails
Dan DeCarlo's Jetta Dan DeCarlo's Jetta
"A long-forgotten comic book gem."
-Mark Frauenfelder
BoingBoing.net
Milt Gross The Complete Milt Gross Comic Books and Life Story
"Wonderful!"
-Playboy magazine
"Stunningly beautiful!"
- The Forward
"An absolute must-have."
-Jerry Beck
CartoonBrew.com
The Art of Ditko
The Art of Ditko
"Craig's book revealed to me a genius I had ignored my entire life."
-Mark Frauenfelder
BoingBoing.net
The Greatest Anti-War Cartoons
The Great Anti-War Cartoons
Introduction by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus
"Pencils for Peace!"
-The Washington Post
Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers
Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers
"Crazy, fun, absurd!"
-Mark Frauenfelder
BoingBoing.net
More books by Craig Yoe

Archive for the ‘Contemporary Cartoonists’ Category

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Randall Enos: Political Cartoonist!

The news broke on August 26th, in Daryl Cagle’s blog.  The headline read, New Syndicated Editorial Cartoonist: Randall Enos!

This sleepy journalist, who dozes through nearly every development and deadline, sat up and noticed.  Randall Enos, illustrator extraordinaire whose work has been featured by all the old grey ladies (The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reader’s Digest) and their black sheep sisters (Playboy, National Lampoon), has joined Cagle’s syndicate.  This is extremely welcome news, because we all know Enos will bring his own unique sense of style to political cartooning, that wonderful exercise of free speech out at the blunt, brazen, and blasphemous limits.

‘Tis the season for campaigns and other types of egregious politicking, and that means ’tis the season for political cartoonists, the best friends of democracy, those who don’t mind poking at the soft belly of the political machine with the sharpest stick they can find.  I’m proud to say Randall Enos has joined ITCH for the first in our series of interviews with political cartoonists.

What was your first comic strip/cartoon/comic?

I started my career teaching at the Famous Artists School in their newly formed Cartoon Course (I was the first one hired). While I was there for eight years, I started my free-lance career doing not strips or panels but magazine and newspaper illustrations for places like Playboy and Harper’s Magazine. My actual first free-lance job was for a magazine called Cavalcade. I later also did some animation.

My first comic strip was Chicken Gutz for The National Lampoon, years later. Eventually I also did two strips which alternated in Playboy on their Funny Pages.

Is political cartooning a recent creative turn for you? And if so, why get into political cartooning now?

I’ve never “officially” been a political cartoonist before. But I have done quite a few for a group called INX…and throughout my 54 years in the business, I’ve done other political cartoons. I got interested because my regular markets — the newspaper and magazine illustration markets — are drying up on me and I’m looking for new things to do. I met Daryl Cagle at a National Cartoonists Reuben weekend where I had been nominated for my Broadway show poster. He knew and loved my work from way back and asked me if I might like to join his syndicate…so I did. It’s a little different for me. I think I’ll get the hang of it soon and then WATCH OUT!

Here’s a site where you can see up-to-date tons of my work. Take a look at the caricatures.

What are you reading right now?

I am Azorean Portuguese by heritage and I have a strong interest in studying whaling history so the book I am currently reading is And So Ends This Day which is about the Azorean Portuguese and their involvement in the whaling industry.

I would love to go whaling with you sometime. I have an excellent stomach for the ocean. But not much stomach for killing, so I might go below deck when that part happens.

Hey…I don’t kill animals either. Mocha Dick that I’m writing about was a hero whale. He protected his species from the whale hunters. I’ve already done one limited edition (36 copies) about this whale, hand bound, hand stitched, and beautifully printed on an old Vandercook printing press.  It’s called The Life and Death of Mocha Dick. We sell it for $300.

What is your guilty pleasure?  At least, the one that really answers an ITCH!

I’d have to say movies. I’m a terrible film addict and even watch while I’m working sometimes but I’m trying (after 54 years of doing it) to rid myself of the habit.

Who was the first cartoonist/animator you met?

My boss at the Famous Artists School, Bud Sagendorf who drew Popeye. He also gave me week-end work helping him on the Popeye comic books.

Which dead cartoonist/animator would you most like to meet?

George Herriman of course.

What would you say?

I’d say, “Mr. Herriman, sir, what were you thinking…a Kat with an ambiguous sexual identification?”

What has been the highlight of your career to date?

I think getting to do a Broadway theater poster (and ad graphics and web-site illustrations). It was off-beat with all my crazy linocut lettering etc.

Please tell us a little about your latest project.

My latest project is a children’s book that I am writing and illustrating for Creative Editions. It’s also about the huge white whale Mocha Dick — who was the REAL Moby Dick.

Which old-time cartoon character do you most identify with?

What a crazy question. Do most cartoonists identify with old-time cartoon characters?

If I had to pick one, I guess I’d say Jiggs from Bringing Up Father. I like his style. He’s impressed me from when I was a kid and now that I am also a hen-pecked husband who yearns to escape to the guilty pleasures of corned beef & cabbage in the company of low-lifes at the local tavern (even though I don’t drink… anymore), I guess I identify even more.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

I guess to be able to cloud men’s minds so they couldn’t see me… the way The Shadow did.

Check out Randall Enos’s new page at Daryl Cagle’s Political Cartoonists Index. It’s election season, which for fans of comics can mean only one thing: an avalanche of sharp wit, irreverence, and laffs galore!

And as always: Thanks, Randy!

beth
beth

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Oh, Brother! Bob Weber, Jr. and Jay Stephens Exclusive!!

Sometime in early August, I devoured the entire Oh, Brother! collection to date in about 20 minutes. Then I played all the games. And now I am hooked. Oh, Brother! is sweet and charming. The strip offers a daily peek into the funnier side of sibling relationships, featuring Lily and her little brother Bud. Always funny and never mean, it’s one of the smartest strips I’ve seen in a long while. It really works for all ages. Older siblings can relate to Lily, and younger siblings can relate to Bud. Parents can smile over their own children all over again.

Oh, Brother! is the result of one of the most welcome collaborations since Parker and Hart brought us The Wizard of Id. The talents of Bob Weber Jr. (Slylock Fox and Comics for Kids) and Jay Stephens (Tutenstein and The Secret Saturdays) have combined to create a loving homage to Charles Schulz and all the comics featuring kids that he inspired. There is not one trace of snark or cynicism here.  Oh, Brother! is pure.

Not only is it the best kid’s strip I’ve seen in forever, it’s perfect for pocket computers. Kids can use their Nintendos or iPods or PS3s or etc. to read the daily strip, play the games, learn to draw, and interact with other readers by uploading photos of their pets and samples of their art.

Yet even though Oh, Brother! takes optimal advantage of new media resources, it honors old traditions, too. While web comics can be in color seven days a week, the Sunday strip is larger in scope and benefits from landscape orientation. It makes a big splash on the screen. All’s right with the world!

Bob and Jay kindly gave us a few moments of their time, so that you can get to know the creators of this delightful and intelligent new strip.

ITCH: What was your first comic strip/cartoon/comic?

Jay: I have a crappy memory, so I’m not sure if I’m recalling this correctly. Plus all those emotionally scarring Marvel comics I had in the 70’s like Son of Satan, Tomb of Dracula, Ghost Rider, and Morbius, the Living Vampire (care of Spider-Man) are messing with my memories by creating a traumatic mind-block of horror. I know I had, and loved, a bunch of those little Peanuts and Family Circus paperbacks. And I remember being enchanted with the early history of animation that Walt would occasionally cover on The Wonderful World Of Disney. I became obsessed with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Felix the Cat and Betty Boop.

Bob: At age 21 I sold my first gag cartoon to American Machinist magazine ($15). I was also inking and writing gags for my father’s comic strip Moose and Molly.

What are you reading right now?

Jay: The IDW Family Circus collections. Hellboy. And Hayao Miyazaki’s Starting Point 1979-1996. Obviously my growth is stunted.

Bob: I’m reading volume 1 of John Stanley’s Nancy comics, published by Drawn and Quarterly. Before that I read Stanley’s Little Lulu collections by Darkhorse Books. Stanley is ‘the man’ right now.

What is your guilty pleasure?  At least, the one that really answers an ITCH!

Jay: I almost hate to admit I heart Harvey Comics. Casper, Hot Stuff, and especially Spooky. The writing is absolutely terrible, but I can’t seem to get enough!

Bob: My guilty pleasure is sitting down for lunch with my wife and watching the daytime soap The Bold and The Beautiful for the last 20 years.

Who was the first cartoonist/animator you met?

Jay: Genius Canadian underground cartoonist Chester Brown, I think. Don’t Google that if you’re under 14! Other indelible impressions were made early on by meeting John Kricfalusi (Ren & Stimpy) and Will Eisner (The Spirit).

Bob: The first cartoonist I remember meeting was um… my father. The second cartoonist I remember meeting was the wonderfully talented Orlando Busino. Living in Connecticut gave me the opportunity to meet some of the greatest cartoonists in the country. Within a few miles there was Stan Drake, Mort Walker, Jerry Dumas, Bill Yates, Dik Browne, Gill Fox, Hal Foster, Tony DiPreta, John Prentice, Dick Cavalli, Jerry Marcus, Dick Wingert, Kurt Swan, Whitney Darrow Jr. and more! Every one of them a gentleman and an inspiration!

Which dead cartoonist/animator would you most like to meet?

Jay: Ub Iwerks. Oh! And Winsor McCay.

Bob: Bob Clampett

What would you say?

Jay: Thank you.

Bob: Thank you!

What has been the highlight of your career to date?

Jay: Tied for biggest highlight is: 1) Seeing the float based on my cartoon character Tutenstein go by in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and 2) Seeing the Mattel toy line based on my animated series The Secret Saturdays at Toys ‘R Us for the first time.

Bob: There have been three highlights in my career. 1) My first magazine sale. 2) The successful syndication of my Slylock Fox and Comics for Kids comic. 3) The launch of Oh, Brother!

Please tell us a little about your latest project.

Jay: Oh, Brother! is a dream come true for me. I’ve wanted to do an old-school daily strip forever! Three of my own pitches were rejected over the years, so I’m glad Bob could make my dream a reality by writing such instantly classic material. We both have older daughters and younger sons and can readily identify with the characters and situations. And we are both passionate about the history of comics and the need for more great all-ages comics in the current scene.

Bob: I am having a blast writing Oh, Brother! and my co-creator Jay Stephens impresses me every day with his beautiful and funny art!

Which old-time cartoon character do you most identify with?

Jay: Happy Hooligan. Or Sleepy from the Seven Dwarfs.

Bob: Mr. Peabody’s boy Sherman, from Jay Ward’s Peabody’s Improbable History segments on Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Jay: The power to shift around my base elements a la Metamorpho. Nerd alert!!!

Bob: Flying would be awesome, x-ray vision could be interesting … but I’d settle for being the greatest guitar player in the universe.

Beth here: Sometimes I think if I could have any superpower, it would be the ability to survive without food, water, and shelter, so that I could spend my life doing nothing but reading comics from creators like Bob and Jay!  I know they’re not dead, but thanks, guys!  Thank you!

beth
beth

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Musings on Three New York Comic Art Events: Kids’ Comic Con 4, MOCCA Fest 2010 & the 2009 New York Comic Con

In early 2009 I attended The New York Comic Con. If I tried to describe the experience as a comic book character, I would probably say, "Galactus on Steroids". It was a humongous corporate trade show with gigantic crowds, It was a spectacle of high-tech sensory overload. It was light years removed from the conventions I grew up with, where a bunch of guys set up folding tables and put out cardboard boxes full of of comics. Parts of it were interesting and some of it was fun but at the end of the day, I felt burnt out and dissatisfied.

Last weekend, a parent at my son’s school asked if we wanted to go to the Kids’ Comic Con that was being held in the Bronx. I was skeptical, but my son and I got on the subway and headed uptown to the Bronx Community College. The convention was tiny compared to the NY Comic Con, but it turned out to be an exhuberant, grass roots event where professional (not celebrity) artists mixed with aspiring artists and kids.

Kid’s Comic Con 4 at the Bronx Community College

Bronx, NY; April 11, 2010

It seemed like there was an artist at every table, rapidly sketching on small sheets of paper or multi-panelled comic pages. Original drawings were available for 5 bucks and at one point there was a contest to see who could draw the fastest. We saw a nice presentation by Warriors manga artist James Barry and attended a coloring workshop that taught kids to use Photoshop’s magic wand and bucket tool. It was a little disorganized ("… who has the microphone?") and the workshop had rough edges (the printers in the computer lab didn’t work) but overall, the convention was a positive community event organized by a group of people who loved comics and wanted to do something good for kids.

When we got home, I saw Craig’s Saturday post about the MOCCA Fest that was being held in an armory in Manhattan. This seemed like an opportunity to see yet another type of comic convention.

The 69th Regiment Armory is a great place to see a show like this. Its high, vaulted ceiling, cavernous space and grand, turn-of-the-20th-century architecture gave a rich historical backdrop to some of today’s finest contemporary comic art. Scores of independent and small press exhibitors showed hundreds of works ranging from beautifully produced hard-bound volumes to self-published, fresh-from-the-inkjet-printer editions. Superheroes were almost nonexistent, even at table of the Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center.

MOCCA Fest at the 69th Regiment Armory

New York, NY, April 12, 2010

I saw two panels on comics making the transition from print to electronic form. The first featured a presentation by Neal Adams and Rafael Medoff on their new project for Disney Educational Productions: They Spoke Out: American Voices of Protest Against the Holocaust, a 10-episode series of motion comics designed for high school students. They showed an excerpt that was a powerful mix of relatively unknown historical events illustrated by Adams and combined with old film footage. At the end of the presentation an audience member asked if the work would appear as a graphic novel. Adams said that Medoff was a strong advocate of translating the work to print, but Adams himself was noncommittal.

The second panel, New Genres, New Readers, New Technologies: The World of Comics to Come, featured an interesting combination of some of the top independent comic art publishers: David Steinberger, President of Comixology; Leigh Walton, Top Shelf Productions; Liz Baillie, cartoonist and illustrator; Charles Kochman, Executive Editor of Abrams Books’ ComicArts imprint and Craig Yoe, cartoonist, publisher, designer and founder of this blog.

New Genres, New Readers, New Technologies:
The World of Comics to Come

A poorly photographed Craig Yoe at the MOCCA Fest Panel discussion

Steinberger opened the discussion talking about the apps that Comixology developed for the iPhone and the iPad. He drew a distinction between people who purchase comics for reading and people who purchase comics for collecting. He sees the former as the market for electronic comics and the latter as the market for printed comics.

Kochman said he liked the concept of creating books as fetish objects and talked about the challenges of working within a company like Abrams, long known for its high quality art books but unfamiliar with the work of artists like Jack Kirby.

Yoe described the importance of rediscovering the work of artists like Milt Gross and publishing lesser-known works by famous artists like Joe Shuster, George Herriman and Steve Ditko. During the Q and A an audience member commented that he preferred digital comics on the Internet to traditional comics. Yoe disagreed and said, while he liked digital comics, he preferred “the tactile pleasure of reading comics printed on dead trees”. To make his point Yoe then asked the audience to raise their hands and show how many people preferred Internet porn to “actually making love.” The discussion moved in another direction before the vote could be taken.

Like the New York Comic Con, the MOCCA Fest has virtually nothing in common with the comic conventions of the past. It’s a different type of event – more like a large art or book expo with a sense of humor. Viewing the work, attending the panels, and talking with the artists and publishers was a great way to spend the day.

David Donihue, GreatCaricatures.com

David Donihue, GreatCaricatures.com
David Donihue, GreatCaricatures.com

Thursday, March 4, 2010

From the This-Dude-Is-Awesome Desk: David Cowles

 

 

beth1-150x1501

 

 

The people, places, and things of David Cowles’ world are lively, funny, and sometimes grotesque, animated with synergy so powerful you’d like to harness it to heat your home.  Witness Exhibit A, the caricature of yours truly that accompanies this post.

Cowles’ illustrations and caricatures have been featured in such esteemed publications as Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Vibe, Time, Newsweek, Playboy, People, The Village Voice, Money, Worth, Fortune, Fast Company, Los Angeles Magazine, New York Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, The New Republic and Vanity Fair, among others.

He’s an animator too, and among his many projects he produced four videos for They Might Be Giants’ Here Come the 123s DVD (2008) and four more videos for They Might Be Giants’ Here Comes Science (2009).

Cowles graciously answered a bunch of questions from ITCH.

Let’s talk about your roots.  Was there a particular caricaturist who produced a life-long love and appreciation of caricaturing in you, and when did you first see his or her work?

I would have to say that my first exposure to caricature would have to have been Mort Drucker’s work in MAD magazine. I feel like I’ve always been aware of his stuff, so I must have been pretty young when I first saw it. So, let’s say “from birth.”

 

 

Drucker

 

 

 

 

Who do you think is the greatest caricaturist of all time?  Why?

Tough question, but my all time favorite, and the one who had the biggest influence on what I do now, is Miguel Covarrubias. The argument could be made for plenty of others, like David Levine and Al Hirschfeld, but for me this guy is it. When I first saw his stuff in the 80s, in an article about a show they had of his at the Smithsonian, it was such a revelation to me. In his work, beginning in the 20’s, you could both see the influence of Mayan art from the past, and the direction caricature would go for the next thirty or so years.

 

covarrubias

 

 

How about cartooning?  Suppose you wanted to teach a roomful of skeptics to appreciate the fine art of cartooning.  Who would you use as an example?

Not sure I’d want to be in a room full of cartooning skeptics. Okay, let’s say somebody had a gun to my head and I had to engage them. There’s another one that would be tough to whittle down… As a kid I was obsessed equally with the art of Peanuts, Pogo, and Dennis the Menace. So I’d probably start there. And if their hearts aren’t melted by wise-crackin’ kids and animals, then screw ‘em.

 

pogo

 

 

Is there a particular animator who inspires you?  Can we see his or her influences in your own work?

There have been a ton of animators that I’ve been inspired by, and the style of the old UPA cartoons have cast a big shadow on my work. But my all time favorite animator is probably Tex Avery. His sense of humor was so extreme and his timing was so perfect that he makes me laugh consistently more than any other animator. I want his influence to show more in my work.

 

tex

 

 

Was it a total blast to work with They Might Be Giants?

They are hands down the best experience I’ve had so far in the animation business. I mostly deal with John Flansburgh, who is a director himself and also worked as a graphic artist before the band took off. So, he actually taught me a lot as we’ve worked together. It was also an amazing experience where the executive in charge of the project (Flansburgh, who commissions all of the videos) has given notes that actually make the project better. There doesn’t seem to be any ego involved, just everybody trying to make the best end product. So, yeah, a total blast basically sums it up.

 

tmbgastro

 

 

Explore Cowles’ multiple awesome portfolios here.

beth
beth

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Sugar Sugar!

Sweet! The Art of Archie is one of the best exhibits of comic art I’ve ever had the privilege and pleasure of seeing is in its very last days at the terrific MoCCA museum. Certainly some of the finest artists to take up pen an ink for comics have been part of the Archie stable, and this exhibit beautifully showcases their work. On the walls you’ll find choice art by Bob Montana, Archie’s incredible first artist; Dan DeCarlo, who deftly defined the characters for the modern age; Harry Lucey, one of the great storytellers in comics; Stan Goldberg; Joe Edwards; and more.

In this exhibits, there are treasures like DeCarlo’s recreation of the first Archie cover; an unpublished Cold War story; and the art for a comic story when the Archie characters visited MoCCA with Ellen Abramowitz and Karl Erickson, who head up the museum, as part of the tale!

MoCCA even offered a printed guide to the exhibit, which identified the artist of each piece of art in the exhibit. The guide was a great keepsake to take home.

Few weeks later, I went back to take more in when FIFTY YEAR Archie veteran, the amazing Archie editor Victor Gorelick spoke about his work. I’m planning to go back once more tonight at 7:00 pm, when Jim Salicrup interviews a bunch of Archie writers (due to weather conditions please call to confirm at 212-254-3511). It will be fascinating. See you there!

Archie-Royal-Portrait-Web

Craig
C. Yoe (in the funny papers)

Friday, August 3, 2007

I (Hate) Dean Yeagle

Dean Yeagle. Probably the nicest guy in the business. I consider myself quite lucky to have him as a friend. AND I HATE HIM!!! Let me explain why and maybe you’ll hate him, too. I don’t think that there is an artist alive that knows Yeagle’s work and isn’t insanely jealous of the how good Dean can draw to the point of hating him. I’m just the only guy that is publicly admiting it. Yes, it’s a sad commentary on the human condition, blah, blah, but look at the evidence below and tell me if you, too, aren’t disgusted by the fact that Dean has more talent in his little finger than most artists, certainly myself, have in their whole being!

Below is the cover of his latest “sketchbook”, but Dean ain’t content to merely have sketches that show everybody else up, he has to have the sketches tell endearing, fun little stories, too. What a jerk! The story with the frog and the other one with the dinosaur are especailly hate worthy.


(click for a closer look of this cover)


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Below is a piece of unpublished art that Dean gave me for my next my next book, Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings and a shot of what Dean’s spread in the book is gonna look like. I’m quite afraid that Dean is gonna make the other 68 artists in the book look real bad. And if that wasn’t enough, Dean “kindly” did the cover of the limited edition of Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings me and the the Last Gasp Publisher is gonna issue. If Dean thinks by giving me all this help on Clean Cartoonists Dirty Drawings and doing the carticatures of Reamer Keller and Kremos for Arf Museum and Arf Forum are gonna change my feelings about him, well, he’s wrong. Geez, I hold him in such contempt. No, really.


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(click for a closer look at this cover)

Don’t be a lover, be a Dean hater and if the above art wasn’t enough to make you angry-as-hell-and-not-want-to-take-it-anymore then get in touch with your anger by going to Yeagle’s websites http://gallery.bellefree.com/dabeagle and http://cagedbeagle.com

Craig
C. Yoe (in the funny papers)

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Sketchy Behavior at the Comics Con

One of my very fave things about the Comic Con is the sketch books for sale. A lot of people from the animation community self-publish their own sketch books each year and sell them at their own tables or through Bud Plant or Stuart Ng at the con. I wish more comic book, comic strip and alternative cartoonists would do the same. Below’s the best IMHO from the animators at this years show. Tomorrow I’ll highlight Dean Yeagle’s incredible offering which has gone way beyond what a sketchbook is and deserves its own spotlight. But, for now, the top five sketch books and a sample page from each from the comics con…

#5) Robh Ruppel www.broadviewgraphics.com www.broadviewgraphics.blogspot.com


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#4) Seth Reek www.sethreek.com


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#3) Forrest Card www.forrestcard.com forrestcard.blogspot.com


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#2) Chris Sanders www.chrisandersart.com


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And coming in at #1— Alberto Ruiz! www.brandstudio.com processjunkie.blogspot.com


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Craig
C. Yoe (in the funny papers)

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Arf lovers High Fives John Martz

John Martz is, with his buddies, behind every illustrator and art director’s favorite website, drawn.ca. And that makes John one of the most powerful dudes in the Known Universe. Thankfully he’s a also heck of a nice guy. And–who knew–himself every bit as talented as the artists he daily showcases. Arf interviewed him from his Canadian studio…

1. You highlight so many artists each day on drawn.ca but tell us about yourself including something people would be surprised about.

I think a lot of people would be surprised to know that as the editor of a blog devoted to illustration and cartooning, I’ve only been working full-time as an illustrator for about 7 months. I had been moonlighting for years, with a design and motion graphics day job, but only recently took the plunge into full-time cartooning. Turns out the best thing to come out of the website was my own renewed passion to draw funny pictures for a living. (Some of John’s funny pics illustrate this interview but do yourself a favor and see more here).


(click for a closer look)

2. What dead artists inspire you and why?

I find dead artists don’t draw as well as they did when they were alive. That being said, a few of my biggest influences that are no longer with us are Charles Schulz, Jim Henson, and Chuck Jones. All three had this uncanny ability to find the perfect balance between extreme silliness and real, honest emotion and warmth. Case studies: a) Schulz: Charlie Brown aside, any Peanuts strip with Rerun. b) Jones: “Feed the Kitty” c) Henson: umm… everything?

3. Oh, boy, I get to name drop. I got to work on projects with Schulz and Jones and worked for Jim Henson. I certainly agree they were geniuses! Favorite Frazetta painting and why?

You know the one with the shirtless warrior standing beside the big-breasted woman and the wild tigers? That one.

4. Something most people don’t know about me: I modeled for that Frazetta painting! The shirtless warrior that is. John, what should we look for our your new personal illustration site and your blog?

Well, on my illustration site, you’ll find a growing portfolio of my work, and on my personal blog you can find sketches, comics, and other fun things like Cinema Toast, a feature in which I review every movie I watch in rhyming verse. Example:

“V for Vendetta
Coulda been betta”

Genius, I know!

5. Really dig your new comic for the “Syncopated” book about your Grandmother’s life back in 1929. What was the process like and what was it like emotionally to produce that?

I’m glad you like it. I’m currently reworking the script and the format to make it into something longer. All of the content stems from an audio recording of an interview I conducted with her while I was about fifteen. Listening to it, and researching old family photos and newspaper articles has helped me realize what an important role my grandmother played in my life, especially how she fostered creativity and encouraged me to be an artist. There’s also a lot of emotional guilt and pressure involved to not do a half-assed job!

Sounds like a great graphic novel in the making! Good luck with that, John!

Craig
C. Yoe (in the funny papers)

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Eat my Shortcake!

Happy birthday, Matt!

admin
admin

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Welcome to the Blog-osphere, David Cowles!

Every arist in the world now has a blog since David Cowles finally came on board. http://cowlesworld.blogspot. David is the amazing caricaturist that you see in Entertainment Weekly and in many other publications—including Arf! David did the much commented on caricature of Jack Kirby for the first Arf volume, Modern Arf and R. F. Outcault for the second Arf volume, Arf Museum. And wait till you see who he did for Arf III, Arf Forum! You’ll never guess! On the first day of blogging David posted this caricature he did of the Office cast. Did you know that Jenna Fischer that plays Pam Beesley, according to the wonderful Mike Lynch on HIS blog, is rumored to be a "closet cartoonist"?


The Office


Jack Kirby

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